5 Sept midday. I am writing this on deck 6 trying to take my mind off the storm we are in. We are on the edge of a massive storm with hurricane force winds in the middle of it. It is huge so captain is trying to go fast enough to get ahead of it. I have to admit that I am beginning to feel anxious. This morning was not too bad and then just a couple of hours ago we had an hour of dancing, with captain and deputy captain present, plus various officers. I was wondering who was steering the boat, but I felt strangely at ease cos I thought they must be quite confident all was ok. I danced the Bachata with the deputy captain Dariel, from Panama. It was fantastic!
Actually, I am proud to say that I opted to take part in the guest show with 3 pairs from our Salsa course. It was quite an experience, but we got lots of extra dance time practising and it was brilliant fun. Our dress rehearsal was ok but the actual show went really perfectly. It was over far too quickly. I figure that if I can dance infront of 400 or 500 , I should be able to cope with this storm. I had to dance as a man because there were not enough men, but my partner Inge and I really enjoyed ourselves.
Anyway, back to yesterday's fabulous excursion in Iceland. It was incredible and luckily we once again had marvelous weather.
We started off very early in the morning because we had a lot to fit into the nine hours ahead. First stop was in one of the many volcanic areas of Iceland, where we were able to walk through a narrow gorge created by volcanic action. It was hugely impressive and the landscape around it was beautiful.
Our next stop was Gullfoss waterfall, or more exactly two waterfalls in one. Absolutely spectacular! It would have been even better if we had had longer there, but we still had time to view it from above and also from very close up.
The lunch stop was at a thermal area, very similar to Rotorua in New Zealand. It was a beautiful spot and I had taken lunch with me so that I did not have to go to the restaurant. Instead I found a wonderful spot on a hill above , where I could sit in peace and take in the fantastic scenery whilst enjoying the delicious sandwich with the freshly baked roll. One of the two geysers erupts every 3 - 8 minutes. It is fantastic to watch it building up to it.
From the geyser we went on to yet another highlight, the Icelandic horses. I had enjoyed every aspect of the day, but possibly this was best. I have seen waterfalls and geysersbefore but to see this cute Icelandic horses showing us their five different paces was fascinating. The family who run the horse farm have put together a show with music and the entire family takes part in this. The horses trot in a completely different way and it is evidently very comfortable to ride - the riders rode twice round the rink with the horse trotting and them carrying a glass of beer, which didn't spill.
The horses are docile, easy to train, lots of different colours, with very long thick manes and apparently they live twice as long as other horses. There were about 10 we could visit. So gorgeous.
I would have loved to put more photos of today, but I am really having problems publishing the blogs with so many pictures. Have to cut down. I do want to put this next one on, cos the word, presumably for toilets, really amuses me
We arrived back and were told to get on board asap as the captain had an important announcement to make. We all gathered ,in shock as we heard the news, as we had all had such an amazing day and weather was still great! I learned a lot about people that evening. The captain told us that a massive storm was moving quickly towards our proposed path with hurricane force winds in the middle. They had decided to changecourse slightly and to leave out a proposed stop on the Faroe islands to get to Germany, Helgoland in fact, out of the storm. He would leave asap and travel as fast as possible to try to stay on the edge of it, but still we would have some pretty terrible waves. I was scared to be honest as I am not used to boat travel, but many were angry they could not Stop where it had been planned. Others asked about getting their money back for the trips booked. How could they think about such things when all the captain wanted was to get us safely, and as comfortably as possible , back to shore.
My thoughts were also for Vera, a very important person for my family, who helped my mum bring my sisters and I up, who at 94 was finally leaving us. No chance of getting there to say goodbye. She died as I was writing this. It is impossible to get away from people on board to grieve unfortunately.
Tough days emotionally and physically.
Back on board. At lunchtime yesterday , we had our own geysers from the pool😳
And later I had to lie down , feeling ghastly, as wind strength reached 9.5 and the waves were huge, rolling in and slapping loudly against the sides of the boat making it heave , groan and shudder before it rolled side to side. The experience was rather similar to being in a massive earthquake lasting for half a day.
Anyway now it is a pleasant day , land is in sight and lifts and everything can be used again. Tomorrow we stop in Helgoland and then we head to Bremerhaven.
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