“Viking Sushi Adventure” and Kirkjufell Mountain (with waterfalls!)

On our last day on the Snaefellsnes peninsula we took a boat ride called the “Viking Sushi Adventure”.  The boat departs from Stykkisholmur, the same harbor where we arrived via ferry two days prior.  There are hundreds of little islands in the area, with plenty of bird life, including Puffins.

It was interesting to see the reaction of several of the tourists on the boat who had not yet seen Puffins.  They were freaking out when we pulled right up to the edge of this island.  I was rather surprised the captain got as close as he did.

Many of the islands were mostly composed of the basalt columns we have seen everywhere in Iceland.

We pulled up next to another island, with mostly gulls on the cliff face.

The youngsters made quite a racket whenever the parents brought back food.

You can hear they screaming “mine!, mine! mine!” here.

Reminded me of this!

This little bay was the hiding place of Erik the Red, a Norse explorer, who ended up in Iceland when his father was exiled from Norway in the year 960 for murdering several people.  Remember, these were Vikings.  Erik followed in his fathers footsteps and committed a couple of murders himself, for which he was exiled from Iceland for 3 years in 982.

After hiding out in this bay, he eventually was forced to leave Icelandic waters, and sailed to Greenland and spent his exile there.  Erik’s son was Leif Erikson, the actual Viking who discovered the America’s (what he called Vinland).  Below is a short video showing how many birds call this spot home.  It was like a Hitchcock movie!

The next part of the cruise is the reason they call it a “sushi” adventure.  They put a dredge over the side and drug it along the bottom of the bay, about 200 feet down, for about 5 minutes.

Then they pulled the dredge up.

I should have managed a better spot for the damn video.  In any case, here is a shot of the contents of the dredge.  The crew was busy opening up all of the scallops and sea urchins.  While there weren’t a lot of scallops, what they did catch were delicious, and couldn’t have been any fresher!

There were plenty of crabs mixed in.  It was a pretty cool experience, but don’t expect to get a lot of seafood from this…you are still going to need to have lunch back on shore.

Our last stop on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula was a set of waterfalls right in front of Kirkjufell Mountain, considered the most beautiful mountain in Iceland.

The waterfalls are called Kirkjufellsfoss, and while they aren’t large, they are quite beautiful.

Even worthy of a selfie!

As well as a video.

Kirkjufell is Icelandic for “Church Mountain”.  The mountain was featured in Game of Thrones Season 6 and 7.  We really need to go back and start watching that show…we only made it through a season and a half or so.

One last sunset, feauturing Kirkjufell.  This was the view from our guest house.

Next up, we travel to the famous Blue Lagoon, and spend our last night in the excellent Silica Hotel.