Day 7 continued... never a dull moment!

Well...we did it! We found REAL puffins! We took this boat (the little one in front, not the grey one in back) out to an island about 15 minutes outside of Reykjavík. There we saw 1000s of puffins! They were mostly flying, all around us, with flocks in the water and more on the island. It was neigh impossible to get good pictures, as they’re surprisingly small, we couldn’t get close enough before they flew away, and the boat was rocking pretty heavily in the substantial waves. 

So, you’ll have to zoom in to see how adorable they are!

Here’s a flock on the water, just lifting up. I got a video of them flying past us, but videos won’t post on this blog. 

These are such funny little birds! They’re small, a little under a foot tall. They’re really bad flyers, so they have to flap like crazy to get lift-off(and that always flying into the wind), and keep flapping to stay in the air. I saw one trying to lift off, get caught by a wave crest, and take a nose dive into the wave! Awe...

They are, however, terrific divers. They dive up to 60 meters to get their food- sand eels, which are about 5” long.They catch bunches with each dive. 

They spend most of the year up in the Greenland Sea up North of Iceland, out in the water. In late May, they come to land to breed and nest. They dig 2 roomed burrows...one room for the single egg they lay, the other for all the....rubbish. The mom and dad mate for life, which is 20-25 years, but they only get together during this time. The dad arrives first at the same nest each year, cleans it up and does any remodeling needed, then she arrives. After she hatches their egg, they take turns till it hatches. Then....get this....after it grows to maybe a teenager (late August), they bring it a whole pile of food...and leave! As soon as it’s finished with this stockpile, it must leave the burrow to hunt for itself!  They all seem to leave within a few days. Well, their reputation of super cute is well earned, for sure! 

Here’s the Harpa preforming arts center from the water. The windows kind if resemble fish scales! It’s still one the most impressive buildings I’ve ever seen. They give tours, but I’ll have to wait till our next visit.

As we’re walking back to the car, we spot a volcano museum. They have a couple of films we watch...one on the formation of Iceland, the other about a couple of recent eruptions. You’ll remember the eruption of 2010 that stopped European air traffic. Iceland has eruptions every 5 years or so. People here are as accustomed to them as Foridians are hurricanes! 

So now we’re just driving around town...and run into the Geothermal heated beach. The beach is manmade, in a sheltered part of the shoreline, and is heated by excess geothermal water from the city’s heating system. 

The circle under water is ‘the hot tub’. Evidently it’s only heated in the day, and we’re here after 8:00pm. 

We’re back at our hotel for a nightcap before turning in. I’m going to try closing the curtains early and trick myself into thinking it’s nighttime so I can get to sleep. Otherwise, I’m likely to be up quite late...again!