An Early Start To A Perfect Day

Snow Dragon On Her Way To Leirufjordur

This morning's 6am alarm was a necessary evil to be able to make it to Leirufjordur, the next fjord, on a rising tide. Leirufjordur has a shallow terminal moraine across its entrance with a few erratics. Our cruising guide described a back range using a waterfall and a mountain peak to avoid running aground. However, the clouds obscured the necessary peak making the range unusable. Frances tried to get the course by figuring it on the chart, though the stream was marked, it was unclear where the waterfall was.

We decided to guess our way through and Krystina slowly inched Snow Dragon into the fjord eyes glued to the depth sounder with Frances on the bow watching for rocks in the silty water. Our course ended up being correct and we passed safely between the rocks, with water to spare. Once anchored, we had breakfast including several cups of coffee and quite a few muffins. Forgoing our traditional tea for something a little more caffeinated helped us get through our morning meal but after we had eaten, we all fell asleep at the table.

After our impromptu nap, Frances and David made an attempt at hiking up to a tongue of the Dragajokull ice cap which took them through a beautiful valley meadow following a meandering ATV track across grassland. On th way an arctic skua tried to distract them from its nest site with increasingly desperate ploys and they watched a family of whooper swans and three cygnets rafting down the river. At the head of the valley an impassible wide, muddy, multiple-braided river blocked the path making the glacier unattainable, but it was still a delightful walk. The easy terrain and shortened walk meant that they returned to the dinghy earlier than expected and found that it was grounded from low tide. They sat on the beach basking in the sun watching the eider and long-tailed ducks on the fjord and waited for the tide to come up. When it did they were able to float the dinghy towards deeper water before making a choppy journey back to Snow Dragon.

After refueling on tea and chocolate brownies - and another brief nap - all three of us made our way to shore for an unexpectedly lengthy pre-dinner stroll. We decided to walk up a hill at the mouth of the fjord but the walking was so delightful that it ended up turning into a circumnavigation of the headland where we saw ptarmigan, ringed and golden plovers. Instead of hurrying back to the boat after our walk, we sat in a meadow bathed in the warm evening light surrounded by bog cotton and pink orchids, watching an eider duck teach her nine chicks how to dive.

Krystina And David Above Leirufjordur

For more photos please click on Leirufjordur Album.