We left Reykjavik at 1 pm on Tuesday Aug 4 under cloudy skies.  The itinerary said we would have scenic cruising in Berufjordur as we sailed away, but the fog rolled in and we saw white sky and grey water on both sides of the ship. The further we sailed from Reykjavik the worse the weather got and we were pitching and rolling during dinner.

In the morning we woke to high waves and thick cloud.  The captain came on the intercom to tell us that the high winds and rough seas may affect our stop in Djupivogur, which is a small village on the southeast coast of Iceland.  Djupivogur is a tender port with limited good anchorage offshore so the captain was unsure if they would be able to safely secure the ship or use the tenders to take passengers to shore. He said he would sail in and assess the situation.

We have cruised enough that we knew our stop was going to be cancelled.  There is no way the tenders would be able to ferry people back and forth even without the issue of having a secure anchorage for the ship.  And, sure enough, a couple of hours later the captain came on again and informed us the port call was cancelled.

Aug 5 was our 43^rd wedding anniversary so on Tuesday night John ordered two bottles of wine to be brought to our table at dinner.  The eight of us have a great time making jokes and telling stories.  And I guess we got too rowdy for a nearby guy because he complained that we were too loud and it was hard for him to enjoy a nice dinner.  Oops.  Some of the people at other tables looked quite surprised so I guess we don’t bother them.  Of course, several of the people at our table made comments about it apparently being a bad thing to have fun, but I think that fellow will request a table on the other side of the dining room from now on.

We tried to keep it quiet that it was our anniversary but our waiter must have overheard the well wishes or the table toast and after dessert we were presented with a large slab of cake with Happy Anniversary on it.  The Indonesian waiters sing a local celebration song for people’s birthdays and anniversaries and all the nearby fellows came over and sang for us.

The icing on the cake, so to speak, was free champagne: not because it was our anniversary but because we had our port of call cancelled.  Everyone in the dining room received a glass of champagne compliments of the captain – well HAL really, but the gesture was appreciated because I like champagne.

Aug 6 was to be a day at sea on our way to Geiranger, Norway so with the cancellation of Djupivogur, Iceland the captain has lots of time to get there.  The sky was still cloudy and the water was dark rolling waves but they were not as high as yesterday.  After breakfast we were able to walk 2 miles on the promenade deck and not get cold.  Internet was down in the morning, but in the afternoon I finally managed to publish my blog for our second day in Reykjavik.

We are now 8 hours ahead of Pacific time back in BC and we will be setting our clocks ahead another hour tonight so as to be on Norway time in the morning. Being this far north really shortens the length of time between zones.  The ship usually changes the time at noon so we just skip from 12 to 1.  This only creates a problem if you forget and go up for a late lunch to find that the Lido is closed because it is now after 2 pm when you thought it was 1. BUT – you needn’t fret too much because the pizza stand is open all afternoon and the taco bar is loaded with goodies to choose from and the hamburger and hot dogs can be ordered anytime – not to mention room service, which is available all the time.  As you see we don’t suffer much onboard.

Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow.  The sail-in to Geiranger is supposed to be gorgeous with soaring mountains right to the water’s edge.  The captain said we will be sailing into the fjord about 4:30 am and by 7 the scenery should be lovely.  He expects to dock at 9 so we can go ashore by 10.  Not too sure if I will get up that early but you never know.  Usually if my brain registers information like that my internal alarm clock will wake me up even if I don’t plan to get up and then, since I am awake, I get up anyway.  Tomorrow will tell.