Saturday, September 19, 2009

ICELAND SAGA: Even More Puffins!!

Even more amazing than the beach at sunset was the beach at sunrise the next morning.  We strolled along the coast at 7 a.m., seeing only one other person--and she was at the other end of the beach.















A view of the farm from the beach:





The sheep that roamed the farm.  Those ladies have the life.







This was the view from our room.




In order to leave Breidavik, we had to take a bus that only comes once on Monday, once on Wednesday, and once on Saturday (this was a Wednesday).  We were relying on the owners of the farm to call the bus driver and have him pick us up from the guesthouse.  Upon checking with the woman at the front desk the day before, we were told the bus driver had not yet answered his phone.  If he didn't pick us up we were basically stuck, so this was a bit nerve racking.  By morning the bus driver had apparently been reached, as we were told he was coming to pick us up later that day.  We waiting in the eating area, finishing up post cards and reading books over coffee and tea.  Really good coffee.

There was a refrigerator of drinks to buy, like this orange drink.




Joe hopes the bus comes.  Joe sees the bus.  Joe is relieved to be on the bus.









To our delight, the bus route involved going back to the bird cliffs so everyone could walk around for 90 minutes and look at the puffins before moving on to the next town.  The SEVERAL pictures are all about the puffins.  They are just cute as the dickens!




















Oh, hello!  Have you been here this whole time?



Aw, nuzzling.  The third puffin looks on with approval.









Be seeing you!




Hey, wait for me!













Feeding.  Mmmm, regurgitated food...




I know this is totally gross, but I just HAD to show this.  So, to reiterate, we were on a cliff in remote Iceland.  Tourists were around, but we saw only a couple dogs, and they were small.  And there were poops this large EVERYWHERE!!  Everywhere.  WHERE did they come from??  I can't imagine it all being from dogs.  Who would bring large dogs to the top of a cliff around hundreds of adorable and vulnerable puffins?  I have no explanation.





Ok, back to the puffins.




This is my Why did I did I have the camera turned vertical?! picture.  Aaargh!!





I brought you a flower.




I brought you several flowers.




I brought YOU a bunch of flowers!











It started to rain, but this little guy decided to tough it out.







This one was not happy about the rain.  Sir, it was just sprinkling!



So, those are the puffins!  I hope it was worth the wait.  I can easily say that our two days in Breidavik spent on the farm, the beach, and with puffins were my two favorite days of the trip.  On to Isafjodur!

4 comments:

  1. Awesome, awesome photos, Julie!! I'm so jealous of your puffin sightings! Looks like you had an amazing trip-- glad you had the opportunity.

    P.S. Common Guillemots are black and white, so I'm pretty sure the previous post was a picture of common gulls

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  2. Hey Julie,
    I'm so glad to see your dream trip came true! I had been wondering about you. Your photos are gorgeous, what an amazing looking place.
    See you 'round EtsyVeg...
    Julie :)

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  3. Who would have thought pictures of puffins could be so entertaining? Your captions are excellent!

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  4. Your captions crack me up. Did you use a big fancy zoom lens for those puffin pictures? They are so cool! You should see the pictures of puffins I have from Maine. The birds are like tiny specks I have to point out to people.

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