I am now back from my holiday to Iceland which was just as amazing as I thought it would be! If you are looking for a holiday destination, I highly recommend it! The country is beautiful and the people are so lovely and welcoming!
I have split my post into 3 as it was very long! I hope you all enjoy my account of our adventures in the land of Fire and Ice!
Day 3: Whales and Squishmallows!
For our second (and last!) full day we had booked a 3 hour whale watching tour that departed from Reykjavík harbour and went around Faxaflói bay. The tour was conducted by a marine biologist who knew all about the different whale species that we might encounter as well as other marine and bird life. I was a bit concerned I would be sea sick as the last time I went on a boat I didn’t feel great, but luckily the water was calm and I didn’t really notice we were out on a boat at all! When we left the harbour everyone crowded up to the front of boat at the top, so we decided to go the right hand side instead where we could get a proper clear view.
The first thing we saw were loads and loads of jelly fish just floating along on the waves! We also saw some puffins and guillemots with their babies! Our first sighting was of some harbour porpoises. They moved so quickly but luckily we were in the right position to see them go passed! As we got further out into the bay we started to spot minke whales and white-beaked dolphins. It was such an amazing sight to see them and they didn’t seem worried about the boat at all. We didn’t get too close as the tour kept at a distance and only time they were close was when they approached us. The minkes didn’t really but at one point the dolphins swam right under the boat!
We took a few videos but I’m not able to share them here as I don’t have a video plan. I did take some screen shots which are the pics you can see.
When the tour had ended we walked back to the hotel and had some lunch. This was our last planned excursion so we had a free afternoon. Sarah had found a store that sold squishmallows and we both decided to go on a squishmallow / toy hunt! It was supposed to be an hour and a half walk there from the hotel so we thought it would be good for seeing some more the city too. Unfortunately it took us along mainly roads, although one part had a cut through some beautiful and terrifying woodland that gave us Blair Witch vibes! We also got a little lost at the final part of the journey due to Google maps fail but eventually we arrived! They had a pretty decent selection of mallows. I was so happy to find my ISO Khaled the snake! He was super expensive (£36 / $44) but I would probably have to pay that to import him from the US anyway so I didn’t mind too much. Sarah grabbed one of him too. We also got some toys for Georgie and I got a Ty beanie baby rooster called Rory!
On the walk back there was a slight concern when our phones’ batteries went taking with them the route map, but luckily we weren’t too far out and we found some more shops on the way back to the hotel too!
Once we got back we had the concern of how to get the Khaleds home as they are 12 inch ones and were about as big as our suitcases! Luckily they squished down on top of our luggage and provided good padding for anything fragile too!
(The Khaleds looked pleased about being chosen until they found out they were being crushed into suitcases!)
So this concludes my Iceland holiday! Day 4 was just travelling (4am start to the airport) and so nothing much happened apart from an hour wait at Gatwick for a train (thanks Southern rail!). We were so so tired but loved every minute of it! Iceland is definitely somewhere I would love to visit again and hopefully stay a bit longer next time too!
Shari Sakurai 
I’ve never been on a whale watching tour. I bet it was so informative and exciting!
It was! Seeing them in their natural environment was amazing! I definitely want to go again!