Sue's Travels: First Day At Sea

I woke with a start and checked my watch. It was almost 8:30am when the fire drill was scheduled. I dressed as quickly as possible and headed out. I had to come back for my life jacket. The drill involved going to the theatre on the 4^th deck and listening to a lecture on what was to be done. We then headed to the outside deck to pass by the life boat, which holds about 150 people. Fortunately the dining room had not closed so I was able to get breakfast.

After breakfast, I sat on one of the outside decks for a while and read. There was a lecture scheduled for 10:30 which I didn’t want to miss. It turned out the original speaker had to disembark for health reasons connected with his wife with the result that the other professor spoke. His subject was early Icelandic history, society and culture. Apparently Iceland was the penultimate land to be inhabited by people. For a short while, Irish and Scots Monks lived in caves, but when the Vikings came, they left because they did not wish to live with pagans. Iceland was settled by members of powerful Norwegian families around 870 CE. These families had a dispute with the Norwegian king. Icelandic culture was rural. No one could become rich farming in Iceland because the soil is poor and the growing season is short. It was and still for the most part is animal husbandry. Cities did not develop until the 18^th century. The Icelandic society was unlike anything in existence at the time. There were chieftains to whom particular farmers owed loyalty. When a problem developed, the chieftain would convene the locals to discuss the issue and try to resolve it. If they could not resolve it on the local level, they would appeal to the “Althing”, which was a national council to try to resolve the issue. There was no method of enforcement, but people tended to respect the decisions of the “courts”. It was a relatively democratic system that worked well for a few hundred years.

After lunch, which I ate out on deck, we boarded a bus for a tour of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. Most of the terrain is volcanic and occasionally, you will see weird shaped rocks, which with a little imagination can be turned into magical figures. There were several optional hikes, which I took part in. There were not long or difficult, but there were a few places where I had some trouble owing to my fear of heights and poor balance. We returned to the ship with an hour to prepare for the Gala evening involving the Captains Welcome reception.

The Reception was pleasant. The dinner was fixed, but of high quality. I had a pleasant evening until the rocking and rolling of the ship got to me. I spoke with one of the ship’s officers and was taken to the medical office where I was given a patch. The price of the patch was 20 Euros which is about $30. I felt a little queasy until I went ashore the next day on Grimsey.