Isafjodur has its own brewery! Not bad for a little town of 2736 souls. But there’s definitely nothing much else. There is a supermarket, a big hardware store that’s half empty. A hotel or two. A few mediocre restaurants. They waterski in the harbor at midnight though. And what is supposed to be the marina contains a bunch of derelict fishing boats. One of those Kincsem is tied up to - no need to adjust the lines for the tides - thank you!

Downtown Isafjodur

At the fuel dock with the crew ready for action

The place has a frontier feel. All the sailboats here - other than Kincsem - are bound for Greenland. The East Coast, of course. The East Coast is full of glaciers, bergs, icebears, ice and more ice. The West Coast is for tourists, the East Coast is for serious explorers. There is the inevitable French aluminum boat that looks like a wreck. Two young, decimated chain-smoking guys are working on it day and night. Is that forestay back on? Two young woman are watching. There are also two Dutch bulletproof boats that seem ready to roll - but they’re just waiting for the ice to clear. So nobody is around. There are our old Finnish friends from Cleopatra whom we first met on the way over from the Faroes. They have decided to postpone Greenland to next year since one of their crew got seasick. Really? So they’re pulling the boat out and storing it ashore for the winter - in NW Iceland!!! They’re building their own cradle because nobody else has done this before. Good luck to them! And then there’s a Brit in his plastic Bestaevaer (a Dutch expedition boat) - also going to Greenland. He’s just tried and had to come back because the ice was too thick. Why not aluminum?

Well this fascinating place is also the place where Richie and Siobhan are getting off and Ron and John are getting on. So off we are for the sail down the West Coast. First stop Sudereyri, just 25 miles down the fjord. First place where the harbor master told us in no uncertain terms that we were NOT welcome. Luckily, I can’t hear well in the bubble. So we went alongside a humungous aluminum catamaran from Belgium where we were soon to be joined by another OCC boat from the Hamble called Henry. It was so difficult to get ashore from the catamaran that we launched the dinghy ….. Well, the place has a decent swimming pool but no potatoes to be had. That evening, our whiskey stores got decimated among the sailors in our little 3 boat bubble.

Alongside the big cat in Sudereyri

Next day another nice sail to Talknafjodur where we anchored in front of the town. No swimming pool for me - I started feeling a little under the weather. But drinks in the cockpit of Henry. The next day was a layday - sunshine and moderate temperatures!

Entering Talknafjodur with a fresh following breeze

One of very few puffins who didn’t dive when Kincsem passed by

Talknafjodur anchorage

Our next stop Grundarfjodur was spectacular for more than one reason. When we entered, a large green pilon greeted us which we understand features prominently in Game of Thrones. A prominent waterfall splashes down just outside town. Which explains the number of tourists in this place.

Spectacular approach to Grundafjodur

But on a more practical angle, the place has 4 meters tidal range and a wall of tires to tie up to. This makes for a difficult time. We use fender boards - long boards that hang on the rail and are supposed to keep the dirt of the old tires off the pristine topsides of Kincsem. We hang fenders between the boards the topsides. But then you also don’t want to keep adjusting the docklines all day and all night long. So we use extra long lines so they’re just long enough at low tide for the boat not to hang off them. This means that the boat is pretty loosely tied up and if the wind is blowing off the dock, the boat is floating off the dock by several meters much of the time. Pretty difficult to haul the boat up to the dock if you want to reach one of the vertical steel ladders provided to get off! At low tide, there’s not much of a view either! Still, the real problems start if the wind presses the boat on the dock and the tide is rising. Then the fender boards can hang up under the tires as the boat rises from one row to the next row of tires. Luckily we didn’t have that situation until it was time to depart!

On the tire wall at medium tide

Touri attractions in Grundafjodur