Celebrating gay love in Reykjavik!

The mayor of Reykjavik!! Btw this is NOT a woman, but integration!! Love it!



Dikes on Bikes!!



Elding was represented!



Some more elding crew



White angel



Dark angel



A family event!



Every colour finds its match



the ice-queen of the north



Icland's best drag-queen



mister gay iceland!!!



the balloon dragon! the balloons were later released after the concert


This was one of my most fun days in Reykjavik!
There were 90.000 people watching the gay pride parade (this means MORE people turned up for this event than for national day and nearly 1/3 of Iceland's population) and it was one of the most colourful days I have seen!

Fun, happiness, acceptance and love were the main themes for this day and as you might have noticed in the photos, this message definitely came through!

The concert after the parade was amazing and free of course (as is nearly every concert on this Island) and we literally were standing in front of the stage, even though we came an hour late!!

The evening was danced away in various clubs, the best club being one with a slightly older audience (probably 45 and older) with music, which was absolutely amazing! We managed to teach some women the makarena when it came on, so the song finished off to about 10 or more women dancing in a row, all stretching out their hands and jumping about! IT WAS HILARIOUS!!

I had mum's old dress on (that i have reinvented a bit), which is kind of rock n roll, and it suited the evening perfectly, because everywhere we went, rock n roll seemed to be the music of choice!

3 am a quite exhausted but gloriously happy group drove back to Keflavik! A night to remember....

Some visuals..

Here are a few pictures of what we see when we are on the boat..or on the lighthouse (please note: not my pictures, but taken from our whale-watching boat):



A minke whale surfacing



A minke whale going for a deep dive (they arch their back)



Never seen that! But apparently it happens..



Sometimes around: white-beaked dolphins



And very rarely: a humpback whale!

Better late than never...

Very sorry for this extremely late update! Will try to be better in the future, as I am not quite sure how to put everything into one post…quite a bit has happened!

So, as this is a whale-research project, I have the feeling I have been updating you very much on my personal life, rather than focusing on the actual research we are doing. So here a few facts about my work:

Currently I am back on landbased and I have not worked one day so far (but I will come back to this later). First things first, I am a record holder! Yes, apparently the one thing I am quite good at is tracking whales. My current record is 68 tracks, meaning I followed a whale surfacing for 68 times before loosing it (this could be due to the animal simply not surfacing, as we stop looking for them after 10 minutes, but they can dive for 20 minutes; the second possibility is that there suddenly appear 1-5 other minke whales in the vicinity, making it virtually impossible to decide, which ‘your’ minke was). So yes, my record is 68! My first record was 61, but I broke it about 2 days later…to compare, the closest number of a college is 40 and our dear project leader Fredrik…has about 30! So yes, pure luck and patience helped me out, but of course raw talent is the basis ☺

So why are we currently not heading to the lighthouse? Well there a four reasons and you may take them apart and put them together however you want, but they all mean: no work!

1. Our car is broken! We have an old Volvo that since we arrived to Iceland has broken down 4 times (roughly estimating once every 1 week!). This time something is wrong with the clutch, making it impossible to change the gear…currently its in reverse!
2. The weather! Today is the first day that the weather would allow us to work (but due to the lack of car it does not really help us). The last couple of days there have been gales with speeds up to 20m/s! We can work at a maximum of 6m/s! Not the best conditions if 2 meters high waves are kind of hiding the minke whales…
3. The lighthouse we work on is being repainted! That means although some of us could work on it on Tuesday, as the scaffolding and the ropes were on the opposite side, this weekend ropes are covering pretty much every part of the sea, making it kind of difficult putting up any equipment, leave alone actually trying to look past the ropes!
4. Beloved buses! Yes, there are buses here in Keflavik and they are for free! But, they run about every 2 hours and weekends…well who would want to travel at the weekends?

So you can see, fate really does not want us to work! And yes, first it was quite nice to rest all day and do absolutely nothing except watch movies…but even me (a movie freak!) is slowly but surely reaching the limits of watching one movie after another!
These days the only thing we can do is go for hikes (I have 2 pair of shoes, both adorned with about 3-7 holes each and non-existing soles), play table-football (German: Kicker, Spanish: futbolin, Italian: something similar to Spanish) or (for the others), they can go to our little gym! Normally these days would call for a trip to Reykjavik, but the lack of a car kind of puts an end to this idea!

The only thing we are hoping for is that the actual owners of the car can manage to repair the car (the father of the owner is some sort of mechanic and has managed to repair it so far). Else there are going to be some lovely bus rides in the future!

So I might do a more detailed post tomorrow about the adventures of the WISP group outside of the work-life but here just a few facts (not in chronological order):

Went out on Wednesday evening to watch a very depressing football game, got drunk and met the bosses of Elding in a club.
Last week we went to the Inspired by Iceland concert and saw Damien Rice and Glen Hansard play live!

Robert Pattinson (for all those twilight fans) was on our whale-watching boat today!!! And Megan (the guide) got a kiss on the CHEEK!! (yes, I am stuck in landbased). This is actually quite a bizarre thing too, as Megan just did a Twilight marathon just 2 days ago and we all went to see the Eclipse movie yesterday, so for him to pop up today… kind of random!! I for some reason cannot believe that he will pop by the lighthouse any time soon, so apparently this is the second time I have missed my chance to see him (he was on the UBC campus to do some Twilight filming, while I was happily sitting in my room doing I don’t know what!).

Yesterday evening we met probably one of the richest men in Keflavik, if not in Iceland. He has rented out 2 apartments above us, as he is getting divorced with his second wife. He joined us for supper in our kitchen and told us he is moving out of his 440 m2 house, which he promptly showed us yesterday night! The boys have gone hiking with him today, as he is one of those people, who climbed the Everest with 50!

Next week I am going to be on landbased with the four guys...and the four guys only! The other two girls are going to be on the boat! Fun times ahead…

And last but not least, for all you Aberdeen people: Christoph has managed to arrive at the project! So that means we are currently 5 people sleeping in a one-bedroom apartment! Kind of depressing after seeing a mansion yesterday evening…

Hope everybody is holding up well!

Cheers, until a more detailed report about crazy adventures in Iceland!

A national day with non-nationals

On the 17th June it is National Day in Iceland, meaning there are loads of parades, concerts, candy for the kids and at the end of the day a bit of drunkenness…

We started off National Day at 5am in the morning, by heading to the lighthouse in bright sunshine (the first and until now, only time it has been sunny during my shift), to track some Minke whales. It was another first that day, as I managed to get 21 tracks of respiration data (simply noting down, when the whale surfaces) and about 12-15 tracks of the theodolite (gives you the longitude and latitude of the whale). So I must admit, I was very pleased with myself! On my first day I had hardly seen any whales and definitely did not have any useable tracks…

At 12pm we headed back to the apartment to let the guys take over, allowing us girls enough time to get real pretty for the evening. We used our time to have a well-deserved beauty sleep and about 10 minutes to actually get ready…but somehow it worked out! We were in Reykjavik at about 9ish, meaning we had enough time to meet up with everybody on the boat in the harbour and the head out into town to see the concerts. Plans did not quite work out; instead we spent a lot of time pre-drinking on the boat, heading into town after the concerts, meeting up with most people downtown, spending about 1 ½ hours in the bar, and finally heading back to the boat to drink some more! I would say we stayed in the true fashion of Icelandic people: pre-drink a lot at home to try to save some money in the bars (one beer costs about 5 euros here, cocktails make you even poorer!).

So yes national day past in blur, and I did not see much of the festivities, but it was great fun seeing everybody again, especially their drunken dancing on the boat…
Now we are back in Keflavik, working hard (more or less), getting up early or staying up late and taking a lot of afternoon snoozes.

Next week Fredrik and another volunteer are heading on to the boat, meaning it will just be us volunteers, having to sort out our shifts on our own and deciding when to go to the lighthouse and when not. This will be interesting…sleep…or work?
Cheers, until the battle of the conscience begins…

Knowledge is the food of the past, present and future: if you gain it, you will never go hungry!

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A cold in the cold...

A week is gone, and already I am feeling quite tired out! The cold I managed to get on Friday might not have helped and that currently my head feels like its locked in vice…

Saturday we (WISP) went on to the tour to see the glacial lagoon, which is in Jokulsarlon, (south-east of Iceland). Beautiful Icelandic scenery, lava-covered plains covered by a slight growth of moss, huge volcanoes! Quite a sight to see, as the landscape is so vast! We even passed Eyjafjallajokull, though one could not see very much as it was very cloudy! Apparently 1 or 2 weeks ago, one still had to wear masks to go through that area! Even on the bus!

For lunch we stopped in this ‘modern’ hotel in the middle of nowhere, which basically looked like a big, white container! There were only 2 meal options, either meat-soup or fish-soup (The Icelanders are very fond of their meat, while vegetarians are slightly frowned upon). One soup costs 1590 icelandic krone, which basically is around 12 euros! We had sandwiches and crips with us, so we did not try the soups, but I am not quite sure how good a soup can be that it is worth 12 euros?!

We stopped several times to look at absolutely magnificent waterfalls (one has a little path behind it, which we of course investigated). Finally after about 6h on the bus, we arrived at the lagoon, but were rewarded with this absolutely beautiful natural lake, which was filled with little icebergs. We even saw 2 seals swimming around! After about a 30 min. boat tour, slaloming our way past the icebergs and eating 1500-year old ice, it was back on the bus and pretty much straight back to Reykjavik (we stopped at another coffee place for supper and I even managed to afford some fries this time). So after a 14h tour, I can say that I have seen quite a bit of Iceland, but I paid quite a bit with my health…having a cold in 10 degrees Iceland with pharmacies not having any tablets against sinus pressure is not the best experience!

Yesterday, me and Mirjam went to the blue lagoon to relax, use all the free face masks that are found in the different areas of the lagoon and maybe even cure our colds (it didn’t work). It apparently does not even smell too bad once you are sitting in the lagoon (both of us were blessed with no smell at all), but once again there was a price to pay: my hair has gone totally weird with all the sulphur and no amount of conditioner seems to be helping! But it is a price I am willing to pay..over and over again!

After the blue lagoon, Fredrik picked me up, as I have now started land-based, so that means getting up at 5 in the morning shift, to be at the lighthouse at 6am! The second shift is between 1 and 6pm, which does not seem too bad, but that means you really miss the whole day! But maybe its worth it for that lovely lie-in? lets wait and see…

Cheers until I finally can breath and think straight again!

Fears fulfilled...

Yes, it is here...oh so hoped to never appear but it came in full force today! The seasickness!!

Today, at least according to the weather forecast, was supposed to a light wind, maybe no wind at all. But what did come today was the swell...as a myriam so nicely put it, the breath of the ocean! They are far more stable and directional than normal waves. And they are very constant..a constant rollercoaster that my stomach did not appreciate one bit! So I spent 2 1/2 hours of the 3h trip at the back of the boat, trying to survive!

So when we finally arrived back the only thing I managed to do was crawl into bed and stay there for about 2h until I felt half human again! Even now, over 10 hours later, I still feel the waves and my body seems to be bobbing up and down.

However, yesterday I had a fabulous day! WISP (aka the whale in sight project crew) came over in the afternoon as I was supposed to meet up with one of the people, who is in charge of the logbooks (in the end he was not even in reykjavik, but on a tour..). Fredrik and the others were supposed to arrive sometime in the morning, but did not arrive until midday, as once again the car broke down (this has been the 2nd time in about 2 days!) on the way from Keflavik. So yes, they had quite a stressful morning, trying to get the car to a garage or at least off the road as it was standing right behind the corner of a roundabout! not the best place to stay apparently!
In the end they managed to push/tow the car to the next petrol station and themselves got a bus into Reykjavik (which costs around 20 euros return, for a 45min drive each way!). When they finally arrived, exhausted and slightly frustrated, we got a drive from Dagny (who works in the office of the company) to the mall as I needed to get an icelandic sim-card. After it had rained pretty much all morning, it was a lovely surprise that as soon as we stepped out of the mall to walk back to the boat, the clouds parted and the sun shone upon us! Fortunes turned and we had a lovely day, walking through reykjavik, looking at the famous church (which btw is absolutely beautiful, outside and inside), and walking through the little alleyways! absolutely stunning is all i can say. And it was the perfect weather too, not too cold, not too warm, a little bit windy..all together a absolutely wonderful outing!

So even though today was not the best of days, fond memories of yesterday kept me going and I am looking forward to another trip tomorrow! Because it is officially going to be very windy tomorrw, all us 5 WISP crew members are heading to the south-east to a glacial lagoon! that means about 10 hours bus ride but apparently its worth it!

So eventful days is all I can say!

Cheers until I have done my first iceland trip!

our new theme song..

Just a short note that us crew members have now decided our theme song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8F3UE9qFsg

Enjoy :)

On a boat..

My first 2 days have passed in a flurry and I do not even know where to begin..

Yesterday was my first day on the whale-watching boat and apparently I was a lucky charm, as we saw all four of the most present animals in Flaxafloi bay: first some white-beaked dolphins, then some harbour porpoises, and on the way back to the harbour we came across a minke whale and… a humpback whale!! So what a start! They said it is really rare to see all four species and I noticed as much on my second trip of the day: We saw one minke whale..once! That’s all! It surfaced right in front of the boat, but then it was gone and lost forever! On our last trip we went out really far and in the end were rewarded by 2, maybe even 3 minke whales that surfaced about 10-15 times!

Now maybe I should say that I do not actually see much of the minke whales! At least not yet! What I am currently doing is the data write-up, meaning when a minke whale surfaces I have to mark the latitude and longitude with the gps. I also have to write down the time it surfaced and I note the horizontal angle (which is used to calculate the distance of the whale). Next to me, Valeria (another volunteer in Fredrik’s project) is frantically taking pictures of the whale and using another device called the range-finder, while shouting ‘UP’ at me as soon as the whale surfaces, so that I can take all my measurements. So yes, maybe I should rephrase my experiences to: I know there is a minke whale next to the boat and sometimes I even see it for about a millisecond, before I hastily start pressing buttons and writing away. Next week however, I will start to take the pictures and use the range-finder so from then on I might even see something of the minkes.
However, not all is bad! The other 3 species I can watch, film and enjoy as much as I like! And that for free and 3 times a day!
So after around 10 hours of work (9 hours on the boat and 1 hour putting all the data on to the computer) I can tell you I was thoroughly shattered. When I finally went to bed it was one of those moments: your head touches the pillow and wham, you are in dreamland!

Today was not quite as exciting as we only did the morning tour. During midday the weather went from bad to worse and the wind picked up, so we decided it was not worth the effort to go out, as the chance of getting good data minimizes greatly with big waves and the equipment is not allowed to get wet. And this is why I am now sitting in the Captain’s office, writing this blog!

Cheers until I finally get to see the beauties of Reykjavik!

There...

I cannot believe it but I am finally here!! In Iceland! Ready to start a new chapter in my life...
I first was driven to an absolutely lovely (even if slightly small) flat that will be our home for the landbased work for the next 3 months.

Ok, quick explanation. There are two places, where our little Minke whale group (I think from now on I might refer to us as the WISP - whale in sight project) is mainly on the look-out for whales. There is boat-based, meaning we will spend our life on 2 boats in the harbour of Reykjavik. The first boat is the whale-watching boat, on which we will be from 9am (first tour starts) until...not actually quite sure until when. I am guessing, as there are 3 tours per day, each lasting about 3 hours and always 1 hour being between the tours, I will probably finish at 8pm. So eleven hours of joy! (Mathematical genius as you might have noticed! Good that you don’t know how long that took me to calculate though!). After which we will move to the second boat, which apparently is moored right next to the whale-watching boat, basically acting as our little sleeping vessel. Well I say little, but currently there are 4 people (each having their own cabin) and apparently 6 people in total can sleep on it. And on top of that there is a kitchen, a lounge, an ‘office’, a museum! So not so small after all I am guessing!

The second WISP hangout is land-based; near Keflavik to be exact. We are sleeping in an old American Army base that was turned into student apartments for the studious people at the University of Reykjavik. The apartment has 2 walk-in closets, is en-suite, has a little TV and is wireless! So really, it’s not the hard life! And before you ask, yes there is a kitchen - its communal, but to be honest, currently I think there will be very little communal get togethers, as the place seems pretty deserted. We will drive out in our own little car to the nearby lighthouse, on which, right at the top, we will be waiting, watching, and hoping that a black/white strip will appear on the horizon…
It is now nearly 7.30am and it its looking slightly overcast outside, so hopefully there won’t be torrents of rain on my first trip out on the whale-watching boat! And even if, we apparently have some really fashionable red and black full body suits on the whale-watching boat that we wear if its too cold/windy/rainy/going to fall of the boat type of weather! Ok, others are up, it is time to rock and roll (quite literally in a boat-kind of way)!

Cheers until I have felt the splash of the water on my face!

Nearly there...

Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for the past 4 months! I am finally flying to Iceland!!

Flight is leaving at 2.20 pm from Glasgow and that will mean I will be off in a cloud of volcanic ash, flying away for 2 1/2 hours after which I will land in Reykjavik, with hopefully an expectant Fredrik at the gate!

For those who do not quite know what the heck I am doing in Iceland, a country that really has not gotten the best press lately and some people seem to be slightly annoyed with:

I am sailing away on a whale-watching boat, watching whales every day! Jealous yet?!

Well to be absolutely honest that is only half the job!

This is my Honour's Project, as I am coming into my 4th/last/Honour's year and all science students have to do a project. And what better project could I be doing than going off with my flatmate (Fredrik, who is a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen, studying Minke whales and the effect of whaling an whale-watching) and about 5 other volunteers and trying to figure out what affects the distribution of Minke whales.

To be exact, I am looking at how other cetaceans (Humpback whales, Killer whales, etc) influence where Minke's are found during the feeding season. Fishermen have for years been talking about the strange phenomenon that a large proportion of the Minke whale population that usually feeds in the south of Iceland, seem to vanish to the north when other cetaceans come along. But really, there is no reason at all for them to move away, seeing they don't have the same prey as other cetaceans, other whales do not predate them..

so they might not be one happy family, but they are not screaming and fighting relations!

So by computerizing the data of the log books of the whale-watching company Elding (situated in the habour of Reykjavik) that reach as far back as 1995, I will be having a good look at their cetacean sightings and how the distribution may have changed throughout the seasons/years.

So yes, researching on a whale-watching boat may seem glamorous, but believe me, to me it sounds like a lot of hard work! But hey, what you put up with to work with those amazing and beautiful creatures of the ocean!

But to make you all jealous again, yes, a lot of my time I will actually be standing at the rail of the boat, watching whales passing and leaping by and recording a bit of data for Fredrik!

So as I like to say: good times!

I hope this gave you a slight insight into my future at sea and I will keep you updated on my way to becoming a marine mammal specialist!

Cheers until the waves splash against my new bedroom!