[Because of the itinerary change we missed the planned stop at Heimaey Island, with a hike to the 1973 lava field and an optional climb to the top of the Eldfell crater.  I don’t think we missed much new, because we had climbed the Hverfjall crater and we had seen the documentary about the 1973 eruption at the Volcano Museum in Reykjavík. Ironically, after initially looking for cruise itineraries with no sea days we have now come to cherish them – especially after hiking 5-6 miles a day!]

It was really rough getting ready for and walking to breakfast.  DW sat at a table with a couple of Brits before going to our Backroads 9:30 meeting on tomorrow’s agenda.

DW went to the documentary Chasing Ice (James Balog, photographer) before lunch.  I watched Joret’s first Iceland talk [of 4] on TV – he was OK, but I decided not to watch the others.

The afternoon entertainment was a screening of the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – not a very good film, but apparently it was shot in Iceland.  [We skipped it.]

After lunch with a couple from Fort Lauderdale, we took full advantage of our day at sea—lazing, reading, dozing.

The seas began to calm down as Le Champlain headed due south along the western coast of Iceland [and the wind at our back].

The Captain’s Farewell was held in the Theater with entertainment, champagne and hors d’oeuvres.  DW chatted with a couple currently from Sydney but originally from South Africa.

The second gala dinner followed around 7:30 with no sign of the Captain joining us – we all hoped he was on the bridge with a steady hand on the controls! The ‘classic’ tasting menu started out with a crab amuse bouche, followed by scallop ceviche, then shrimp, then tenderloin of lamb.  It was topped off with a rich chocolate confection with whipped cream.  It was the first night that the four of us did not close the DR.

We parted company with Kathy and Rick and tried to catch the end of the show.  [We had missed all the entertainment so far, thanks to the great table conversations.]  It turned out to be the piano soloist, playing very somber music – so we went back to our cabin to catch up on email etc. On a light note, every day Backroads gave us a snapshot of the upcoming day’s activities and at the top it would say Day One, Day Two, etc. [in Icelandic].  Today’s was Day Six or ‘Dagur Sex.’  We had a lot of fun with that, especially quizzing the guides as to why there was no late-night ‘action.’  Maybe it was because none of us had remembered to bring our daggers…

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