Monthly Archives: July 2018

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4-5 July 2018:
Reykjavik, Iceland:
A Hot Place with a Cold Name

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We have made it to the always surprising city of Reykjavik, the capital of the island nation of Iceland.

Iceland is a hot place with what seems like a cold name.

To those guests leaving us here in the middle of the North Atlantic, I wish you safe travels until we meet again. To those joining us, welcome aboard.

We’re going to make a circle of the Ring Road, by ship, and then onward to the Shetland and Orkney islands, then eventually back to London.

Here’s our plan for the next voyage:

When we arrived, I went on a tour with guests on the Golden Circle, a tour that includes samples of much of the wonders of Iceland. The sun broke through as we arrived at Geysir, the source of the word geyser.

Here is some of what we saw:

All photos by Corey Sandler, 2018. All rights reserved.

Let’s get something out of the way right at the start: Iceland in the English sense is a misunderstanding of the Icelandic name of the country.

The proper name of the place is Ísland, which does not mean a land covered with ice. It simply means “Island.”

I said Iceland is hot. There are hot springs and geysers, many active volcanoes, and lava fields cover much of the land.

And when it does get cold, the majority of the nation’s heating comes from geothermal sources, piped hot water that directly or indirectly heats homes and buildings.

Why is Iceland hot?

In Geologic terms, it sits directly on the rift between the Eurasian and North American plates. Half the country is heading east and the other wants to go west.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge moves about 2.5 centimeters or 1 inch per year; that doesn’t sound like much but we’re talking about a huge amount of rock pushing and grinding almost constantly.

The hotspot in that plume funnels hot stuff from the interior of the planet, which formed the island about 16 to 18 million years ago.

Iceland has 30 active volcanic systems, of which 13 have erupted since the settlement of Iceland in 874.

The combination of the plume and the moving plates brings volcanos, hot springs, geysers…and tourists.

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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3 July 2018:
Djupivogur, Iceland:
Arriving in Europe’s Wild West

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The nation of Iceland is a large island with a pretty small population: about 332,500 people spread over 40,000 square miles or 103,000 square kilometers.

The westernmost country of Europe, Iceland is also the most sparsely populated country of Europe.

Our first port of call is a fairly large town, with a tiny population: 437 square miles, or 1,133 square kilometers, with about 456 residents when everyone is home.

Silver Wind, our lovely small ship, will more than double the local population when our guests and crew arrive.

Vatnajökull

On this trip I went to the Vatnajökull glacier, the largest (by volume) glacier in Europe, covering about 10 percent of the nation of Iceland.

I wish I could tell you of grand views, but we were engulfed in fog all day. But the vastness of the glacier was all around us.

Here is some of what we saw:

All photos by Corey Sandler 2018, all rights reserved

The Norse and the Vikings get most of the publicity, but they were most likely not the first settlers of Iceland.

It is pretty clear that the first outsiders to set up habitation on this cold and bleak island were Irish monks, probably about the year 795, according to an Irish scribe named Dicuil.

The Irish came over from the Faroe islands.

But these monks don’t get the credit as first settlers, because they were, you know, monks. Celibate. Monastic. Monks.

No wives, no children, no offspring. That’s the story, and we know no more.

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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1 July 2018:
Scrabster, Scotland, UK:
The Royal Fixer-Upper in the Far North

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Scrabster is very close to the top of the mainland of Scotland, at 58.6 degrees north latitude.

We docked under a spectacular sky, reminding us–at least in metaphor–that we were near the top.

The small settlement is still an important fishing port of Scotland. Population is only a few dozen, with more living in nearby Thurso.

Scrabster’s name is derived from Old Norse, meaning Skerry Town. A Skerry is a small rocky island, too small for habitation.

As the closest mainland port to the oil and gas activity west of Shetland and on the Atlantic Frontier, Scrabster is deeply involved in the logistics of the offshore oil industry in the North Sea.

Today I went with guests on a trip to visit the Castle of Mey, in Caithness, about 6 miles or 10 kilometers west of John o’ Groats.

THE CASTLE OF MEY

All photos by Corey Sandler, 2018. All rights reserved.

The lands of Mey belonged to the Bishops of Caithness. The Castle of Mey was built between 1566 and 1572.

In 1952, the place was in a semi-derelict state when it was purchased by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the widow of King George VI, who had died earlier in the year.

The Queen Mother had the castle restored as a holiday home, removing some of the 19th-century additions, and reinstating the Castle’s original name.

The Castle of Mey was the only residence directly owned by Queen Elizabeth. She regularly visited in August and October from 1955 until her death in March 2002.

In the Netflix television series, The Crown, which claims to be something close to historically accurate, and is in any case very entertaining, we see the widowed queen finding the castle and deciding the isolated, gloomy, falling-down place was perfect to lift her spirits.

The castle is now in a trust, and open to the public in the summer except for a period of ten days at the end of July and the beginning of August, when Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay—that would be Charles and Camilla—usually come for a stay.

On our way back to the ship we stopped at Dunnet Head, which is the northernmost point of the United Kingdom. It looks directly across the sound at the Orkney Islands with a view of the Old Man of Hoy.

We are due to visit the Orkney Islands in about 10 days on our way back from Iceland.

DUNNET HEAD

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS