Sailor's Day


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Went downtown for Sailor's Day, or weekend really. This is a weekend when ALL the icelandic boats are in town, and all the sailors have the day off. They had cruises around the harbour on a big trawler, packed to the gills with people, tours of the coast guard rescue boat, mock rescues by both helicopter and zodiac in the harbour, jumping castles, food, all sorts of goodies.

They had a tent where they were demoing new technologies they'd just bought, like some of their new mapping and vessel management stuff, some people with a rock sample for a geothermal spring on the seabed off the north coast, bbq'd shellfish, (which were quite tasty, and only 100kr each) waffles with strawberry jam and whipped cream, fairyfloss, all the fun you could ask for.

The highlight for me personally though was the line of about 40 fish packing bins, all full of ice, and with a couple of samples of all the fish they pull up in their nets. All with labels, which I wish I could have read a bit better! Most of them were showing the signs of being out and being poked by every little kid that went paste (and big kids like me) but it was still really neat.

The deepsea fish were amazing, I'd never seen them in real life before, and they are sooo different. They have very weird skin too, more like pineapple skin, smooth, with pointy bits spaced evenly. And of course, all the long appendages and wicked teeth and so forth. Lots of fun.

The mock rescues were fun too. Such a smooth and fast operation. I'm sure it's a lot different when the seas are running 20feet, instead of flat water in the middle of town, but it was still neat just how fast they could get into position and pull a man off the deck of a moving boat, or out of the water.

The chopper then buzzing the crowd and playing silly buggers was cool too. I've never seen choppers playing, they're normally far to business like, but this guy really buzzed the crowd, full volume, full wind. Neat!

A little yellow biplane that I've seen playing around a few times already also came along for a show, buzzing everything in sight and showing off.
lupines as far as the eye can see

lupines as far as the eye can see

Fishing boat

Fishing boat

Týr, coast guard boat

Týr, coast guard boat

Big empty boat tied up

Big empty boat tied up

Roundnose Grenadier (Sléthalli)

Roundnose Grenadier (Sléthalli)

Spotted Wolffish (Hlýri)

Spotted Wolffish (Hlýri)

Deepsea Angler (Sædjöfull)

Deepsea Angler (Sædjöfull)

Anglerfish (skötuselur)

Anglerfish (skötuselur)