Driving from Reykjavik this morning toward the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, I began to have my doubts. The scenery was nothing like we’ve seen for the past week. Flat, rolling hills, hidden by fog and moderately heavy rain, only one small moss-covered lava field. And frankly, we hadn’t done much planning beyond booking a hotel in Stykkisholmur, a fishing town on the north side of the peninsula. My fondest hope was for early checkin at the hotel and an afternoon nap.

We hit town around 12:30 and by 4 my fears had been proven wrong. It’s fun to travel with pros like Thor and Sage but it’s equally satisfying to do it yourself and fall into something really special.

We found the hotel but rather than checking in we drove around town, a two-minute exercise from the church on a hill overlooking the village, a tour of downtown and ending at the waterfront pier. There we found a sign for Seatours.

“Do you have any tours this afternoon?”

“We have a tour of the islands leaving in 25 minutes,”

“Any puffins?”

“At the first island.”

“Sign us up.”

By two o’clock we were 20 meters from the island, named after a mermaid, I think, and sure enough, there were the puffins, a million of them. They were perching on rocks, flying to and fro and sitting on the water. We didn’t see any in nests but I’ll bet they were there, hidden perhaps. There were also Northern Fulmurs, Black-legged Kittiwakes and a Cormorant or two. Jackpot!

Next stop was a pyramid-shaped island, the tallest of the bunch in Stykkisholmur’s harbor which, from a different angle, had two peaks. “The remains of an ancient lady who died and fell on her back. The two peaks are all that remain.” A typical boat tour line.

The captain took us to a nearby cove, the spot where Eric the Red holed up after he was chased off his farm at Dalabyggd by neighbors upset over the murders he allegedly committed. The islands at the time were covered with trees, which he used to prepare his boats for his trip to populate Greenland, from whence his son Leif sailed to discover North America 500 years before the Italian kid.

But that’s not all. The crew threw overboard a trawling net and, after a 15 minute drag, pulled up an amazing haul of sea creatures from the ocean floor, including a large number of scallops. Judy and I love scallops but we’ve never had any so fresh as those they shucked and gave to us to sample. Fifteen minutes from seabed to gullet with no heat applied in between. They had the same flavor as cooked scallops, but infinitely fresher.

Yet another bonus: as we walked down the gangplank to leave the ship, a crew was unloading containers of lumpfish, a local species that is processed for their roe to produce Icelandic caviar. Lumpfish have an appearance only a mother could love, and these were all mothers-to-be since the males of the species don’t offer up much in the way of roe.

OK, that was great, but now let’s do the Eider Museum just up the hill from the wharf. The museum was dedicated to the down from the Eider duck, the ones we saw the other day when looking for Puffins. Remember? Black and white and kinda plump? Thor told us farmers steal a third of the feathers from their nest and wait for the duck to replenish what was taken. Here on the islands around Stykkisholmur, feathers are harvested and processed into clothing and duvets. Interesting, but maybe a 20-minute visit if you watch the video.

I found a web site – 11 things to do on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. For Stykkisholmur they recommended “Meet the Locals.” And, without meaning to, that’s exactly what we did. The attendant at the museum was Diana. She’s from Germany, moved to Stykkisholmur a few months ago after spending time in London. So not exactly a local, but a really nice person who gave us a lot more information about eider down and about herself.

Then, a friend of hers walked into the museum for a cup of espresso. Her name was Renata and she’s from Brazil. Renata gives private language lessons in English, Portuguese and Japanese. She’s learning Icelandic. She’s married to a local fisherman and has a three-year-old son who’s cuter than a puffin chick.

Renata reads Bible verses every day and records them in English and Portuguese for posting on a blog. She told us that this morning she prayed for an angle to come and help her with the enormous job facing her to clean up the yard around her house. She approached a man walking in her neighborhood, offered to pay him, only to have him do it for free. Prayer answered.

I guess you could say our prayer was answered too. A great day in an unknown land. Even a 180 degree rainbow viewed from our hotel room when we got home. And a pretty good dinner of mussels and wolffish to boot.

Tomorrow the weather’s supposed to be rain free for our tour of the peninsula.

Oh, and by the way, Jessica sent me some Blue Lagoon pictures, the two subjects of which might be confused with Lumpfish after tonight’s dinner.