Vigur Island Tour Discontinued
We are booked on June 15 cruise and just got an email from Tauck announcing that Vigur Island option scheduled for day 6 has been discontinued. They say "we have recently made the decision to no longer offer the shore excursion to Vigur Island by ferry due to evolving considerations regarding logistics for docking and local sustainability restrictions as a protected natural bird habitat."
In its place they are offing a new excursion option: "a scenic, panoramic drive through the Westfjords to Dynjandi Waterfall, widely regarded as one of Iceland’s most striking natural sights. Often called the “jewel of the Westfjords,” Dynjandi fans out across the mountainside in a series of dramatic cascades, offering exceptional photo opportunities and a memorable encounter with Iceland’s raw beauty.
"Following your time at the waterfall, your drive continues through a picturesque valley to a traditional Westfjords farm, where you’ll gain insight into rural Icelandic life. You’ll meet the resident animals—such as sheep, chickens, ducks, and rabbits—and learn about the family’s agricultural traditions. The visit concludes with an Icelandic tasting featuring locally sourced ingredients, including produce from the family’s own mushroom operation, thoughtfully prepared and shared in a warm, welcoming setting."
I know the Vigur Island trip has received generally good reviews, but we were wondering if we were up to it. The new option sounds like a good one for us.
Comments
Sounds wonderful. Enjoy!
What an absolute shame, it was one of the highlights of our Tauck Iceland tour
https://youtu.be/uXqLb09oeQQ?si=W3_d3yi5ZKFBDZLC
Check out this video
I think waterfalls are absolutely breathtaking especially in Iceland. I also enjoyed the Vigur excursion but it wasn’t my highlight. I did learn a lot about the Eider ducks but you can google that information. There’s nothing more spectacular than hearing the thunder of a waterfall.
The Dynjandi Waterfall visit sounds wonderful.
The visit to the local farm sounds a bit too similar to the visit to the farm where the Icelandic horse show is presented. It might be wonderful but learning about ducks, sheep, rabbits, and chickens and locally sourced produce doesn’t seem like it would be that memorable. Are Icelandic ducks, sheep, rabbits, and chickens different than any where else in the world? Hopefully it turns out better than it sounds.
When we took that tour, the Icelandic guide told us that one thing that was different with Icelandic ponies is that they lie down completely (on their side). Anyone who has worked with horses, either quarter horses or thoroughbred horses, knows that all horses will occasionally lie down on their side to sleep. You see them out in the pasture, and you wonder if they’re dead.
[Added note: I grew up on a farm with horses.]
I thought the deal with those horse was some kind of extra ‘trot’ leg movement that no other horses in the world do, which is why import of any others are forbidden to keep the breed pure.
There are plenty of waterfall visits included in the tour anyway.
I would have preferred the opportunity to take the Iceland tour before they started giving options and actually visited more places. Sadly It changed the year before we took the tour.
British - The tour you would have preferred was for people that had to walk 5 miles each way to school as a child, up hill both ways. It was called the Deja Vu for Lunch Tour. 😂
Iceland is afraid of having disease introduced into their herds. If an Icelandic pony is shipped to another country it can never return to Iceland.
And, of course, no horse, of any breed, can be shipped into Iceland.
When we went to Iceland, we went early and did the pony rides. I had ridden a lot as a young person but I couldn't even mount without help. I was just not strong enough to pull myself up into the saddle. I remember my dad saying, as he got older, that getting on the horse was the hardest thing for him.
Now let’s segway to Icelandic rye bread which is out of this world absolutely delicious. I’ve made it many times slathered with butter.
This time, I know I was correct, I remember it well from our tour with Tauck
Icelandic horses (often referred to as ponies due to their size) are renowned for possessing five natural, distinct gaits rather than the standard three, featuring the exceptionally smooth tölt and the high-speed flying pace. These unique, genetic-based movements allow them to navigate harsh, rocky terrain with remarkable speed and comfort.
The Two Unique Gaits:
Tölt (Four-Beat Gait): A unique, smooth, and rapid lateral gait where one foot is always on the ground, creating a glide-like sensation for the rider with virtually no bounce. It is used for covering long distances, ranging from slow to fast speeds.
Flying Pace (Skeið): A fast, two-beat lateral gait, used for racing at speeds up to 30 mph. It features a moment of suspension, making it feel like a controlled flying sensation, generally used only over short distances.
Key Aspects of Their Movement:
Five-Gaited Ability: Along with the tölt and flying pace, they possess the natural walk, trot, and canter/gallop.
Genetic Basis: The unique gaits are caused by a mutation in the "gait keeper" gene, which allows for synchronized lateral movement. Recent studies also link the STAU2 and RELN genes to their specialized movement capabilities.
Versatility: Developed in isolation for over 1,000 years, these horses are not only efficient, but their gaits are versatile enough to transition from a slow, comfortable tölt to a fast, powerful pace.
These specialized, natural movements make the Icelandic horse a unique breed, capable of offering a comfortable ride even on rugged, volcanic terrain
Here's a couple of the horses strutting during the horse show.
The small ferry trip to Vigur was mildly interesting with majestic views. The island itself was very small with a small cafe mainly offering coffee and postcards, etc. It was just another opportunity to see more Puffins, avoid more Arctic Tern attacks, and see a short presentation on Eider down harvesting and processing. Actually, we only saw one Eider duck with her ducklings. At various times its half dozen permanent residents host a small research group. We visited Godafoss and Gullfoss waterfalls, so another waterfall is really not needed and just more of the same. It was a bit of a stroll from the bus park to get a good view of both. We didn't have enough time to hike down to the close-up overlook at Gullfoss.
Godafoss:
Gullfoss:
@British - The Icelandic ponies have a unique gait but that is not the reason that other horses cannot be brought into Iceland. In the US we have several breeds of horses that have a unique gait - for example, the Tennessee Walking Horse, the Missouri Fox Trotter and the American Saddlebred. Having other breeds in the country does not destroy a different breed's gait.
Of course, perhaps you were not saying that the unique gait of Icelandic ponies was the cause of the prohibition of importing horses into Iceland.
Here's another picture of an Icelandic pony.
It’s in their genes! They can’t afford for them to breed with foreign horses by accident.so we are both correct.
.
Foreign horses are banned from entering Iceland primarily to prevent the introduction of foreign diseases that could devastate the native population, which has remained genetically isolated for over 1,000 years. Additionally, this strict, long-standing biosecurity measure preserves the purity of the breed and prevents the loss of specialized, hardy traits. In other words, the gaits
Just because other horses are brought into a country it does not mean the horse owners will cross breed them. There are actually a long list of horse breeds in the US that have a "natural" gait, meaning that they do not have to be trained to that gait - it is in their genes. And those breeds manage to maintain their gaits even with all the other breeds in the country.
The Icelandic horses have been isolated from other horses for a lot of years - they were brought there about 900 AD - so they don't have immunity to many horse diseases. A horse from another country could be a carrier of a disease which could seriously affect the Icelandic horses.
Note that even Icelandic horses that were taken to another country cannot be brought back into Iceland. The reason for that is certainly not genetic dilution.