As we slowly made our way out of the harbor H sat next to me grinning with excitement. “Just wait until it goes fast” he said.
I looked at him with fear in my eyes, had he seen the size of the boat, no way did I want that tiny thing going fast!
One minute later I was saying “faster, faster” as my hair blew in the wind with a smile so wide the cold air was hurting my teeth.
And that was how I looked for the next hour as I explored the Westman Islands on the small (but powerful) safari boat.
The Westman Islands is a chain of 15 islands (only one is inhabited!) with dozens of rock formations surrounding the islands. Basalt columns, caves and grotto’s can also be seen in many places around the islands. This means there is a whole lot of pretty unique features to be explored in the Westman Islands!
Now unless your a really good swimmer (just kidding, don’t try swimming around island to island) the best way to truly experience the unique beauty of the Westman Islands is with a boat tour. And if you really want to have fun and cruise around at fast speeds from beautiful sight to the next a boat tour with Ribsafari is a must!
My Viking is lucky and had already done this tour a few times, which means I have heard him go on and on about how awesome it is. So you can imagine how excited I was to finally get my own Ribsafari experience when we headed to the Westman Islands a few weeks ago.
I will admit, after my bad experience on the ferry ride over to the Westman Islands I was less than excited about getting back on a boat. But there was no way I was going to miss my chance to see puffins in their habitat, check out all the cool rock formations, and possibly see a whale or two.
Thank goodness I convinced myself to get on that boat! The beautiful places we saw in our hour boat tour were unbelievable. And, thankfully no sea sickness occurred, so I was able to enjoy our trip nausea free!
Isn’t this place stunning?!
After cruising around taking in the views we slowed down to take a closer look at some formations. As I was listening to our guide share some facts about the formations we were looking I heard a gush of air close by.
My first thought, there is a hole in the boat!
I quickly turned to H about to panic when the sound came again.
And then up came a whale.
Okay so I was more than excited about my whale sighting to even look at my camera when I took the picture. So just pretend that this is an awesome shot of a whale swimming by and not just a glimpse of a whale at the bottom of the picture.
By this point of the tour my day was made. Beautiful views, a crazy fun boat ride, and a whale sighting, this day was more amazing.
And then we rounded the corner and the boat tour went to a whole new level of amazing.
After months of seeing beautiful pictures of the elephant rock I finally got to see it with my own eyes!
I am still amazed at this amazing rock formation. It looks like someone carved an elephant on there doesn’t it?
And to clarify, this rock formation was in no way carved to look like an elephant. Apparently many visitors think the beautiful elephant rock is man-made. Our tour guide told us that they often get asked by people on the tour if those living in the Westman Islands carved the rock themselves. The answer, nope, this is just good ole nature.
By this point I was head over heels for the Westman Islands. The rock formations just amazed me! I seriously have hundred of pictures of just the rock formations, you could say I was a tad obsessed.
Back in this cove is a beautiful little beach. Just a few days before we took our trip to the Westman Islands Bill Gates and his family had a private dinner on this little beach. Pretty beautiful spot for a dinner party don’t you think?
As our tour came to an end we made one last stop into a cove in hopes of a puffin sighting. Our search was a success as we saw several little puffins floating around in the cove.
These little guys get a bit scared so we made sure to keep our distance and say hello from afar. I was hoping we would get to see more puffins on this tour, but that would of made the tour too perfect to be real :)
As we made our way back into the charming harbor H asked me if I had a good time.
My answer, “it was better than I ever could of imagined!”
Our trip with Ribsafari was the perfect way to start off our day at the Westman Islands! This post is in no way sponsored I just had to share this awesome tour with you all. It was a highlight of our time at the Westman Islands. If you are planning a trip to the Westman Islands I highly recommend a boat tour with Ribsafari!
Question of the Day?
Would you do a boat tour? What would you rather see, puffins or whales?
