It was exactly ten years since my first visit to Iceland when I returned last summer with Adventure Canada. And let me tell you, it couldn’t be more different. To visit Iceland by sea is an extraordinary and unique way to travel here.

Iceland was only beginning to boom on the tourism map a decade ago. It was still pretty chill. Instagram was still new, and Iceland had yet to dominate it. I went with girlfriends, including a friend from Iceland, and we did a loop road trip. It was so much fun. It was also one of my first jobs as a full-time travel blogger, so it meant so much to me. 

This time around was completely different. Instead of flying in, we sailed over on their Scotland, The Faroe Islands, & Iceland: North Atlantic Saga trip, arriving by sea. All up, I spent about two weeks there with Adventure Canada on their Iceland Circumnavigation trip and then departing on their Iceland to Greenland: In the Wake of the Vikings trip. 

There’s something special about visiting a place the old-fashioned way, the way it was originally settled. It’s thought that the Vikings settled in Iceland in the 9th century, but it might have been earlier.

Making their way across the North Atlantic, likely searching for arable land, the Norse came in their thousands, settling all over Iceland within a few decades. What’s interesting to learn that a lot of the genetic evidence includes Irish and Scottish ancestry in addition to Scandinavia, particularly, women. Most people believe they came as slaves. 

Following in the wake of the Vikings over a millennia later by ship is a spectacularly cool way to arrive in Iceland. 

One of our first stops in Iceland was to a place I had never been to before – the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in western Iceland. Somewhat off the beaten path, it’s a stunning corner of Iceland worth exploring. Arnarstapi is a cute little fishing village that sits as the gateway to the Snæfellsjökull National Park. 

I recognized where we were almost as soon as we stepped off the zodiacs in the harbor. With a cute white house perched on lava sea cliffs above turquoise water with a perfect volcano and glacier behind it, this was a view I had definitely seen before. It was on the cover of the only book I bought in Iceland (expensive).

Arnarstapi felt otherworldly immediately. It didn’t help that we had some of the wildest lenticular clouds I’ve ever seen, creating a moody ambiance that made it feel all the more magical. I spent my time wandering the sea cliffs, watching the bird colonies before meandering out to the lava fields. It definitely felt like you were on another planet. 

From there, we made our way up along the coast into the Westfjords, an often overlooked place. One of the perks of traveling by ship is that you can often rock up to places that are much harder to reach by car. 

Dynjandi is the largest waterfall in the Westfjords, clocking in at 100 meters tall, with five waterfalls below it dropping down into the sea. While it’s remote, it can still become really busy with tour buses trekking out to visit. We called in early in the morning and had the whole place to ourselves for hours.

My first Iceland waterfall since 2013, I was struck by how much work has gone into creating infrastructure. I don’t remember paths or signs or blockades anywhere when I was here last. If you were dumb enough to sit on the edge of a waterfall, it was on you. And I sat on a lot of waterfall edges. 

If you want to get your (visual) fill of puffins, Grímsey is the place to go. Somewhat hard to get to independently; it was great to be able to arrive by boat instead. Just watch out for nesting Arctic terns – they’re my new bird enemy.