Westfjords Schooner
On this grand tour of the beautiful Westfjords, we’ll be based on the schooner Arktika. The Westfjords is the most remote and least visited part of Iceland, and as we will be sea-based rather than land-based, we’ll get to visit the remotest of the remote! Day and night we'll tour and rugged coastline, seaside cliffs, isolated lighthouses, roaring waterfalls and more.
Workshop Details
July 6-15, 2022 — Completed
Your adventure begins with an overnight flight to Reykjavik on July 5. You will land early in the morning on July 6 and spend the night at a hotel in Reykjavik. The group will travel together from the Reykjavik City Airport to Ísafjörður on the morning of the 7. We will spend the nights of July 7 to 13 onboard a yacht. On July 14, we will fly back to Reykjavik for a farewell dinner and another night and last day in the city. You’ll fly home in the late afternoon on July 15.
$6,995 + applicable taxes. Register below.
Skill level
Open to all who have a positive attitude, an adventurous team spirit and a willingness to sacrifice comfort in exchange for experience.
Group size
9, with 1 instructors — 9:1 ratio
Workshop Leaders
Registration
This event has passed. Thanks for your interest!
| • Deposit of $1,995 is required to reserve a spot on the tour. |
| • Balance of $5,000 is due on April 6, 2022. —>Pay balance here. |
| • You may choose the “Pay in Full” ticket if you desire to pay all at once. |
| • Last day for a cancellation request is April 5, 2022 (see cancellation and refund policy). |
| • The tour fee does not include transportation to and from Reykjavík and Ísafjörður, alcohol, or breakfast and lunch upon arrival or lunch on the last day in Reykjavik. |
| • The tour fee does include all meals aboard the Arktika, two breakfasts and two extraordinary dinners in Reykjavik and the hotel in Reykjavik. |
The Westfjords Schooner Experience
As a country that relies heavily on tourism for a large part of its revenue, Iceland has built a durable infrastructure to support an annual tourist population that is six times greater than the native population!
If you were to follow the ring road that circumnavigates the island, and stopped only at the well-known tourist destinations, you would see many amazing sites and share them with many other tourists. Westfjords, however, will get you well beyond the tourist stops. Simply making the effort to get to the Westfjords is a good start, and spending a week or two in the area rather than just a daytrip detour takes it to the next level. Spending a week exploring just a few fjords, from the perspective of approaching from the sea rather from the land, is what we will do, and that’s even further up experience scale. This will be memorable.
After a day in Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, we’ll take a short flight up to Ísafjörður, where we will rendez-vous with the Arktika and her crew. Once there, we will set sail to intensively explore just a few of the many fjords and peninsulas of the region, concentrating on the Hornstrandir Nature Preserve, and then sail westward to the enormous Dynjandi waterfall and as far as the village of Bíldudalur. The nature preserve is accessible only by sea, has outstanding hiking opportunities with breathtaking views and hosts a large population of fearless arctic foxes.
We don’t have a fixed itinerary. Instead we will be guided by the weather and our hearts’ desires. We’ll spend our days ashore, or kayaking and paddleboarding. The sun will set at 12:30 a.m., and rise again at 2:30 a.m., so the sky will never get truly dark. This means that we won’t see auroras, but we will have hour after hour of glorious twilight to photograph this rugged and beautiful landscape.
Our meals aboard the Arktika will be hearty and freshly prepared, and everyone will have the opportunity to pitch in with prep or cleanup. We’ll be a tight-knit group, and working together both on board and ashore is part of the adventure. It’s not a trip for loners.
Even though we’ll be based on a boat, most of our photography will be done on solid ground as we explore the Westfjords on foot. There will be four kayaks and two paddleboards available, so everyone will have the opportunity to use them, but it is not a required activity.
The Westfjords is a great place to fly a drone. Drones are almost unrestricted, and there is practically no one there to be bothered by them. Opportunities for landscape photography are everywhere, from both aboard our vessel and ashore.
What You Should Know
During our time in the Westfjords, we will be based on a fully equipped Italian-built sailing yacht certified to circumnavigate the globe. The comfortable deckhouse makes sailing in northern waters very pleasant. There are five two-person guest cabins, a spacious saloon and galley, and private crew quarters. The boat offers central heating, hot and cold water, three heads (toilets), two showers, and 220-volt electricity capable of charging batteries and other electronic devices.
The yacht is not a cruise ship. Space is tight, and there is no privacy on board apart from the heads. You will be sharing a cabin with another attendee, and each cabin has room for a bunk, each person’s packed duffle bag, camera gear and nothing else. You won’t shower every day—maybe not even every other day. You will have the opportunity to take the arctic plunge if you dare. You will have the adventure of a lifetime, with photos and memories to savor forever. Aside from eating and sleeping and sailing from one place to another, we will spend most of our time ashore.
Like all of our international tours, we will be exploring and photographing both day and night. There is no classroom instruction, but Lance will be available to work with participants as much or as little as they like in the field.
Making Sure
Deposit of $1,995 is required to request a seat on this sea-bound photo tour. We ask that you consider the following before requesting to be part of this experience:
be a team player (care about others and be helpful)
be willing to sacrifice comfort and privacy (it’s a boat, there is only so much room)
Lance will be conversing on the phone with all new registrants.* The purpose is to ensure that everyone understands the nature of, and will be prepared for, this unique adventure. We are structuring this photo tour quite differently from our other adventures, and neither party should be surprised by what it entails. The benefits are myriad—including access to places on the Icelandic coast that perhaps others have never stopped to photograph. On the other hand, spending this much time together with little to no privacy and not much room to spread out is the reality.
If the above made you pause for thought, perhaps this isn’t the trip for you—we have many other photo tours and workshops, and we’d be happy to help you choose. However, if the above caveats make you more excited, then we encourage you to join us next July.
* Should this conversation give pause to either party, we will be happy to refund you in full.
Night Conditions
Logistics & General Info
Travel
Your adventure begins with an overnight flight to Reykjavik on July 5. You will land early in the morning on July 6 and take the FlyBus to the city, then proceed to the hotel to drop off your bags.
We have requested early check-in, but it is not guaranteed. You will have dinner with the group and spend the night of July 6 at the fabulous Hotel Holt in Reykjavik.
The group will travel together from the Reykjavik City Airport to Ísafjörður on the morning of July 7. We will spend the nights of July 7 to 13 aboard a yacht. On July 14 we will fly back to Reykjavik for a farewell dinner and another night at Hotel Holt, and a last day in the city. You’ll fly home in the late afternoon on July 15.
The flights between Reykjavik and Ísafjörður are not included in the cost of the trip, but we will advise you of the correct flights to book once the schedule is announced.
Lodging & Food
In Reykjavik we’ll stay at the luxurious Hotel Holt, which doubles as a museum for a wonderful private art collection. Every wall in the hotel is covered with a wide range of original 19th and 20th century Icelandic art. This private collection includes most of the gems in Icelandic art history, and is by far Iceland’s largest private collection with a total of 1,560 works. Around 460 works from the collection are on display at Hotel Holt. Lance has been bringing groups to Hotel Holt since 2013.
In the Westfjords we’ll be based on the sailing yacht Arktika in tight, two-bunk cabins. Once you are registered, you will receive more information and an extensive gear list of what to bring.
The quarters may be snug, but the food on the boat will be fresh, local, hearty and delicious. Expect lots of seafood. In Reykjavik we’ll enjoy two breakfasts at the hotel and two fabulous dinners in the heart of the city. If you’ve traveled to Iceland with Lance before, you’ll know that he picks the best restaurants! All meals—from dinner on the first day through breakfast on the last—are included. The only exceptions are breakfast and lunch on the first day, and lunch on the last day in Reykjavik.
Weather
Expect daytime highs in the 40s to about 50 F, with nighttime lows in the 30s. Summers in Iceland tend to be calm and relatively mild due to the Gulf Stream.
We will send you a list of recommended attire upon registration.
Exertion Level
The exertion level of this workshop is Easy to Moderate. (See more about our classifications.)
Vigorous activity is not required during the workshop, but this is an active trip with daily hikes that we hope you’ll take part in. You’ll get more out of it if you are in shape and well-equipped for the weather. There will be opportunities for hiking, kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding in addition to photography, but these are optional activities.
At minimum, you should be comfortable getting in and out of a dingy with your equipment and carrying it over uneven ground. We anticipate only dry landings, but usually on a beach rather than at a dock. The seas are generally calm in this area at this time of year, but there is always the possibility of a storm. If you are prone to seasickness, bring medication, or consider a different adventure.
Considerations
Please read our FAQs section for more information about skill and gear requirements, and other information that pertains to all our workshops.
If you have questions, please contact us—we're happy to talk it over with you.
Expanding Horizons ...
“Westfjords is a place that holds my attention and inspires me to make better photographs.”
My first trip abroad was inspired by my friend Paulo, whom I met while working at a restaurant in 1984. Although we are the same age, he had already traveled extensively in South America, Europe, North Africa and India. His stories of the world had a profound impact on me, and changed the course of my life, opening my eyes to previously unimagined possibilities. To my mother’s disbelief, in March 1986 I left home with a backpack and a copy of Europe on $10 a Day. I had planned to spend a day or two in pretty much every country in Europe, believing that such a thing was not only possible, but a good way to see the world. Paulo didn’t teach me everything about travel.
My travel habits have changed since then, to say the least. No more $3 hotel rooms, no more youth hostels, not much couch surfing. What I have learned and incorporated into my approach to travel and photography is that extended periods of time and repeated visits are an excellent way to learn about a place––whether what is learned is culture, landscape or some other aspect of a destination that interests me.
I’ve returned to Iceland, and the Westfjords in particular, many times over the last decade. It’s a place that holds my attention, inspires me to make better photographs and expands my horizons. Iceland, or travel in general, isn’t the answer to everything, but for me it’s a catalyst for growth.
