The Kruszenshtern Barque Makes for a Scene

Enjoying the scenery at the Reykjavík harbor lighthouse.

I love the colors in this photo, taken at one of the little lighthouses that guide boats into the Reykjavík harbor. The bicycler in blue is photographing the gorgeous tall ship Krusenshtern, a four-masted barque, that sits just out of frame (but is pictured below.) 

I'll let RT tell you about how it accidentally rammed two coastguard ships while leaving this very port. I'd posted a pic of it on the Iceland Eyes facebook page the day it arrived, looking all tall and grand. In the post-crash photo below, though, it looks a bit forlorn and sorry.

The town is

filling up with visitors, and all the social media/tourism machines are in full swing, including a brand-new information and tour-booking portal, Come to Iceland, which a friend of mine commissioned me to write content for. I wrote all of the articles except the stuff under the individual tours. I tried to see if I could add some new angles and details to locations things that have been written about so many times before, like Þingvallavatn lake or Snæfellsjökull glacier. Go visit Come to Iceland and read the articles in the Nature page to see if I was at all successful (then book yourself a tour or two! : )

Back to the Kruzenshtern. Here she is looking grand upon its arrival in Reykjavik (above). Look how small the people are in the bottom left corner! She's one of the largest sailing vessels in the world:

The beautiful Kruzenshtern in Reykjavík harbor.

And here she is, possibly a bit peeved, but certainly put-out and lonely at anchor a few days later while damages and such were assessed. Her owners say fault lay with some "overly enthusiastic tugs" (as RT put it) helping her maneuver out of the tiny port. And here's an interesting angle from that same article: "Although the tugging operation that reportedly led to the accident was performed by local tugs, Iceland’s naval command insists the Russian side should pay for the damage to the Coast Guard vessels." Hmmm...

The barque in Faxaflói Bay looking small post-collision, with Mount Esja in the background.