Vagar II Vágar, Faroe Islands

Vágar, Faroe Islands Day 9. 30th July 2014. Vagar. Day score 5. It’s foggy and just awful. You can’t see far out to sea up the fjord. The check in lounge is calling though and also the control tower for a break or change of scenery. I met Fleming also in the control tower. Malik explained that he was on a one year contract from Denmark. I learnt a lot about their procedures and about the culture from these guys also today. Not wanting to outstay my time there I went back to the check in terminal and my chair, the only one near to a power point to plug in this laptop and the envoy of all other mobile or tablet users running around wondering where they could plug in. I eventually broke the ice to another backpacker who sat down next to me. I never asked her name yet we spoke for hours about lots of things. She had just come off the ship the Sea Shepherd or something like that. It was similar to Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warier, yet far more extreme in its confrontations. It patrolled the Island scaring off the pods of Long Find Pilot Whales that the locals would surround in a number of small boats and then drive up a fjord until the whales ran themselves aground right at the end. Then the locals would wade in and slaughter them by cutting their throats, turning the sea blood red. This hunt called the Grindadrap was a tradition that had been going on for hundreds of years and was vital to the survival of locals of old and also useful for the local economy. I’d heard the locals mention this ship and their crew were not made welcome anywhere. She was an Aussie girl and we talked about global ecological issues and the meaning of life. She told me that she thought what I was doing was dangerous, but she was the one hiding all her Sea Shepherd clothing in fear of being beaten up by the locals. Anyway her plane back to Denmark, where she was living with friends, was eventually called for loading. Talking to her was the highlight of the day really, only just beating Indian Jones. Thought of the day: However hard I try and however long I sleep, I can’t finish all the emails and sorting out things I didn’t do before I left home and I am fatigued beyond belief.

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