Sails set, 7 knots, on our way from the Faroe Islands to Iceland. Standing in the cockpit with a smile on my face, rechecking the chart that’s shown on a display. No kidding. „Rosengarten“, it says. German for rose garden. What a name for a piece of the North Atlantic. Later, I’ll find out that – as early as in 1908 – the area has been famous for brave men and huge quantities of rosefish. Rose garden. Poetic and double-barreled. Just like in that song.
„You better look before you leap, still waters run deep /And there won’t always be someone there to pull you out / And you know what I'm talkin' about / I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden / Along with the sunshine, there's gotta be a little rain some time …“
In terms of our trip, weather’s gentle. Bright sunshine when we put out to sea from the port of Tórshavn, pleasant stopover in Fuglafjørður, continuing our travels the next morning, heading northbound, slowly leaving the smashing silhouette of the Faroe Islands behind, until such time as all land has disappeared and blue is the color that rules.
Above: The harbor of Tórshavn. Below: Heading for Fuglafjørður, stopover and on the way
Above: Mike Henderson, the skilled sailor on board, owner and skipper of the vessel Pangey, a Moody 42 Center Cockpit Ketch. Below: Rosengarten chart, approaching the misty coast of Iceland and sunshine in Djúpivogur in the morning
It takes us 45 hours and 255 miles to do the crossing. Port of arrival: Djúpivogur in Iceland's south east. Somehow: still having the hidden rose garden of the North Atlantic on my mind. Going ashore, no roses within sight. But a vast number of lupines instead, as I drive along the coast towards Reykjavík the other day, in order to catch a plane back to the Faroe Islands. Mike continues his journey. Just checked out Marine Traffic. Pangey arrived in Eskifjörður by now. Bon voyage!
