Day 3 - Volcano Visitor Center and Glacier Lgoon

We begin the day with a hearty breakfast  of cereal, meat, cheese, bread, juice and coffee. Many of us get some exercise by walking around the property and stretching our legs before boarding the van.

Before we departed, Thor used two different types of maps to explain what we would be seeing and why such sites as rivers, waterfalls and glaciers are prominent; a typical physical map showing city/towns/roads/rivers and glaciers and a topographic map that showed the physical features of Iceland especially the size of the various glaciers.

  

Our 1st stop was the "Eyjafjallajokull Volcano Lava Center" which was located a few miles from our hotel. The center is an educational icon on volcanic information,  providing amazing pictures of volcanic eruptions, magma flow, identifying Icelandic volcanic hot spots and how this island nation was formed. 

 

Next we drove to a large water fall that you could walk behind....I didn’t, both boys did....their clothing is spending the night in the hotel’s heating room...hopefully it will be dry for tomorrow morning’s glacier hike.

Stopped at a local grocery store for lunch items...potatoes chips, sandwiches, drinks, and yogurt. Distributed the jerky to fellow travelers.

Traveled along the southern coast where most of the glaciers  and volcanic activity exist. Amazing scenery, huge swaths of black sand generated by volcanic dust and rock fields containing “volcanic bombs”...rocks of various sizes that were thrown by volcanic eruptions.

Last stop was a “duck boat” trip on  Glacier Lagoon, Jokulsarlon. The lagoon sits at the end of Iceland’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull  ....large chunks of ice break off from the glacier and are deposited in the lagoon before they are carried out by the tide to the Atlantic. As the iceberg floats in the lagoon, the largest portion, which is submerged, melts and when the top becomes heavier than the submerged portion, the iceberg rotates 180 degrees and exposes what was submerged. The now clean exposed portion of the iceberg is a blue gem that maintains its blue hue for about 45 minutes before turning pure white. 

 

Hotel ok....dinner very expensive but no choice. 

Day 4 - Glacier Hike and Retracing Our Route

As usual we were up at 7 AM, nice breakfast and in our van at 9 AM. The weather has been superb....sunny, sunny, sunny...I totally took too many clothes.

Today was the 2 hour glacier walk which began at the Glacier Lagoon where we had been the previous day. Met our guide who gave us our harness, ice shoes with sharp spikes, pick-ax and helmet. We boarded a special bus which traveled about 4 miles to the base of the glacier; or so I thought. The drive was in itself an experience similar to which I had experienced in Haiti....traversing what were called roads but in actuality were dried river beds filled with rocks....made your eye balls dance!!!

After debarking, what appeared to be a short walk was in fact over a mile across rock-fields, ponds, streams and a bridge.....it was at this point, that I decided that I was not fit to continue this journey.....I laid my tired body down and watched as my tiny group disappeared into the vast ice field.....after about 15 minutes, the group disappeared and I was left alone with the ice, wind and rocks....defeated but not broken.

Below photos of glacier walk courtesy of  Shan Wilson, New Zealand Mum,  and Rosalie MacInnis, who walked the walk!!! Appears that they are exploring some type of vertical staircase.....

After 2 hours they reappeared, tired but full of youthful vigor talking about drinking iceberg water, walking side ways across an ice field, using their pic-ax to chop ice and navigate....the adults all stated that I made a wise decision....they were exhausted.....had I had attempted the ice challenge, I would have negatively impacted the walk.

 

Back on the bus, back to our transport....stopped to take pictures of the ice lagoon where the outgoing tide was carrying out various sized “diamond” icebergs...quite a site.

The drive back to VIK took about 2 hours. Our evening accommodations were the glamorous Puffin Hotel. For dinner, we found a restaurant that offered a variety of soups, breads and desserts which everyone seemed to enjoy; I had a nice  bowl of mushroom soup and beer chaser. The teens played outside for awhile expending whatever energy they still had left after their glacier walk. Tonight was laundry night so we washed our undergarments in the shower, hung them up to dry (hopefully)and went to bed at a relatively early hour, 10:30 PM.

Day 5 - Visit Black Beach, hot springs and return to Rejkalvik - Last Supper

Everyone slept well last night after the rigorous glacier walk. Breakfast at the hotel Puffin included waffles that were created on an old waffle irons...no timer or cooking instructions...we made do.

Our first stop was “Black Sand Beach “....another beach I thought....it turned out to be much, much more. The beach was very wide and made up of fine debris from past eruptions...very nice feel to the sand...the geological formations were incredible.....extremely large black crystalline edifices hung from the cave ceiling, the cave cut out by the ocean tidal flow. Surrounding the cave’s entrance were large vertical stone rectangular rocks that looked like they had been man made. These rock structures were of various vertical lengths which allowed adventuresome youth to reach the heights.

Off shore were three large stone monuments guarding the beach.....a beautiful place to visit. 

A grocery store stop and onto our next site...some active hot spring bubbling openings. On our wy, we toured some of the small towns and saw where the USA brilliant chess player, Bobby Fischer, was buried in the small town of Selfoss.

The visit to the hot springs geothermal area was colorful with the smell of sulphur emanating throughout the area. 

 

 

Some people never listen....these areas are extremely dangerous as the grounds outside of the defined paths are thin and cannot hold much weight. You see footprints outside the path areas...I saw a little 5 - 7 year old girl leaning over an active vent spewing steam,  dropping grass into the opening while her a Dad watched....one slip and a catastrophe. 

Our last stop before arriving back in Reykjavík was an extinct lava cave which was not a big deal.....except....the kids found an adjacent small cave that lead underground for about a couple hundred feet. One of the parents had a head lamp which allowed the kids to explore their discovery for about 15 minutes....they found some candles and what appeared to be a fire pit....probably a Viking ceremonial site!! The kids get along very well, play well and without any coarse words among themselves....nice.

As we headed for our hotel, our guide, Thor, drove past the house where Reagan/Gorbachev met on October 11, 1986. The talks hit a speed-bump due to a disagreement about USA "Star Wars" initiative.

Tonight we had our group dinner....Thor led us on a forced fast paced walk to a restaurant near the waterfront, Saeta Svinid Gastropub. The restaurant had three different levels and we were on the top floor. Food was good and some of the teens ordered whale and puffin meat.

An enjoyable evening.....