Our second day on the south coast turned out to be as remarkable as our first, We travelled further east to Vik (see map to left), stopping at the Skógafoss waterfall on the way. It is one of Ísland’s biggest with a drop of 60 metres (almost 200 feet). One of the neat things about Skógafoss is that you can cross behind it if you’re prepared to get a little wet in the process.
The walk to the back of falls was quite easy but the walk – or rather climb – back out was the most treacherous and challenging of our various treks. Fortunately the trip leader was behind me and pointed out foot holds for the climb up. I could not determine where to step on my own. I didn’t take any photos of the climb up. I was too intent on not falling back into Skógafoss.
Next stop – and the one I most anticipated – was the black beaches of Reynisfjara just past the fishing village of Vík í Mýrdal. My anticipation due to the possibility of seeing puffins, and I was not disappointed. We weren’t able to get close to the birds as they were nesting in the cliffs above the ocean and were busy flying in and out collecting food for their chicks, thus these photos are more representational than realistic. A few of them posed accommodatingly for me while I snapped away.
While searching for puffins to shoot, an enormous skua flew past my view finder. Apparently it’s fairly rare to find a skua to photograph so I was indeed lucky. I first saw a skua in Antarctica and was surprised when Hlynur told me that these birds – and terns too – fly from pole to pole each year. I might have seen this one before!
Our trip leader was so chuffed that we found puffins that he instigated a puffin celebration aboard the bus. We toasted OAT and Ísland with tastings of several different Íslandic beers. Sue is holding one up as Hlynur was too busy tallking to someone else. 🙂
Following lunch we boarded a “super jeep” with a guide who could earn a second income doing standup, and headed out to an ice wall flowing out of Eyjafjallajökull glacier. Somehow (I may be confused about this but the names are so wonderful I wanted to put them both in) it is also connected to the Mýrdalsjökull glacier.
The ice wall has striations caused by centuries of snowfalls and volcanic eruptions that spew ash that works its way through the snow. Thus the wall looks impermeably black. It is melting too creating small rivulets that weave across the plain. Once agan I felt that I was on the set of a sci-fi flick. Parts of Star Wars were filmed here and the astronauts train here too. Our guide told us it was because of the reduced gravity here but happily none of us floated away. ;p
This was clearly a day for celebrations as we toasted Ísland again, this time with Heckla vodka our local guide had brought along. A nice way to end the day.
Leave a Reply