ICY ICELAND – WEEK 2

Our trip continues, the start of week 2. Will it be as good as the first week ? Will we see more auroras ? One more day in JÖKULSARLON, one more go at the beach, one more ice cave, then we move on to the highlands and into the cold.

DAY 8

As usual our plans change, so does the weather, it is snowing again as we go for breakfast, damn, damn, damn. At 9:00 we do decide to give it a go. At the beach there are only about 4 pieces of ice in the water, so we decide to go to the lagoon. We climb to the lookout point and get some lovely shots of the lagoon all covered in a fresh layer of snow. We move to a second spot, the light on the mountains in the back gets better. We even stay when a snow storm hits us, we are the hardcore landscape photographers.

At noon we meet Einar again, a different cave at the BREIDAMERKURJÖKUL glacier this afternoon, and nobody is coming in after us, we’ll have loads of time. As yesterday, we drive for about 45 min in the big red monster truck till the track ends. From here we hike, thank god for our boots once again ! We pass a beautiful cave, Einar tells us not to worry, where we are going is better….! And believe me it was ! This is what I had expected for an ice cave, a half round dome about 30m into the glacier, the sides and roof a glass clear blue, crazy shapes, forms and lines where ever we look.

At times we just sit and stare, marvel at the beauty of this cave. We are so lucky to be able to see this. Imagine where the glacier was last year, at the speed it is retreating this will be gone in a year ! All to soon we have to leave this photographers playground and hike back to the car, then drive back to Jökulsarlon.

 

DAY 9

Today we drive, 516km to be exact. We enjoy the scenery and do our best to spot reindeer, whilst Hafi our driver has a hard time keeping the car on the very icy road in the ghusts of wind coming down from the mountains. The first 170km take us 2,5 hrs because the road is so icy, but finally we reach the tiny town of DJUPIVOGUR where we stop for a coffeebreak.

Another 160km to go till lunch in another small town called EGILSSTADER. We can’t resist, when watching a bunch of Iceland kids eat their ice cream, we all want to have an ice cream too. About 200km more, an hour passes and it is just flat and white, kind of creepy driving into a white emptiness, sight is going from bad to worse. Very, very carefully we ease our way along, boy this is bad. At last at the end of the valley it gets a little better, a little….after 9 hours we finally make it to LAKE MYVATH. The rooms are nice, the food is good, but the water in the shower smells as disgusting as at the Gerdi Guesthouse where we were before, sulphur scented showers, yak. Jürg keeps asking me if I farthed, no way ! It’s just the smell from the bathroom, more or less like rotten eggs.

DAY 10

The weather forecast is -7 degrees and cloudy, we’d better dress up. A half hours drive gets us to the GODAFOSS waterfall, there is some light in the sky and more coming ! We set up, are patient, as a good landscape photographers are supposed to be, and wait for more light. The clouds open up and an orange red light comes in from the left, lighting up the clouds. Luckily it is not so cold, we are getting to be very Icelandic not being cold at -7. This is too good to feel cold, no time for that.

As it starts to snow again we head for the bus. More editing back at the hotel before we go for lunch. After that a scenic tour of the Myvath region. There is absolutely no light to photograph in, but we do enjoy the scenery: geysirs, thermal pools, steaming lakes, craters and all. To end off the day we do some “wildlife photography”, the Icelandic horses are so very cute.

DAY 11

Another early start to get to the Godafoss falls for sunrise, and before the crowds do. We leave at 8:00 which is ridiculously late compared to any African safari. We easily beat the crowds, not a soul is out in this weather, we can’t even drive all the way there. We have to wade through knee deep snow to even get to the falls, hardly there Hafi calls us back, the road will be snowed in at the rate it is snowing, we have to head back to the hotel. So we do some more wildlife photography… with the very friendly horses behind the hotel.

After a super pizza lunch we are back at Godafoss by 14:30 and this time the weather gods are on our side, no more snow and the light gets better and better. After dinner every one is off to edit and select their hundreds of waterfall shots. We all pray for a clear night, please let there be northern lights.

DAY 12

At 05:00 I go outside to do a test shot, it’s not brilliant but it’s green ! So we spend an hour in the snow at -10 or so, this aurora isn’t half as good as last time, but still it’s amazing to watch. Statement by Hougaard who is very picky : “this is a waste of good sleeping time”. He’s probably right, but to us green is green.

We are at Godafoss by 08:00 for the start of our off-road super jeep adventure. The big jeep is called Kraki, the smaller one, which is still huge is Laki. After 30 min on a “road” the adventure starts. At 08:45 we get stuck for the first time, then at 09:10, again at 09:30, this time so bad the driver calls for a third jeep to get us out. That will be Draki. He’s no good either, keeps getting stuck too. we really did pick the worst weather to do this trip !

Laki starts its first shuttle trip to the ALDEYJARFOSS waterfalls. We spend the time taking silly photos and having a major snowball fight. In the meantime the driver is digging out the left front wheel, which has come off the axis. Laki proceeds so slow we decide to hike and try and catch up. Imagine wading through hip deep snow at -10 in a white out, boy we were so hot when we got to the falls. Must say, we are acclimatising rather well….are now feeling hot at -10 ! The falls are the prettiest we’ve seen so far, cascading down into a dark blue pool, icicles all over the cliff face, virgin snow all around. Well what else would you expect, no other fools leave the house in this weather !

The way back is even worse, we keep getting stuck, especially the big jeep. Once we are pretty sure we’ve got everyone out, we stop for an Icelandic picknick with the three drivers. They assure us all the food they have there are Icelandic goodies. We try fermented shark, sheep’s head, whale fat, dried fish (very smelly), lamb’s liver, lamb blood sausage, and all this just for a sip of the local schnaps ” Brennevin” , you really needed it to wash the rest down !

 

We got stuck a dozen more times before we reached civilisation again. Honest these male drivers. Finally at 19:45 we make it back to Godafoss where good old Hafi is waiting for us. Soon after dinner we are all off to bed, it’s been a long day !

DAY 13

At 09:00 we leave for Reykjavik, another 500km drive ahead of us and as Murphy’s law will have it, today the weather is as beautiful as can be. We drive past Godafoss under a lovely pink sunrise, and have such a sunny day that we all have to put on our sunglasses….whilst sitting in the car, grmmmpf ! A short photostop at a little house on a big hill, is the only photo opportunity of the day. Other than that it’s drive, drive, drive, but at least the scenery is overwhelming.

In Keflavik we stay at the Smari Airport Hotel only 200m from the terminal. One last dinner with the group to end off an amazing trip. I wasn’t really a fan of landscapes, unless they had people or animals in them, but Hougaard has managed to change my mind. We’ve learnt an awful lot, improved our photography skills once again, and had loads of fun in the process !

But it wasn’t over yet ! At 22:00 the sky lights up in green once again. So we rushed out and onto the barren field beside the airport hotel, too much light in the background, no foreground but who cares, it was an amazing one hour light show in green. The lights were at times so bright you could clearly see them with your bare eyes ! That is what I call a grand finale !

At the end of our trip I must say a big thank you to :

HOUGAARD : for changing my mind, and helping us with so many tips and good advice

ISAK : for being the kindest most patient teacher I’ve ever experienced, and for at dinnertime being Jürgs favourite “dessert” buddy

and

HAFI: for getting us home safely day after day, and his infinite wisdom :

This is nothing, come to the north,

there we have snow, oh my God….it is su-per !

 

For our best photo’s : go to gallery

 

Copyright photo and text : Astrid & Jürg Bluemel for www.bluemelphoto.ch