Southern Coast & Northern Lights Cruise
Dec 11: Sunrise 11:09a - Sunset 3:32p
Today we head to the South Coast for our day tour. It was supposed to be windier than yesterday so we readjusted clothing in hopes that we will be more efficient in the walking portions of the tour. So off ON TIME for our excursion to the South
Coast, a lowland region of lush farmland, striking waterfalls, beaches,
glaciers, and picturesque villages.
Our guide did point out the Eyjafjallajökull volcano but I am not sure I really saw it. Tons of mountains and they all look so much alike! I did get a glimpse of the Sólheimajökull glacier when the clouds broke. Both of these sites were from the bus.
Our first stop was the Lava Center. This was not a scheduled stop but this was exchanged for our visit to an outdoor museum. The weather is such that we could not really enjoy an outdoor museum right now. This stop was interesting and showed the many eruptions and geological activity in the area. Much of it was interactive, which made it interesting. As you can see below John stood on a certain pad on the floor and then you could point to areas and information popped up on the screen.
We had a windy walk on the South Coast’s Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach. Our guide warned us about "secret" waves and of course we stayed away from the water. It was rough and frightening just to look at.
The next stop was the little village of Vik where we had just 30 minutes for a lunch stop. That didn't really leave much time for anything but lunch. It looks like an interesting little place and apparently popular to come for a holiday. This rock structure is "famous" and again trolls are involved somehow(?)
Now we are on to the waterfall portion of our trip.The first waterfall was Skógafoss. There are 400+ stairs here to view the falls from the top but since we had a 20 minute stop here, no stairs for us! A few from our group did make it up and back in time.
Just 20 minutes from the last water fall is the next! We didn't stand behind the impressive
Seljalandsfoss waterfall because we really didn't want to get wet at this point in time. We are starting to lose the light now and this was our last stop. From here it was back to the hotel in Reykjavik and prepare for our evening sail in search of the Aurora Borealis. It seems like we spent the entire day in the bus, though of course we didn't. It is hard to fit in all these stops and the travel time from the city when the daylight hours are so limited.
Our drive back was in the dark, as was our drive out this morning. We were back to the hotel around 6p.The departure time for the Northern Lights Cruise was 8:15p. We took 2 shuttle buses instead of the big bus we normally take. So tonight we are in search of the elusive aurora borealis. I am sad to report we did not see any... It was still a bit of an adventure because of the weather. At some points there were large, clear breaks in the clouds and we were ever so hopeful! Then things changed and we had torrential rains that turned to hail or frozen rain. Thankfully, we were wearing the mostly waterproof jumpsuits as we chose to stay out on deck and wait it out. After about 10 minutes we gave up on that and went back down stairs. Shortly after that the sky cleared again but no Northern Lights were to be seen. Their policy is to give us another free trip if we don't see the lights so we got the tickets and perhaps we will be able to do this the last night we are back in Reykjavik after the extension portion of the trip. I would highly recommend this tour. What great staff they have. They gave full instructions on how to adjust your camera or phone to take the best photos possible. After the instructions they offered to help anyone who needed it. That was me, of course. Before leaving home I read several articles and still felt completely lost in adjusting my camera. The nice young man adjusted the settings in about 1-2 minutes and they are set on the "M" setting of my camera for any future use. It is simple to click back to the regular setting and then back to M as needed. Amazing! If I forgot to mention, they served Alaskan coffee at their little bar. That is coffee, chocolate, and rum... quite warming after the icy rain we endured!!! It was a great adventure despite not seeing the Northern Lights. The colorful harbor lights welcomed us back!
Our drive back was in the dark, as was our drive out this morning. We were back to the hotel around 6p.The departure time for the Northern Lights Cruise was 8:15p. We took 2 shuttle buses instead of the big bus we normally take. So tonight we are in search of the elusive aurora borealis. I am sad to report we did not see any... It was still a bit of an adventure because of the weather. At some points there were large, clear breaks in the clouds and we were ever so hopeful! Then things changed and we had torrential rains that turned to hail or frozen rain. Thankfully, we were wearing the mostly waterproof jumpsuits as we chose to stay out on deck and wait it out. After about 10 minutes we gave up on that and went back down stairs. Shortly after that the sky cleared again but no Northern Lights were to be seen. Their policy is to give us another free trip if we don't see the lights so we got the tickets and perhaps we will be able to do this the last night we are back in Reykjavik after the extension portion of the trip. I would highly recommend this tour. What great staff they have. They gave full instructions on how to adjust your camera or phone to take the best photos possible. After the instructions they offered to help anyone who needed it. That was me, of course. Before leaving home I read several articles and still felt completely lost in adjusting my camera. The nice young man adjusted the settings in about 1-2 minutes and they are set on the "M" setting of my camera for any future use. It is simple to click back to the regular setting and then back to M as needed. Amazing! If I forgot to mention, they served Alaskan coffee at their little bar. That is coffee, chocolate, and rum... quite warming after the icy rain we endured!!! It was a great adventure despite not seeing the Northern Lights. The colorful harbor lights welcomed us back!
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