South Iceland

We woke up to partly cloudy skies, but a fierce wind. We traveled along the current seacoast with sea cliffs above us, land that has risen above the sea. First stop was Seljalanfoss waterfall. It was interesting to hike behind this waterfall. Nearby we watched waterfalls falling up because the wind was so fierce.

Behind Seljalanfoss

Soon we saw Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which had erupted for 39 days in April, 2010 disrupting air traffic to Europe.  Then we came to Skógafoss, the forest waterfall. Next to the falls was a huge staircase leading to the top of the falls. Yes, I had to take the challenge and see the view from the top. We continued on to Reynisfjala, the Black Beach. The rock formations here are very intriguing: caves, basalt columns, and patterns of rock everywhere including several spires in the water. The waves were rolling in steadily. 

Basalt columns on Reynisfjala

After a trout lunch at a nearby restaurant, we headed to our highlight of the day, a super truck ride to the glacier. Our local guide explained the dangers of volcanoes in the area. The volcano begins to melt the ice into water, as the water collects in the volcano, it begins to create steam and eventually explodes through the glacier and floods at rates of 600K cubic feet per second causing a tsunami out to the sea destroying everything in its path. This last happened here in 1918 producing a wave 300 feet high. They expect another within the next 20 years. We traveled through a barren field of pulverized lava as we approached the Mýrdalsjökull Glacier. The face of the glacier is 600 to 800 years old. We explored a ice cave that was absolutely fabulous. Everything was eerie with the clouds, ash, ice, and green moss on the hills. Our last stop was Dyrhólae with views of the sea cliffs. We were hoping to see puffins, but they weren't there, probably because of the wind.