Day 4 (October 11): Eastbound on Route 1

We left the hotel at 9:30, proceeding east along Route 1.

We passed Eyjafjallajökull volcano out of sight to our north. Its eruption in 2010 was famous because the ash cloud was so huge and thick that it shut down virtually all air traffic on Europe.

Less well known internationally was the impact that it had on that area of the south coast of Iceland; "impact" being an apt word. The volcano was under a glacier, so in addition to ash and lava, it shot millions of gallons of ice-turned-to-water into the air. Farms in the region were abandoned in fear of the tremendous impact of the downward deluge and the subsequent flash flood. (Think of it as a river in places several feet deep being instantly superimposed on dry land.) Fortuitously the water fell in an unpopulated area and was then funneled into a large river bed. It increased the river's volume to 100 times normal peak level. Extreme white water rafting opportunity anyone?

Heading east, there was a distinct contrast between the views out the left and right sides of the bus. On the left were hills, sometime steep cliffs and more than a few waterfalls while on the right the terrain was mostly flat land and riverbeds all the way to the sea.

Our first stop was Skógafoss waterfall. It was raining. I got this picture as the cameraman was changing his position for what was a staged shot. There was no doubt it was a commercial shoot (and that chivalry is on life support) because the second it was over the male model let go of the female model like she was a hot rock and headed for cover.

I had planned to get some shots closer to the falls using my waterproof camera. Having never had a waterproof camera before, I learned it was no better than any other camera when the lens only got drops on water on it. In hindsight this was common sense, but at the time momentarily disappointing.

Our next stop was at the coast to see the black sand beach at Vik. On route to it the clouds lifted enough for us to see a glacier feeding one of the numerous rivers we crossed over.

At Reynisfjara Beach, the "sneaker waves" warning sign prompted a flurry of bad jokes unworthy of repeating here. Sadly, some of them were mine.

As for the 'sand' on the section of the beach we visited the coverage was actually small stones worn smooth and rounded by the sea.

The geology of the rocks bordering the beach was interesting.

Beyond the beach we could see the Reynisdrangar - basalt sea stacks with an accompany legend which, like so many others in Iceland, involved trolls.

We had a simple, but satisfying lunch in the small cafe at the beach before continuing east.

After lunch we stopped at a wool factory. Yes, it was possible to look through glass portals down onto the "factory" floor, but activity was sparse and uninteresting. It was about the equivalent of visiting Shirt Shack in Wareham on a slow day. And like Shirt Shack, there was a buying opportunity.

Outside, there was an attractive church on a hillside across the road. Cars seemed to be maneuvering in some sort of choreographed manner, but I could not discern a pattern or reason. I was not the only one to notice it, so something was going on.

Back on the bus, we rolled through flat, rainy, fog-shrouded countryside for an hour with most of the bus napping...or reading.

We would get an occasional glimpse of the Vatnajökull, the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland.

Late in the afternoon, we arrived at the Jökulsárlón and its modest visitor's center. In Icelandic, Jökulsárlón literally means "glacial river lagoon".

Given the location, water level of the lagoon and absence of tide, the pier in the picture below seemed a bit misplaced until the answer rolled up.

The visitors center was at the choke-point in the lagoon where the ice flowed into a channel that carried it the rest of the way to the sea. In rain and low clouds/fog, most of the time we could only see a limited distance into the lagoon and down the channel.

Looking at the pieces of ice floating by, I reminded myself that water is only 10% denser than ice, so 90% of each piece of ice was below the surface.

Why is blue ice blue? If you guessed it was Rayleigh scattering you would be wrong. If you had no idea of what Rayleigh scattering was, neither did I until went looking for a website that explained the origin of blue ice. I knew that removing oxygen by compressing was involved, but not the specifics.

The dark lines in some of the pieces were from the glacial ice scouring the earth beneath it as it was pushed towards the water.

At one point the rain let up and the low clouds lifted just enough to give us a hazy glimpse of what appeared to be the glacier from which the ice floating in the lagoon was calved, but given the size of the lagoon could have just been part of the ice flow.