Skies Over Reynisfjara

When we arrived at Reynisfjara, we saw this threatening cloud. We managed to take photos but soon after this photo was taken. Snow and sleet fell like crazy. Please see short video below.

Update from Maryland and our Iceland Trip

Sorry, I've been out again. I was so busy at work preparing for our bank conference in San Diego. Unfortunately, our trip and conference in California got canceled due to coronavirus.

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"Year of the Rat" or would it be aptly called "Year of the Wrath"? What do you think?

It's just the third month of the year yet we're inundated with much fear and uncertainty.  The Australian bushfires, locusts swarm in East Africa, Jakarta flooding and now, COVID-19. The DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia) area have closed schools, canceled events, and most or all of office workers will be telecommuting for the next two weeks. This is to contain or slow the spread of the virus.

As of today, there are 12 cases in Maryland and out of precaution, Governor Hogan has declared a State of Emergency. The grocery store shelves are devoid of hand sanitizers, masks and toilet papers. Panic buying has taken over people's sanity. It's impossible for me to tune out the news media, as it is part of my job to monitor it especially for our members. I am not panicking. However, I am scared of catching the virus, as I am still immune compromised. We just have to stay calm and keep living our lives.

Now, onto a happier post.

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Back in January, Kepi and I traveled to Iceland for the second time. COVID-19 wasn't a media hot commodity yet. It was a quick trip for five days. People thought we were crazy for leaving cold Maryland to a much colder Iceland, but that's what adventure is all about. The main purpose of this trip was to see the Aurora Borealis. Unfortunately, the whole time we were there it was cloudy and most of the time snowing. I have to tell you. My heart ached leaving Iceland without seeing the Aurora Borealis, so I bought a bunch of Icelandic chocolate to fill that void.

Below are a few of the photos from our trip. All photos were taken by iPhone.

Perched on a high hill, Reyniskyrka Church watches over Vik.

Hallgrimskirkja Church in Reykjavik. I took this photo early in the morning while we were out for a walk.

The Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach. Beautiful view but the Sneaker Waves are deadly. The  small dots on the photo are snowflakes.

Beautiful, towering Skogafoss. It's a favorite. In winter time, you have to be careful walking on the rocks because they're all covered in ice.

This is Tjornin or the Reykjavik City Pond. We enjoyed our long walks here. It's a very relaxing place to be.

This is the other side of Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach. This is where two tourists were caught in a Sneaker Wave. They're both okay, but I think one suffered from hypothermia and has to be taken to one of the cottages for treatment.

The Sun Voyager is a popular place to take photos.

Our early morning walk searching for a place to eat breakfast.

The main road in Reykjavik painted with LGBT colors.

Hallgrimskirkja from a distance.

The highlight of our trip is hiking towards Solheimajokull Glacier. The hike was more than I could handle. We navigated through slippery rocks, drenched with rain and got pelted with  hail.

Sadly, this glacier is shrinking rapidly. I hope that we can do something to help our rapidly warming environment.

Here's a perfect example of how the weather can change in a heartbeat in Iceland. This photo was taken when we just arrived at Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach. Now, see the photo below after a few minutes.

Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach after hail storm. Of course, all the visitors ran for cover.

We have two more trips planned this year, but they may be rescheduled or postponed for next year due to travel bans and restrictions. I am hoping the airlines will be easier to deal with.

I remain hopeful that we will get through this difficult time together.

The Cliffs of Krysuvikurberg - Iceland

The Krysuvikurberg area is accessible by car, preferably a four wheel drive vehicle, but if you're a hiker, you can also walk from the main road to the cliffs, which is a good 20 to 30 minute hike through rough terrain. Even  the road is rough and bumpy, but our little rental made it through. It even drove through a creek.  Apart from the breathtaking view, the Cliffs of Krysuvikurberg is home to some of the largest colonies of seabirds found in Iceland. According to the brochure I got from the inn, it is about 15 km wide and a great place for hiking.

The crescent shaped cliffs battered by wind, snow and rain.

 

The vastness of the cold sea, the crescent cliffs, the chilly temperature that made me shiver, the wind pushing and pulling yet the birds seemed to be at home. I wasn't.

A colony of birds live on the side of the cliffs.

To them, this is home.

No wonder the birds love it here, they have the best view in the world - the horizon and the sea.

 This is no place for bikinis or shorts or spaghetti straps. The wind is fierce and the chilly temperature crept through every bone in my body. Still, I managed to smile. I do love Iceland.

Kepi the photographer.

At that time, we were the only ones visiting the cliffs. Perhaps everyone went to bed as when these photos were taken, it was close to 9 PM.

Thingvellir National Park - Iceland

According to the continental drift theory, the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates shift and drift apart in an endless clash of awe-inspiring forces under the gaping rifts and chasms at the tip of the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland, through Thingvellir National Park and elsewhere in the drift zone or the Icelandic Graben. It actually is the continuation of the Mid Atlantic Ridge oceanic plates in successive stages back in time to about 200 million years ago. Since then, the theory of plate tectonics has been debated, tested, and expanded and has become both a paradigm and a centre of controversy for the geological sciences. (Source here)
 

The place is amazing, and the view is so beautiful.

The water there is so clean and clear, and I don't know why some people still throw coins into the water, as it is prohibited.

A river forms as the tectonic plates move away from each other.

I keep thinking the owner of that house is so lucky to be beautifully located.

That's how clean and clear the water was.

A sign for "Do not throw coins" yet people are so stubborn.

It would be nice to come back here and swim at night.

The Earth is moving, and so are we.

A road or pathway was built in-between the Eurasion and North American tectonic plates.

I want to go back to Thingvellir National Park again and perhaps camp there. I've seen quite a few campers who stayed there overnight. That part of the park we explored is just a fraction of the entirety of the park I look forward to exploring this area perhaps on foot next time.

Geothermal Spot - Seltun, Iceland

I LOVE visiting the geothermal spots in Iceland.

Whenever I walked to a geothermal spot, I felt like I was in another planet. The vents, the red dirt, the boiling mud pots and the smell of sulfur is quite an experience. We visited a few geothermal areas in Iceland, but for me, Seltun was impressive and has left me intrigued what can be possibly boiling beneath us.

 It drizzled when we were driving towards Seltun.

 T'was a sight to see so many mud pots and the smell of sulfur was ubiquitous. My clothes, skin and hair smelled like sulfur when we got home that day. I finally experienced what my Dad used to tell us about sulfur when he was still working at the Batong-Buhay gold mines.

 More mud pots and fumaroles.

 Boiling mud pot.

It would have been nice if we brought eggs to boil here.

 I really felt like walking in a another planet.

 Mineral deposits from geothermal activity.

According to my Reykjanes brochure, "Seltun is an important geothermal area. It provides a wealth of study opportunities due to the great variety of features. Sulphur is especially abundant and has been mined there in the past. Cold, clear water flows off the hillsides and through areas teeming with fumaroles and boiling mudpots."

Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik, Iceland

And we're back to Iceland...

This is the Hallgrímskirkja, which was very close to our guesthouse. We've actually used this as our guide in driving and exploring the city. You can't miss this church because of its interesting architecture, and it's one of the not-to-miss icons in Reykjavik.

In the cold evenings, Kepi and I would walk around the church just observing and studying its architecture.

According to Wikipedia, the Hallgrímskirkja (church of Hallgrímur) is a Lutheran parish church in Reykjavík, Iceland.  At 244 ft, it is the largest church in Iceland and the sixth tallest architectural structure in the country. The church is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614 to 1674), author of the Passion Hymns. State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937.  He is said to have designed it to resemble the basalt lava flows of Iceland's landscape.  It took 38 years to build the church. Construction work began in 1945 and ended in 1986, the landmark tower being completed long before the church's actual completion.

The church is also used as an observation tower. An observer can take a lift up to the viewing deck and view Reykjavík and the surrounding mountains. The statue of explorer Leif Eriksson (1929–32) by Alexander Stirling Calder in front of the church predates its construction. It was a gift from the United States in honor of the 1930 Alþingi Millennial Festival, commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Iceland's parliament at Þingvellir in 930 AD. More info is available here.

REFERENCE:  Italicized words are from Wikipedia.

The Faces of Kleifarvatn, Iceland

The heat has been unbearable the past two weeks.  Last night, we finally had a thunderstorm, and although it was loud and scary, it was a welcome relief from the triple digits heat index and the brick-like humidity.  It seems that this year's summer will be best spent indoors or some place near the beach.

The summer heat is making me wish I was back in Iceland and the still, cool waters of Kleifarvatn.

During our stay in Iceland, we rented a car to explore the Reykjanes Peninsula. Driving in Iceland is very easy because there's only one major highway that loops around the island.  Also, we found the roads wide open except for the slow traffic concentrated within Reykjavik. One of our stops was to explore Kleifarvatn.

Kleifarvatn is the largest lake on the Reykjanes Peninsula. The water level of this lake has always been very sensitive to climate changes and has been used as a local rain gauge.  Since June 17, 2000, the water level in Kleifarvatn has been lowering at an average rate of 1.3 cm/day. Spawn from trouts were released into the lake in the sixties and have thrived quiet well.

Below are the different faces of the lake:

The road going to the lake is darkened with volcanic ash and gravel.

There were still ice caps on the mountains far ahead. The clouds came down to kiss the earth.

This part of the lake looks perfect to pitch a tent and spend the night.

The water was calm and quiet. You could hear a pin drop in this area.

I could sit here all day - just me and my thoughts.

This photo was taken at around 10 PM. It's amazing because it felt and looked like early morning.