Monthly Archives: November 2019

Today was another amazing day, except for the weather. There were high alerts for wind and there were 80% chances for rain. We got to sleep in a little later today since our tour did not start until 11.

The days are very short here. Sun rising around 9:15 and setting around 4:15. We had to drive from our hotel to the town of Vik, around an hour away.

We toured with David (Icelandic name too hard to say) and we were going to ice caves. We drove for about 30 minutes out to the glacier. We were off road in one of the Super Jeeps but not as fancy as the one from the day before. We put on helmets and crampons and then walked about 15 minutes to get to the mouth of the cave. We had to walk through slush, over streamlets on wooden planks and then climb on ice. There were ropes to help. The ice was amazing, with the blues of glacial ice but with lots of black lava sand too.

The walking and climbing was tricky, so the guide took Bette back to the car so the others could explore a second, more difficult cave. While Bette waited in the car the wind rose and the rain poured down.

On the way back we were treated to a roller coaster like ride over the dunes that were covered in snow. David played Highway to Hell!

We finished the tour with a ride along the black sand beach to see some rock formations in the water.

After a quick bite for lunch we were off on our own to another black sand beach with basalt columns and caves. The surf was so strong we could not get close to see much.

Our final stop for the day which was just at sunset was Skogarfoss, a huge waterfall.

We had our last dinner and went to bed hopeful.

Final tally- no Northern Lights for us.

We woke around 7:15 to our alarms ringing. We were disappointed that we had not gotten a middle of the night wake up call, but were glad to have had a good nights rest.

After breakfast we bundled ourselves up and were picked up by our guide/driver Heimir. We had a full day adventure ahead. We were in a Super Jeep and we were going off road to see the stark beauty of the southern part of Iceland. Unfortunately it was rainy and windy again, but we did get to see some amazing things. As we drive our guide told us stories and pointed out different vistas. We were near the Eyjafjallajokull volcano that caused all the travel problems in 2010. We had a great lunch at a restaurant/hotel/camping area in the National Park where we were traveling, Thormark. We did some hiking, once to a crater from after the volcano exploded, and to a cave up on the side of a hill.

We ended our day with dune buggy rides crossing streams and rivers and even having hot chocolate and donuts at a waterfall

Day two – no Northern lights.

Bob and I flew from Fort Myers to Boston with no problems. We met up with Jennifer and family at the airport to fly on to Reykjavik. We had a short 4.5 hour flight with little sleep and landed in Reykjavik around 5:30 AM.

After clearing customs, getting our luggage and having a bite to eat we went out to our rental car. It is a 7 passenger SUV but with 6 people and luggage it is a tight fit. To add to the adventure our car was the last one in the Hertz lot, it was raining gallons and the winds were 25+mph. We had to hold on to the doors so they did not slam on anyone or blow off. Bob’s favorite hat blew away and since it was black and the sun was not anywhere to be seen and the rain was wicked we had our first mishap.

Not to be deterred we left the airport around 7:30 and headed for the Blue Lagoon. Because of the weather Bette bailed and Bob had said no even before we got there. Jen and crew persevered and went in. I kid you not, there were white caps in the water. The rain was still falling and the wind was still blowing. The sun had not yet risen.

We arrived in Reykjavik!

We took the coastal road skirting Reykjavik totally. The drive was pretty. At first it was rainy, the it cleared, then we went through an area totally covered in snow and then we were back in the rain. We stopped in an area that had around 5 different waterfalls. The kids and Bob walked into a canyon type area and saw the waterfall up close.

We then went to our hotel, Hotel Ranga. There is a hot tub outside our rooms, so the Srivastava’s used it, despite the rain and wind.

We had a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant and then it was off to rest. We turned in around 9 – it had been a very long day.

We pushed the Aurora Wake Me Up button on our phones and went to bed. If the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) appear the hotel will ring your room if you have pushed the magic button.

Night One – no northern lights.