Útigönguháls

The staff at Hotel Laki woke us about midnight because the aurora borealis was active, We bundled up, went outside, and found a small group with cameras. It seems that the aurora was not visible, but it could be photographed with an exposure of 30 seconds, f4, ISO 400 or better. I took a few shots that at least show the aurora, though without much detail, then returned to bed. We rose at 6:45 am. The hotel staff graciously prepared breakfast half an hour early for us because they knew we needed an early start. We were on the road to Jokullsarlon by 8:30 am. Ice covered the roads, but they improved as we traveled farther east. We arrived at Jokullsarlon at 10:45 am, one hour before we were to meet our guide for the photographic excursion into the ice caves. There were a dozen members of our group from all over the world, all under forty except Glenda and me. We chatted in the store with new friends from China, Greece, Germany and England before Oskar our guide loaded us all into a huge Toyota swamp buggy. We went maybe 3 km east then turned off the road and went another 4 km off road. Donning helmets, we walked another half hour over volcanic terrain that looked like the surface of the moon. Glenda held her camera in her hand and took many shots documenting our excursion. I chose to set up my tripod, take great care with my camera settings, and try for fewer shots of especially appealing ice formations. After an hour and a quarter we reversed course, walked back to the van, and returned to Jokullsarlon. Glenda and I lunched on bread, cheese and nuts we had brought with us, as we removed layers of clothing for the return trip to Hotel Laki. Throughout our visit to the ice caves the temperature remained at about 27 degrees F with light winds and bright sunlight. The weather was perfect. On the trip back to the hotel, in spite of a few quick stops to photograph villages, we returned in less than two hours. The trip out this morning took over three hours. Obviously, road conditions had improved greatly. We straightened up our room, and put away our ice cave gear before enjoying another delicious supper. Glenda had arctic char, and I had lamb with another glass of the same Italian wine as last night. We felt a great sense of accomplishment in that we had completed successfully the excursion that was our main objective in visiting Iceland.Read more