Plans for our stay in Iceland took so many forms and permutations that my head spins at the recollection. Snowdrop had read a book about Iceland and she told me early on that she wanted to see this country. Especially the puffins and the black beaches! Those were her wishes.
You don't actually have to leave Reykjavik to see puffins. Between mid-May and mid-August, there are plenty of boat tours a day, right from the city dock. The catch here is the mode of transportation: by boat. Did I ever tell you how much I hate boats in choppy waters? I had actually taken a boat trip off the coast of northern England to see puffins a few years back. I felt sick most of the way there and back. In Reykjavik, the companies use RIBs (rigid-hulled inflatable boats) that seat about a dozen passengers. The tour companies supply you with life jackets and binoculars. They keep their distance for reasons of safety but also so as not to disturb the colonies. You can't have dozens of people traipsing around or even getting close to the island puffin homes.
I looked for a better way to do this.
I read that some of the largest colonies of puffins (and mind you, Iceland as a whole has the greatest concentration of puffins, hence all those puffin souvenirs around town) were to the south of the city. As were the black beaches. I thought of renting a car. I booked a car. Then I changed my mind. I'm not shy about driving in any and all countries of Europe, but I don't like doing it with Snowdrop. It's hard to pay attention to her and to my surroundings. Too, I wasn't quite sure where to look. The literature kept pushing boat trips. Can't I stay off of unpredictable sea waters??
In the end, I booked a guide. A person with a car, so I wouldn't have to drive. A person who knew about puffins and, too, how to avoid crowds which surely must be there on the Icelandic roads. I booked a day with Pall.
Pall helps out at Arctic Exposure -- a small company that provides tours with a helpful emphasis on photography. It is not cheap to have him take us south for the day, but then nothing in this country is cheap and I am saving by not renting a car (saving, too, my sanity by not trying to do this by myself).
We start the day... wait, was there an end to yesterday? I was up at midnight and looked outside. Cloudy and wet, but still pretty light, if you ask me!
Okay, morning breakfast. I tell Snowdrop to eat a lot because I'm not sure how lunch fits into the deal.
At 9, Pall is at the door of the hotel waiting for us. (He would have picked us up earlier, but I balked at that!)
How to describe our trip south with Pall... Perfect? Perfectly exciting? Evocative and with diverse weather? Delivering exactly what I hoped for?
The excursion gave us Iceland. Pall, who is a professional photographer, someone who has spent his life between Reykjavik and a southern town, drove us to places where we could experience the country as he has experienced it. And he did so without unnecessary chatter -- of the type a tour guide normally hits you with. It was an incredible day!
Snowdrop, too, was happy as a puffin!
To get to the cliffs where puffins hang out, you need to go south for about two and a half hours. But there are good stops on the way. The first one, at Urridafoss Falls is just lovely! Snowdrop is bouncy and exuberant.
(fishing)
(there has to be one of us!)
Another pause -- just to photograph these falls from afar. Because they are pretty from this roadside space. (We will get closer to them on the way back.)
We stop then for a snack at a gas station/store. For candy, really. Snowdrop loves that! And we pass a glacier -- coming straight at us! Only in Iceland are these slow moving ice packs almost ho hum. The country has about 270 named glaciers.
And now we get to the cliffs where puffins hang out from late spring through mid August. (After nesting here, they move up north again, staying on the waters of the North Atlantic for the winter months.) This is when the weather really deteriorates. A mist spreads a layer of moisture, eventually changing to light but persistent rain. And the winds! We've come from toasty Reykjavik (temp about 55f/13c) to blustery air and a drop to maybe 5c/40f. There aren't many people up here and I have to think the weather has something to do with it. Though, too, this isn't a place for tour buses. We are at the top of the cliff -- Dyrholaey. And below us? The black beaches of Iceland. This is shattered volcanic rock and Iceland is full of it. Indeed, Pall tells us the whole island is made of basalt rock.
We were to walk on those beaches, but the weather is just too ferocious this afternoon. More importantly though, we are here for some puffin spotting.
Adorable and full of personality!
How can such small guys have so much to offer?!
We are wet. We are cold. And yet... there are the puffins.
This bird surely is a national treasure.
(in the rain: cliffs full of puffins)
We are really wet. Time for a hot lunch. Pall of course knows where to find that. Not a small matter -- this part of Iceland is sparsely populated. Farms, a couple of small hotels. I see nothing else.
We stop at a place full of wet diners. Snowdrop of course eats her fish and chips. Our friend goes with the burger. Me, I'm tempted by something called marriage cake. Apparently it's a combo of rhubarb and oats. Delicious!
We head back now. And as soon as we leave the southern coast, the weather improves. Significantly! Pall suggests a pause by the Falls we saw from the road -- the Skogafoss.
The girl can still surprise me: I do believe this is her favorite moment from the day. Yes, there are the falls, very nice, lovely in fact. But what she really wanted was to leave her mark: to build a rock promontory, running into the river. A viewing platform of sorts. She set to it, pick heavy rocks to carry into the rushing stream.
(I watch a brave soul get closer to the tumbling waters; I'm glad Snowdrop isn't quite that adventurous.)
The girl may have gone on like this for a long time. Maybe until she crossed the river, but I said perhaps this much was enough. Okay! At least it's longer than any of the others here!
And we have one more stop -- a popular one, with good reason! These are the Seljalandsfoss -- falls that are both tall and uniquely formed so that you can actually go behind them, if you're willing to climb along slippery rocks and then walk through the tail end of cascading water!
We end the day here. We're back in Reykjavik in the evening and we say goodbye to Pall. Honestly, it would not have been possible to do this without him -- the perfect guide, with a perfect eye for the beauty of this country.
In the evening, Snowdrop and I eat at the Fish Company, yet another seafood place! This one is perhaps the closest we'll come to fine dining on this trip, without totally destroying my budget, though it also has the promise of simple fish and chips for Snowdrop, which takes away the fear of excessive and esoteric sauces poured over her beloved seafood. Me, I go for the Atlantic char. Like a salmon only gentler!
We have one more day in Reykjavik and yes, we do have an activity planned for it! We'll see how that goes. Adventures can be... adventuresome!
with so much love...
