Iceland 1 - Day 4 March 18, 2014
After a fairly late night with the Aurora displays we checked out of our hotel and started our drive to Hali. We had great plans to photograph the falls, farms and other interesting vista. It was raining and snowing as we left Reykjavik and slowly but surely started getting worse as we moved South.Our first stop was Seljalandfoss. Seljalandsfoss is a very popular tourist attractions and also one of the most photographed in Iceland. These falls are located between Seljalandsmúli and Hamragarðar. When driving on route 1 you need to turn at Seljalandsmúli on a side road. The falls are about 3/4 of a mile with ample parking.
The Seljalandsá river drops about 200 feet off the cliff edge forming Seljalandsfoss (foss means waterfall). In addition to Seljalandsfoss, there a few additional streams that drop similar heights to the west of the main falls. A path provides access behind the waterfall that gives photographers and tourists many unique views.Small breaks in the rain allowed for some brief shooting.Next stop was Skógarfoss. This is one of Iceland’s larger waterfalls 70 feet wide and 200 feet high. Skógarfoss is a fall along the river Skógará.The wind and the way the fall droops there is always high volume of spray. In sunlight, that we unfortunately lacked, the spray results in a a single or double rainbow. According to Icelandic folklore there are treasures and gold buried under the waterfall.The rain and snow is getting worse and photography is near impossible. Some of the group would not be denied the opportunity so they braved the elements and got some record shots.We leave the foss in driving sleet, snow and high winds. We stop at one more waterfall called Falls at Forsa.Now the snow is more like a blizzard, visibility is down to a 50 feet or so. We drive using the yellow road markers to guide us. Eventually arrive in the town of Vik. This is the southern most tip of Iceland. Lunch and then on to Klaustur where we normally fill up as there are no gas stations in Hali. The conditions are getting worse and the wind is just brutal. We drive on to the next small town of Skaftafel. The wind spend signs show 88 MPH steady winds and the gusts are over 100 MPH. If you are on FaceBook check out a short video of this experience on E.J. Peiker's timeline. We drive a few miles and are turned back by the police - the road is impassable. Fortunately Skftafell has a small hotel and they have 5 rooms available, we are 15 in all so it is hole up time. We had dinner at this hotel and managed to get some sleep. Wakeup call was for 5:45 and departure 6:30.In the most part this day was a wash-out.
Iceland 1 - Day 3 (March 17, 2014)
It is day 3 of this trip and we head out to the region known as Snæfellsnes Peninsula. This is a rugged region of Icelandic west coast that juts out into the Atlantic between Faxaflói bay and Breiðafjörður. The two coasts north and south separate by a range of mountains that run along the peninsula and culminate ending up at Snæfellsjökull, a large volcano and glacier at the land’s westernmost point. This is the largest volcano on this peninsula. This is the mountain that was featured in the Jules Verne book “Journey to the Center of the Earth"
Travel to this region is shortest when you take the 6 kilometer long tunnel that traverses under the ocean. Once through the tunnel, on the way Snæfellsnes to our first stop was the unique single crater volcano named Eldborg (The Fire Castle) is actually it is a caldera rather than a volcanic crater.
Next, we ant to the town of BÚÐIR. This is a former fishing village in the Búðavík bay. The settlement was abandoned in the early nineteenth century and today has just a hotel and a church. The church is a black church surrounded by a lava field. It has three white-framed windows and was constructed in 1703. The church has a surrounding wall made of lava and topped with turf.
Our next location was an costal area Arnastapi at the foot of Stapafell. It is a small fishing village and harbor. The rocks and cliff sides are rookeries. This time of year the primary nesting sea birds were Fulmars with a few Kittiwakes. Arctic terns also nest here and are known to dive-bomb when threatened.
There are lots of photo opportunities in this area and one has to be very careful of massive rogue waves. The waves are very unpredictable and if you are on a beach or near the ocean you must be extra cautious.A quick snack and then on to another hunt for the Aurora. There were faint signs while we were driving so we stopped and set up. This was truly rewarding.
Iceland 1 - Day 2 (March 16, 2014)
Iceland continues to be cloudy, stormy and very windy. We planned of doing the Golden Circle route despite adverse weather conditions. On the way to Þingvellir we stopped at Mosfellsheiði (Mosfellsheidi in English).
Þingvellir (Thingvellir in English) which is the is the National Park where the Althing, open-air parliament that represented all of Iceland, was convened in 930 and continued remained active until 1798. It became a national park in 1928 and has a special tectonic and volcanic environment as a rift valley. It is in this area that you can see the continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Plates particularly in the faults which traverse park. The largest of the fault cracks is the Almannagjá. 
Þingvellir is on the northern shore of Þingvallavatn, that is the largest natural lake in Iceland.
As we walked along the fault cracks we noticed bus loads of tourists arriving so decided we would go ahead to the largest waterfall Gullfoss and beat the crowds that were bound to visit the famous Gyser before going to Gullfoss.For a change Gullfoss was not as windy so the group was able to get some excellent images from the various vantage points.
Next stop was for lunch at the Geyser. Here again the crowds were impossible - it was school vacation week in England and hence the crowds.After lunch we headed out to photograph the Geyser. A few quick eruptions and then we are in the middle of one of the fastest developing snowstorms. No one outside was spared. A few (sensible) members of the group decided to stay back in the restaurant - smart move. By the time one could walk from the gyser to the concession store photographers, cameras and tripods all became one big white snow covered mass.Heading back around the Golden Circle we stopped and photographed a small church in Faxi called Haukadals Kirkja (Kirkja means Church - interesting that the Hindi word for church is Girja and sounds similar to Kirkja).
Next stop was a coral of Icelandic horses on Route 35 before heading to another waterfall.
This is Faxafoss which is not very high but has some lovely form.
With the weather continuing to be problematic we heads towards a potential Aurora location. As the sun was going down we stopped overlooking a valley with a lovely little church. This is the church at Lake Ulfljotsvatn that is south of the Thingvellir national part called Ulfljotsvatn Kirkja. The original church or churches were was established 1200. The current church was built in 1914 and will be 100 years old this year. The lake is frozen but it is deceptive. It is believed that centuries ago the priest and people traveling to attend mass drowned on their way trying to cross the lake as a shortcut to church.
- The church at Lake Ulfljotsvatn
The Aurora is always a waiting game so we waited and waited. All there was to photograph was the full moon.One can only have so much patience and with no signs of the skies clearing we returned to the hotel.