Iceland- 2022
This is the first trip that I have personally planned that I went on. I had planned every detail for months and went with my sister. In this overview, I will not be including a "sixth" day because the only activity we're doing that day is flying. This is also, technically, just part one of a graduation trip, as the other half sees us travel to Switzerland; however, since I didn't plan that half of the trip, its review will be on another page.
Trip Review
Day One
Day one started with us picking up our rental car and driving to Reykjavik. We ate some street food for lunch in our car, then quickly headed to þingvellir National Park. We first went to the visitor center to change and look around, then went to the meeting point of our scuba diving tour. Unfortunately, I left my GoPro in the car, but I would soon learn that it was a blessing I did. Our time was with dive.is and our tour guide, Alex, was great. He briefed us on the dive and was funny and helpful.
As we waddled into the cold water, I soon realized the reality of the dive. Being from Florida and only ever diving in extremely warm water, the shock of the cold hit me. My dry suit only protected so much, and my hands and face quickly went numb. The dive started with the famous touching of two continents photo. The water was incredibly clear in the fissure, and I could see as far as my eyes allowed. The rocks that made up the two tectonic plates were also extremely colorful, which was cool. As we continued the dive, it became harder and harder for me to control my buoyancy. For those who don't know, divers control their buoyancy by pressing buttons on their vest (BCD), and in this case, also dry suit, which releases or add air. However, my hands were so numb, making it much harder. My sister had the same issue, and as the tour guide swam away, I saw her floating to the top. I quickly swam up to the tour guide so he could help her (apparently, she lost contact and couldn't see at all), but in doing so I kicked so hard I got two calf cramps and couldn't keep myself from sinking any longer. As I started to sink, I tried as hard as possible to push my BCD's buttons, but I couldn't. I sank lower and lower, my suit compressing around me, my ears popping, and legs cramping. Thankfully, another diver on our tour saw me struggling and came over to add air to my suit.
After that succession of events, my sister went to the dock, and I finished the last ten minutes of the tour. Overall, the experience was amazing, but I'll probably never dive in cold water again, or, at least not for a while. The dive was the only "actual" thing we had planned that day, so instead of going to the other locations in the park, we just decided to head back to Rekjavik and check into our hotel.
Our hotel was incredibly hard to find as it didn't have a sign on the front of it. When we finally found it, we couldn't find our room because apparently, it was inside an adjacent restaurant. We moved into the room and ate some Dominos pizza we picked up on the way because we were too exhausted to go out to eat.
Day Two
On day two, we woke up early to get breakfast at a coffee shop we saw down the street the day before. After waiting in line for a while, we only had time to get a croissant since we had to meet at a bus stop soon for our planned tour. Eventually, our bus came, and we embarked on the Snaefellsnes peninsula tour.
The tour started slow and had me doubting the legitimacy of it after our first three hours only included a convenience store in Borgarnes to grab a crappy lunch and a wall of rocks which weren't very impressive at all. However, our next stop was Ytri Tunga, which was home to some seals, a much cooler site than a rock wall. After that, we saw the famous Budir Church, which was also surrounded by a cool lava field. Next, we stopped at the small harbor and village of Arnarstapi, where we saw Gatklettur, the picturesque coastline featuring an arch-shaped rock formation. Our next stop was a surprise to me, Snaefellsjokull National Park. I had no idea this was on the tour, but it featured an amazing coastline view and many sea birds. Afterward, we came to my favorite tour stop, Djupalonssudur Beach, a black sand beach with the biggest and bluest crashing waves I have ever seen. The contrast between the black sand and blue water was incredible, and I might've even seen a sea lion in the waves at one point. Finally, one of our last stops was Kirkjufell, the most photographed mountain in Iceland. I finally got to use the tripod I brought and took some incredible long exposure shots of the mountain with the waterfall in the foreground.
When we got back, we ate at a restaurant we saw the day before that ended up being one of the only good meals we ate in Iceland.
Day Three
Day three started roughly at 9:00 am with a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Vik; however, shortly into the drive we needed gas, but when we stopped, the gas cover wouldn't tap open. We called the rental car company to ask if there was a button, but the guy said to just pry it off. After prying it off didn't work, we looked for a charging station since the car was a hybrid. Once we got to one, we discovered the charging port didn't fit, but while sitting in the car defeated, I discovered there was a gas button, so we drove to the nearest station and filled up.
Once we got to Vik, we ate lunch at the Black Beach Restaurant and took pictures at the beach. Afterwards, we met in Vik to start our Katla Ice Cave tour. Our tour guide, Maria, was super fun and we stopped on the way to take a picture of the Myrdalsjokull Glacier and Katla Volcano. Then, we stopped closer to the glacier to put on ice spikes and hiked on the glacier until we reached an opening. There, we took some amazing photos of the landscape around us. Unfortunatley, the ice cave was nothing like the pictures, but the glacier made up for it.
After the tour, we ate then went back to Reynisfjara Beach to take pictures of puffins that we were told would be out. After an hour, we finally got some good photos and headed to Solheimajokull Glacier. We collected some glacier water then drove to our next stop the famous Skogafoss Waterfall. After taking in its beauty, we moved onto the final stop of the night, Seljalandsfoss Waterfall where I took possibly my favorite photo of the whole trip. We finally ended the day by getting back to our hotel at midnight and passing out.
Day Four
Day four was almost one of the more relaxing days on the trip, yet we woke up to the hotel fire alarm blaring at 7:00 am and the entire hotel had to stand outside for about 20 minutes while no one came to fix the issue. After a while, a random security guard who was walking by went inside to turn it off. Eventually, we got to the Blue Lagoon by 9:00 am. We enjoyed the hot lagoon for about two hours then ate lunch right there at the Blue Lagoon Restaurant. After a nice meal, we headed back to Reykjavik to shop around the stores and see the city.
Day Five
Day five was definitely the most relaxing day. We decided the night before that we wouldn't go to the highlands and instead use the day to pack and for my sister to finish her homework. At night, we got to go to Tapas Barinn, a restaurant which served me an eight course Icelandic Gourmet Feast. The courses included some favorites of mine such as puffin, minke whale, and lamb tenderloin. It was a great way to end my time in Iceland.
©Copyright. All rights reserved.