Aaahhhh - Iceland's Thermal Baths

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Now we are in North Iceland and our weather is acceptable - sporatic rain but not clear either. We left Egilsstair and traveled the Highlands to an isolated farm. The man who lives here was so far away from a church that he built his own church. He has turned his farm into accommodations, camping, cafe, gift shop, and a cute tourist stop. Sindri, our guide, said there was an arctic fox and he could call him from his burrow, because Sindri speaks fox saying he learned from a girlfriend who was foxy (Sindri is quite the jokester). Sure enough, Sindri called him and a young arctic fox comes out of the burrow where he sleeps.

From here we went to Dettifoss.

From Wikipedia:

Dettifoss is a waterfall in Vatnajökull National Park in Northeast Iceland, and is reputed to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe^. Dettifoss is situated on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, which flows from the Vatnajökull glacier and collects water from a large area in Northeast Iceland. The sediment-rich runoff colors the water a greyish white.

The falls are 100 metres (330 ft) wide and have a drop of 44 metres (144 ft) down to the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon. It is the largest waterfall in Iceland in terms of volume discharge, having an average water flow of 193 m³/s. The superlative of "most powerful" comes from its water flow times its fall distance. The water of the wide Jökulsá á Fjöllum river falls for more than 44 metres.

I got quite wet here. The wind takes the spray from the waterfall and spreads it over the viewing area. The power of this waterfall was incredible.

From here we drove to Nmaskar geothermal area, with fumaroles and mud pots. Supposedly scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed here. They used to mine sulphur back when there was a market for it. The Mid Atlantic Ridge goes through this area and the North American Plate and European Plate are spreading in this area, hence lots of geothermal activity.

Next stop was the Myvatn Nature Baths the highlight for me today. As a note of interest, there is a huge thermal bath sorta near Reykjavik (40 minute bus ride), the Blue Lagoon, which cost close to $60 U.S. The lagoon is man-made. The water is a byproduct from the nearby geothermal power plant Svartsengi where superheated water is vented from the ground near a lava flow and used to run turbines that generate electricity. After going through the turbines, the steam and hot water passes through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal water heating system. Then the water is fed into the lagoon.

This thermal bath draws geothermal water from a borehole and is rich in minerals, silicates and geothermal micro-organisms (that's what the sign says). It cost about $36 U.S. Most of our group went in. They give you a coin for a locker, you get one that has a key in it, drop the coin, put your clothes in the locker, take a shower, get your bathing suit on and enjoy the thermal bath. You can get beer served to you while in the bath. Best part of the day.

The thermal baths are near Lake Myvatn. The lake is famous for the millions of midges (like mosquitoes) that are here. Because of the midges, there are alot of birds here.

Mývatn is a shallow lake situated in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland, not far from Krafla volcano. It has a high amount of biological activity. By the lake and the surrounding wetlands there is a variety of waterbirds, especially ducks.

The lake was created by a large basaltic lava eruption 2300 years ago, and the surrounding landscape is dominated by volcanic landforms, including lava pillars and rootless vents (pseudocraters). The effluent river Laxá is known for its rich fishing for brown trout and Atlantic salmon.

The name of the lake (Icelandic mý ("midge") and vatn ("lake"); the lake of midges) comes from the huge numbers of midges to be found there in the summer.

The lake is fed by nutrient-rich springwater and has a high abundance of aquatic insects (Chironomidae) and Cladocera that form an attractive food supply for ducks. Thirteen species of ducks nest here. The duck species composition is unique in the mixture of Eurasian and North American elements and of boreal and arctic species. Most of the ducks are migratory, arriving in late April – early May from north-western Europe. The most abundant is the tufted duck, which immigrated to Iceland at the end of the 19th century. The greater scaup is the second most common duck species.

Other common species include the Barrow's goldeneye, red-breasted merganser, wigeon, gadwall, mallard, common scoter, long-tailed duck and Eurasian teal. The outflowing Laxá river has a dense colony of harlequin ducks and there is a large colony of eiders at the river mouth some 50 km away from Lake Mývatn. The Barrow's goldeneye is special in being the only nearctic duck in the area (and Iceland as a whole). Its population of about 2000 birds relies entirely on the habitat provided by the Mývatn-Laxá water system and its surrounding lava fields. Most of the Barrow's goldeneyes overwinter there, using ice-free areas kept open by emerging spring water (both warm and cold) and in the strong river current. This species is a hole-nester, in North America using tree-holes, but at Mývatn the birds use cavities in the lava for nesting. The other duck species nest abundantly in the numerous islands of the lake and the surrounding marshlands.

Other common waterbirds include the Slavonian grebe, red-necked phalarope, great northern diver, red-throated diver and whooper swan.

Next we went to Dimmuborgir. The Dimmuborgir area consists of a massive, collapsed lava tube formed by a lava lake flowing in from a large eruption in the Þrengslaborgir and Lúdentsborgir crater row to the East, about 2300 years ago. At Dimmuborgir, the lava pooled over a small lake. As the lava flowed across the wet sod, the water of the marsh started to boil, the vapour rising through the lava forming lava pillars from drainpipe size up to several meters in diameter. As the lava continued flowing towards lower ground in the Mývatn area, the top crust collapsed, but the hollow pillars of solidified lava remained. The lava lake must have been at least 10 meters deep, as estimated by the tallest structures still standing.

In Icelandic folklore, Dimmuborgir is said to connect earth with the infernal regions. In Nordic Christian lore, it is also said that Dimmuborgir is the place where Satan landed when he was cast from the heavens and created the apparent "Helvetes katakomber" which is Norwegian for "The Catacombs of Hell".

Dimmuborgir was used as a shooting location for HBOs fantasy tv-series Game of Thrones. Dimmuborgir forms the background of Mance Rayders wildling camp.

The Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir is named after the Dimmuborgir region.

Next stop: Godafoss. Are you tired of waterfalls yet? There are zillions of waterfalls in Iceland and we are going to the main attractions.

The Goðafoss (Icelandic: "waterfall of the gods" or "waterfall of the goði") is a waterfall in Iceland. It is located in the Bárðardalur district of Northeastern Region at the beginning of the Sprengisandur highland road. The water of the river Skjálfandafljót falls from a height of 12 metres over a width of 30 metres. The river has its origin deep in the Icelandic highland and runs from the highland through the Bárðardalur valley, from Sprengisandur in the Highlands.

In the year 999 or 1000 the lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði made Christianity the official religion of Iceland. According to a modern myth, it is said that upon returning from the Alþingi, Þorgeir threw his statues of the Norse gods into the waterfall.



We drove to Akureyri and had dinner there. This town is the largest town in Northern Iceland, with a population of 18,00 and is nicknamed the capital of North Iceland. Cruise ships stop here so there's a decent harbor here. It is located at the inland end of the Eyjafjrur fjord. Because of the town's position at the head of a long fjord surrounded by high mountains, the climate is more typically inland than coastal, with greater variations in temperature (warmer summers, colder winters) than in many other inhabited parts of Iceland. However, the mountains shield the town from strong winds. The relatively warm climate (for its latitude) allows the botanical gardens to flourish without need of a greenhouse. The area around Akureyri has one of the warmest climates in Iceland, even though it is only 100 km (62 mi) from the Arctic Circle.

We continued to Dalvik for our hotel and the staging area for our whale watching trip tomorrow.

I have not told much about the countryside inbetween all these beautiful stops we make. The countryside is mostly farming: mostly sheep, some cattle, horses. It's a beautiful peaceful place to drive through. There are more sheep here than people. Also, fishing is a huge industry here. Back in the 1600's to 1900's fishing was mostly done just to provide for your family and neighbors. There were fishing fleets from France and England that were depleting the fish stock. Wikipedia explains it better than I can: The Cod Wars:

The Cod Wars (Icelandic: Þorskastríðin, "the cod wars", or Landhelgisstríðin, "the wars for the territorial waters") were a series of confrontations between the United Kingdom and Iceland on fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of the disputes ended with an Icelandic victory. The Third Cod War concluded in 1976, with a highly favourable agreement for Iceland; the United Kingdom conceded to a 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometre) Icelandic exclusive fishery zone after threats that Iceland would withdraw from NATO, which would have forfeited NATO's access to most of the GIUK gap, a critical anti-submarine warfare chokepoint during the Cold War.

As a result, British fishing communities lost access to rich areas and were devastated, with thousands of jobs lost. Since 1982, a 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometre) exclusive economic zone has been the United Nations standard.

The term "cod war" was coined by a British journalist in early September 1958. None of the Cod Wars met any of the common thresholds for a conventional war, and they may more accurately be described as militarised interstate disputes. There is only one confirmed death during the Cod Wars: an Icelandic engineer, who was accidentally killed in the Second Cod War while he was repairing damage on the Icelandic gunboat Ægir after a collision with the British frigate Apollo. They collided again, on 29 August 1973.

There's a long discussion in Wikipedia about the Cod Wars if you are interested. The richness of the fishing off Iceland comes from the continental shelf and the currents, like the Gulf Stream, that keep the waters at a certain temperature.

Iceland is a magical place. I'm learning so much while I'm here.

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