Our Last Day in Iceland

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Geo: 64.1353, -21.8952

Today is our second day in Reykjavik and we are touring the southern part of Iceland. We had made no plans for the day. Karen didn't want to go into the Blue Lagoon, a heated pool in Reykjavik noted for its healing qualities and other tours we had considered would not be completed before our departure time of 4:30pm. I figured we would just either hang out on the boat or take a three hour tour of the city by bus. A couple of days ago, one of our travelers from Cruise Critic found a van tour that would return us in time so, at the last minute, we signed up.

We meet on deck 3 at 6:45am. There are 7 of us. Three couples and a single school teacher. Our driver tells us that we will have quite a bit of driving time today, having to cover a long distance all the way to Vik at the southernmost tip of Iceland where we can explore the Black Beach. The school teacher takes the shotgun position and gabs to the driver the entire way, taking a bullet for us. It takes a couple of hours to reach Dyrholaey Nature Preserve and the beach. We stop several times to view it, twice from high above and once where we can actually walk on it. I even get some shots of some puffins from the cliffs above the beach. We also stop in the small village of Vik where we make a WC and snack stop.

Our driver offers to take us to a glacier, the one where they filmed "Oblivion", starring Tom Cruise. Karen and I had already seen and stood on a glacier yesterday but went along with the group's desire to see one anyway. He parked as close as he could get but with only a two-wheel drive minivan, we were still a long way from the glacier itself. I walked with Karen and we made it about half the distance to it. A few others walked most of the way. It's nothing like the one we were on yesterday. It's full of black rock and too steep to ascend. You can only touch it at its base and for us, it's no match to the beauty of the glacier we were walking on a yesterday.

With the glacier escapade behind us, we drive to one one of two waterfalls. It's quite impressive and Karen gets close to it, allowing me to take some photos. We stop next at a restaurant for lunch. The teacher doesn't like broccoli soup and wants fish and chips instead so we leave the restaurant and our guide takes us to a fish and chip stand where we all order lunch. It's very good. Way better than the fish in chips in Bergen, Norway for $50. Hey, this little trailer is even on Trip Advisor!

Our final stop is another waterfall, Seljalandsfoss, where one can walk behind it for a different viewpoint. Karen makes it to the front. I climb the Rock and steps to reach the side. No one in our group actually made it behind since it's a difficult climb for most and very wet and misty.

It's time we head back to Reykjavik. It's 2:30pm and the teacher asks the driver every 15 minutes, "How much longer to the ship? We can't be late" She must be driving him crazy. We get back to the ship at 3:45pm with time to spare. After tipping our guide and saying goodbye to our traveling companions, we head straight to our room to get a shower and go to dinner. We have dinner with four others, a couple from Illinois and two widows shopping for husbands. The ladies tell us how they got screwed on their cruise price and are looking for boyfriends. The man says he's a pipe fitter. They all tell us we need to get together but we hardly ever dine with the same people twice.

The entertainment tonight is another comedian/magician. He's very funny and performs some very interesting card tricks. He explains that all his luggage has been lost and he has little to work with. It's all true and I think he pulls it off very well. We meet the "Traveling Sues" right after the show and talk for an hour before retiring to our room.

Tomorrow is a sea day, a most welcome sea day.

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