For our second day in Iceland, we signed up for a ship's tour called "Action and Lobsters." I'm not sure which was the biggest draw, the "action" or the lobsters, but it was an absolute blast.
There were seven of us in an off-road vehicle that had tires almost as tall as me ...see the first photo here. When the passenger door was opened, a little set of steps descended so the passengers could get in. One big problem...my legs were too short to reach the bottom step! So...Rich had to help me get a foot up on the step, then give me a not-very-graceful push on the butt so I could pull myself into the vehicle. Not too bad a solution if I only had to get in one time, but of course that wasn't the case. We were in and out of the vehicle several times during the day, and each time we had to go through this same slap-stick approach. Oh well...at least we provided a little amusement for the rest of the group.
Our first stop was at the deepest lake in Iceland (no idea of it's name!) where our driver/vehicle owner took us down on the lava sand shore to see a very stark but intriguing landscape. As we left, the driver made several attempts to get back up on the main road by climbing a hill that must have been about 75 degrees, but no dice! We just couldn't quite make it to the top. Apparently we had too much air in our tires. Great fun trying though!
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Next we went to Krysuvik to walk around the Seltun geothermal area where we were treated to a very strong sulphur smell. The landscape is amazing, with craters, mud pots, hot springs, and brightly hued soil. We followed a gravel pathway around the field, and spent about 45 minutes exploring the area.
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Our next stop was along the southern Icelandic shore at the "promise church," Strandarkirkja. The story goes that some sailors were facing certain death at sea so they knelt in prayer and promised to build a church if they survived. Immediately they saw a light ashore, the fog lifted, and they made it safely to land. That spot has been called "Angels Inlet" ever since, and the men kept their promise and built a church right there. A short walk away is a rock wall which we climbed for a stunning view of Iceland's southern shore.
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We continued our day by heading toward our lunch spot, but since we were early, we were treated to another exciting off road beach run...basically taking the long way to the restaurant. Lunch was wonderful. We had fresh, warm bread, fresh veggies, couscous, and two huge bowls of lobster tails and boiled potatoes...basically an "all you can eat" situation, which Rich took full advantage of.
After lunch our driver really got into the "off road" thing. He cranked up Credence on the radio and off we went through the valley and crossing the river several times. Water was flying everywhere, and so were the sheep who all decided running from us was their best chance for survival. This was so much fun! Then we headed up this huge hill, ending on top of the mid Atlantic ridge, and giving us some jaw dropping panoramas of southern Iceland. What a great afternoon. We finished by driving by a major power plant and geothermal field, and eventually arrived back at the dock about 30 minutes before sailing time.
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