Viking serenade

What a way to spend the last night of our great adventure! How many have a "viking" sing to you? Thanks for joining us--now it's time to get back to the real world.

Last meal

Our last night in Iceland and our three week adventure. What a fabulous time we've had!!! We decided to spend our last night at the very gaudy but fun Viking Hotel and restaurant. So much fun!

Paul in the geothermal river

One last adventure

On our last afternoon before flying out of Iceland Paul and I hiked up 3 km to a geothermal river. I'm not going to kid u--we do a lot of hiking but this hike was made tougher by the sloppy conditions of the trail--as well as the fact that it was cold and drizzly. But--OMG-- the view was spectacular and the water was so warm (hot) that although it took us an hour to hike there we could only relax in the water for ~20 minutes!

Four-wheelin' in Iceland

I can't tell u how many rivers we had to forge with our trusty 4-wheel drive rental car. Paul did a great job of keeping us dry. In this crossing I decided to climb out of the sun roof and film it--I'm being tossed around the window pretty good so was glad when it was over!

Mt Hekla

Still waiting for that earthquake--just a little one. Ok so we're a little crazy. Just want our money's worth.

Close up of the volcanic eruption layer.

Sediment layers tell all

How can u not get excited about sediment? I say this knowing some of my students r now rolling their eyes. Yet these layers tell the story of a fractional history of the planet they live on. How very cool that we can touch the time of a volcanic eruption (black layers). The thickest layer was from a former eruption by Mt. Hekla.

Camping in Iceland

Really enjoyed it!

Glacial flour

On the ferry ride back we saw the effect of glacial melt on the ocean water. Lots of fine-size particles suspended in the water column due to massive amounts of glacial input.

Not so lucky homeowner

They are actually excavating some of the homes that were covered by the lava flow. Makes for rather strange viewing.

Lava field

The last eruption on this island occurred in 1973 and consumed part of the town. This homeowner was lucky. The next pic shows that others were not!

Ferry to Vestmannaeyjar

These islands were created from volcanic eruptions. Still active. Cool stuff.

After the dive

A hot bowl of lobster soup in Stokkseyri at Vid Fjorubordid. Again--highly recommended!

Ready to go

Diving in the rift valley

Putting on my dry suit before diving into 4degree C water that fills a crack in the rift valley. Spectacular experience. Visibility is ~150 meters. Deepest part of the crack we dove was 65 meters. Highly recommended.

Waiting for the geyser

Iceland is a geothermal hotspot. They create most all of their energy needs from it.