Iceland

I booked this trip ages ago on the basis the images i'd taken in Norway earlier in 2022, of the aurora in particular, weren't good enough.

The timing was tricky given having to leave Helen with a still repairing wrist but it still made sense to go.

On the first night in Reykjavik we met-up as a small group with our tour guide for dinner.   The aurora forecast was good though so i volunteered to take the group out in the guide's absence to the harbour to see what we could see.

The Northward view across the water did not disappoint:

Even with the light polution the aurora was green to the eye:

And quite mobile:

I gather it kicked-off a bit after midnight but given we had an early start we'd already headed back to the warmth of the hotel.

The next day was the stary of the tour proper and our first location, a waterfall, was -13c air temperature with a breeze so it felt like -17c to -18c, properly uncomfortable.  My hands were hurting within a few minutes especially as i was using filters for the first time, trying to slow and smooth the water: 

From there we headed to a second waterfall this time more sheltered and with a risen sun, a balmy -9c!  The sun provided an off-and-on rainbow in the falls:

We worked our way further along the coast enjoying the unusally snowy landscape (the Southern part of the island doesn't get much snow) and the unusual temperatures, -5c being the high for the first 2 days.  Brrrr.

I took some snaps from the window of the van:

We arrived at Vik stopping at the church above the town:

Sunset was spent photographing seastacks from the beach:

For a good 90 minutes until the sun was well gone:

After dinner, and with aurora alerts pinging, we headed straight out, a good few hours earlier than the schedule.   We weren't disappointed.   Even with a strong wind and the temperature back down below -10c the sky was alight:

The aurora danced:

And danced, changing strength, colour and pattern for hours:

And hours:

We eventually dropped some of the group off to sleep, while the rest carried on, soaking it all up:

One of my frustrations with the tour was the lassiex-faire attitude of the guide, he was a great guy but didn't seem that focussed on helping us with our photography and from time-to-time more interested in doing his own thing, all of which was a big disappointment for me.   At one point the aurora was bursting over our heads, only afterwards did i learn a little trick that would heave meant those images would have been in focus.   Grrrr.

The next morning, after an understandably abbreviated night, we headed further East for sunset at Diamond Beach, so called as 700-800 year old compacted snow, in the form of mini icebergs is washed down the nearby river then some of them are pushed-up onto the beach, great for catching the light of the sun as it passes through them:

The next morning an early start saw us at a glacial ice cave, fascinating place to visit and luckily we got there ahead of the surge of tourists that soon arrived:

That afternoon and evening were spent visiting glacial outlets, lagoons, etc.

The next morning we did a sunrise at Diamond Beach:

And then drove as far East as we were to get, seeing Reindeer on the way:

Destination Vestrahorn: 

We stayed until the dark of night hoping for aurora over the mountain but it wasn't to be, at least the 50mph gusts died down and the stars were out over the mountain:

It was already feeling like 'after the Lord Mayor's show' as we headed back West, stopping again at the glacial lagoon:

It was around this time that the weather finally closed in too, a southerly storm battered the coast, melted the snow and caused localised flooding thereby knocking the last 36 hours of the tour out.   Hey ho.  I got to see my aurora, I got to take some good pictures.  I've been to Iceland.   Time then to head for home and get ready for my cataract surgery.