A Walk and a Float 2025: Float Days 20-23 (Sea Day, Grundarfjörður, Reykjavík, Reykjavík)

Day 20 - Sea day. Nothing of note.

Day 21 - Arrival in Iceland at the South coast at Grundarfjörður, not too distant from Reykjavík. We did a self-guided walking tour from the ship through the town, and then to a waterfall. After, I separated from the group and went uphill to the next tier of waterfalls for that same stream. After, returned to the port, found a walking buddy, and went in the opposite direction for yet another waterfall. A lot of walking, and a lot of waterfall.
Saw a few birds. Also discovered Crowberries and Bilberries (or, at least my phone's AI was telling me what these were). I had heard about these in a prior tour. Since I was not returning to the ship, I sampled a few of each (bilberries were better [much like tart blueberries]; crowberries have a lot of seeds which are bitter when you grind them between your teeth). After a few minutes of not suffering illness or hallucinations, I ate a few fistfuls. Very tasty. And it turns out, the AI had appropriately identified the plants.

Days 22 and 23 - bus tours through Reykjavík Golden Circle highlights. Waterfalls. Geysers. Rifts. Waterfalls. Geysers. Rifts. And a lot of mountain views entirely hazed out by vog (volcanic fog, I believe from the Sundhnukur volcano). Better described by pitures.

Pictures!

Day 21 - Grundarfjörður

Left the ship, and saw a number of buses converted into stores that can be brought to the terminal areas (or, in this case, the ternder-landing point). This was the first one. I learned that Ugla means Owl, and not Ugly.

A church had an art-thing with 112 Icelandic words for 'wind' (there are more, but 112 is the Icelandic 911, so they stopped there). And when taken from this angle, looks really, really long. It is long. But not really, really long.

Started the walk to a first waterfall, which is inland from this mountain, which I am told featured in Game of Thrones. At no point during the day did we see the top clearly (due to mist/vog). I did not succumb to the temptation to climb this (there is a trail), but chose instead to pursue some additional waterfalls.

Common Redshank in front of a field of wildflowers. A bunch of these today (both wildflowers, and redshanks):

See? Here's another one (redshank, not wildflower):

And some Common Ringed Plovers:

So many wildflowers:

Reached the first set of falls. Mountain still enshrouded:

And the lower tier of falls, with the upper tier visible behind:

A pretty curtain, from between the two primary lower falls.

Good warning signs:

The geologic Sorting Hat still looked like it was not going to clear, so I chose to walk upstream to the next series of falls. More wildflowers. Here, tiny Heath Spotted Orchids and Alpine Lady's Mantle:

And berries? AI suggests these may be Crowberries. And a previous guide suggested these may be edible. Fortunately, this turns out to be correct.

After a bit of a hike, I reached the base of the next set of falls.

And continued climbing until the trail ran out at the top of the uppermost falls of the set:

Beautiful view down below, though obscured a bit by the haze:

Turned around to look uphill, and saw that I had some spectators:

Started back down. So many tiny wildflowers, here some Mouse-ear Chickweed in with a mix of other flowers and mosses, and Alpine Bistort, and Lady's Bedstraw:

More berries? AI suggests these are Bilberries. A previous guide was talking about Icelandic Blueberries, but had a funny pronunciation for blueberry. I was thinking, maybe he was saying 'bilberry' or maybe he just had a funny accent. It was noon, and I was going to skip lunch to go to another waterfall. So tasted a couple, and they were very good - like tart blueberries, so I picked a few handfuls.

On the way to the next waterfall, along the coast, Oystercatchers:

And a couple of Redpolls:

Not a great photo, but a European Shag (like a small cormorant). These birds sit in the water, and leap out and dive into the water. Does not seem very efficient. This one is in mid-dive:

The prior falls had sheep. These falls had a different set of guardians, and they took the job seriously. Apparently, just before arriving, some guy threw a cigarette butt, and was then chased over a fence by the black-and-white horse below:

Beautiful falls:

And, of course, so many more wildflowers:

Met a young woman at the base of the falls. She was keeping a scrapbook, and was an artist of considerable tallent. Calligraphy, script, watercolors, drawings (you can see the watercolor kit clipped to her journal). Everything from passengers on the ship to the plants and waterfalls. She gave me permission to use this photo. Zoom in on the book if you are able.

On the way back to the ship, a red-throated loon:

And a Puffin!!

Day 22 - Reykjavík (bus tour #1)

The first half of the tour looked like this. Very voggy. Tour guide: "Over this hill is a mountain that you can't see. On the left is a glacier that you can't see. To the right is a lake that you can't see."

Fortunately, it cleared up some as we got to Seljalandsfoss waterfalls. Guide "You can walk behind the waterfalls. If you do not have rainproof clothing, that is ok. You will just get very wet." Lots and lots and lots of people (you can see them lining up to get wet behind the falls). The line was too long for me to get wet. But there were other falls here, too, so we looked at those.

A second set of falls was hidden - like water pouring into a cave and out the bottom. There was a crack for some visibility. You can get an idea for scale here, by looking at the people standing on the boulder at the base of the falls.

Next bus tour stop - Skógafoss. Another waterfall. Much larger. With even more people. Including Jana.

Next stop - a black sand beach for lunch at the town of Vik. Almost all beaches in Iceland are black sand beaches. Because it is all eroded volcanic materials.

Partial catch of a Parasitic Jaeger chasing an Artic Tern overhead:

Looking inland, the heaviest of the vog is hovering above the town.

Walking down the rock jetty, Puffins! This one has a snack.

Heading back to the bus, past a park, noticed all the dandelions growing in fairy rings:

Next stop, Reynisfjara Beach. It has some very cool columnar basalt pillars, and a cave.

And above that, infinite puffins nesting. Too cute!

How many infinites? This many:

Day 23 - Reykjavík (bus tour #2)

Again, the first part of the tour looked like this. Tour guide: "Here is another lake you can't see."

First stop: Gullfoss. A waterfall that was almost turned into a UK hydro-electric plant back at the start of the 1900s. A farmer made the deal with the UK folks - the daughter became enraged and protested, including walking to Parliament to present her grievances. The deal was quashed - partly because of public sentiment, and because no money had yet changed hands. She is now revered as the first modern conservationist/ecologist in Iceland.
Walking in, I learned that I need to become more aware of "Pickpockers"

The falls were appropriately impressive:

And even a nature sometimes leaves a wet rag on the floor:

2nd stop was Haukadalur Geothermal Field. Another mini-Yellowstone. Boiling water. Geysers (or, spelled here, "Geysirs"). No boiling mud. Clear water. Also, directives to beware of hot water, and pickpockers

A geyser video. Kind of.

Also at the geyser site, a squawking Redwing:

And a 10-foot Thor statue in the Gift Shop, saying that touching is not allowed:

And in the gift-shop parking lot, an unlabeled statue where a bit too much touching is allowed. And why two men would wrestle next to a tree-stump, in a country that until very recently had no trees. Only in Iceland...

Last stop on the Golden Circle - the Thingvellir National Park. It includes a split in the ground where the tectonic plates of North-American and Eurasian are slowly pulling apart. Our guide told us numerous times that the plates are not actually here, but far underground, and are 7miles apart. Anyway, from a practical aspect, the plates pulling apart translates to this rift on the surface. And this comes across not at all in photos.

Fun fact. The ex-president of Iceland (Bjarni Benediktsson) is now a professor who spends his Summers working at a National Park. Thingvellir National Park. This is him.