So much to see & do in southern Iceland

It’s been an amazing and busy week – and very hard to believe it’s Friday morning. I’d originally started this post while we drove from the eastern most part of the southern coast back to Reykjavik. It was pouring with rain from the moment we headed out the door, and we had a long drive back, with the intention of stopping to photograph the remnants of a lava field. Well at least 6 of us decided to brave the elements, including me.

We donned our wet-weather gear, wrapped cameras and lenses in plastic, slipped the spikes over our boots and out we went.  It was wet, very wet - and the trying to photograph anything was difficult.

Back in the bus I found that I couldn't access my photos - wetness had interfered somewhere. But it all resolved with time, and before long we were at our next stop.

But let's go back to Tuesday 8 March when we stopped at two of Iceland's big waterfalls on the south coast: Seljalandsfoss & Skogafoss (we've learned to approximate the pronunciations & the Icelanders seem ok with this - fortunately).

Both are very well photographed so I took the time to play with one of my new filters that cuts the light (neutral density 6), allowing a long exposure that provides a "silky water" effect. Of course this was when the sun came out directly onto the water, making it more of a challenge - but creating a beautiful rainbow.  It was fun experimenting and finally getting the result I wanted.

Skogafoss is home to a multitude of Fulmars nesting in the cliffs beside & behind the falls & flying close to the water.  It was fun trying to capture these birds as they flew in front of the water.

We then had a real treat, visiting a nearby Black Sand Beach. As I've mentioned before, our bus driver, Peter, is an absolute star, driving us through rainstorms, blizzards, blazing sunshine on snow, ice, mud and black sand. So he drove us the 1-2kms from the road to an amazing site - a DC3 that had done an emergency landing at the Sólheimasandur Beach on Nov 24, 1973. The shell is still there, nestled in the sand.

As you can tell it's been very busy every day, and today is the same - we have our next class shortly, and I have so much to describe. Unfortunately it will have to wait until I'm back at the hotel this evening.

Next will be about the Glacier Walk & the Jökulsárlón lagoon, followed by our long drive through four seasons of weather back towards Reykjavik, stopping along the way for the lava field shoots and then a very relaxing soak at the Blue Lagoon last night! So nice!