We left our Reykjavik hostel at 9 AM and headed toward a small fishing town called Þorlákshöfn located southeast of Reykjavik. Our driver Thor suggested that we see an exciting site that has red lava layers, so we decided to make a stop there on our way to the Ferry Dock. That happened to be an exciting site for us – it had really reddish (oxidized or compositional?) and dark grayish lava layers that could have been very well a part of an older eruption cones. We spent an hour there (Jack couldn’t get enough of it though) and decided we need to leave to catch the ferry. This site had one of the best display of volcanic bombs and ribbon flow structures that are usually associated with strombolian type volcanic eruption. Most of us collected some specimen for our desk or mantle or for friends. We left the town and drove to Þorlákshöfn, which took about 35 minutes. We reached there with more than an hour of time left for the ferry, which was being washed (of the ash from eruption) at that time. So we stopped at the local gas station and grabbed some snacks and coffee. We had a surprise birthday party for Brannon Andersen, and as per our request our travel agent in Iceland came there with a large chocolate cake. Brannon and others enjoyed the cake.
The ferry was pretty large (unlike the ones I have been on in Galapagos) and had many levels with sleeper classes, restaurant, movie theaters etc.,. It was about three hour ride to Himay Island, which is the largest of the 15 Islands making up this archipelago. The most recently formed Island in this chain is Surtsey, which formed in 1963 through an eruption that lasted for nearly 4 years. This was initially an under water volcano (130 m below sea level) that erupted enough material to build up an Island above water. It is not open for general visitors so we were not able to go there. They are carrying out research on the Island and only people involved in research projects are permitted currently.
The captain of the ferry was nice enough to let few of us on to the control deck in the front and we got to speak to the captain and the first seamen. They both gave lots of information about life in general to the active volcano, life on ship, 9-10 meter waves that make every one on the ship sick etc., It happened to be a day with calm ocean, so none of us had any problem. The view was amazing. The Eyjafjallajökull volcano was not visible due to large cloud cover over that area.
Once we landed on the Island, we walked over to meet with a Geologist who works on the Island to get a overview of the geology. It was a very sleepy hour for most of us, and some how we managed to stay awake through the talk and surprisingly retained some of the things he showed and talked about. After that we walked (dragging our baggage with us) through streets filled with about half an inch of fine volcanic ash that was getting blown by occasional gusts of wind. It was incredible to see that much of ash coming over just two days of wind blowing toward this Island from the erupting volcano. We only can imagine how much ash there is in Vik, which is downwind direction from the volcano, and where we will go to next in two days.
After settling in the Hostel, which happened to be very nice (probably recently renovated house) we went for dinner at the Fjolan Restaurant that was adjacent to the hotel. Food was delicious and very expensive! As a Birthday gift to Brannon, I and Jack took him on a late night hike to one of 1973 eruption cone, which was about 200 m tall. It was a great hike and we were surprised to find out about it being geothermally hot on top. Some one at the restaurant said it was not like that before, and it started radiating heat only recently. We never know what we are going to see in the future here. The recent eruption is A’a’ type, which is very blocky, sharp, and difficult to walk compared to Pahoe-hoe type, which is smooth flowing type. We are excited about tomorrow, and can’t wait to hike to the top of the highest volcanic hill on Himay Island. It should give us a great view of Eyjafjallajökull volcano also.
Good night!