August 20th // Beautiful Beaches

     Dyrhólaey Peninsula & Reynisfjara Beach // Nature ●

At the glacier 

     We ate our pop tarts that we had packed and each drank two five hour energies... each.  At the little grocery shop in Reykjavik before we left, we stocked up on a bulk pack of them because we decided we would rather sacrifice sleep than not getting to see all of the places along the Ring Road.  We planned to all drink those on our shifts driving or after a long night.  As for sleep, we wouldn't get much of it, but when it wasn't our turn driving we would take a nap. 
     There would be a fairly long gap in between hotels in after Vik, which is the last town for about about three days, excluding the one in Skaftafell national park.  We wanted to explore more of Eyjafjallajökull, but we were pretty tired still so we only went a couple hundred feet up the glacier.  The ice glowed blue in the morning light with black rocks jutting out.  
     We hadn't really thought it through, but honestly we kind of like the idea of glacier climbing in our pajamas just for the heck of it.  Kyndall's pajamas just so happened to be her giant coat, so she was set, but everybody else was wearing flannel bottoms and heavy sweaters.  Abby was wearing these ridiculous Christmas fuzzy toe socks.  She didn't want to waste time lacing up her hiking boots, so she put on a pair of flip flops which she had brought as shower shoes just in case went to a campsite with showers.  She looked like a more festive version of those stereotypical tourist in white knee socks and sandals.  To say the least, it wasn't Abby's proudest fashion moment.  
     Certain spots were so steep that we had to take hold of ice chunks.  We hadn't thought to wear our gloves, so our fingers got cold.  
     There were little spots of snow that wasn't frozen over and we ended up having a snowball flight.  Abby's flipflops became really slick so when Taylor hit her square in the face she slipped and fell onto her stomach and penguin slid all the way downhill.  She didn't even fight it.  She just slid down straight as a board and squealing.  
     We all ran down to try and stop her, all except Taylor who fell down laughing and slid down herself also.  She laughed so hard that she started spinning as well as sliding.  Kyndall tripped and started sliding on her butt.  
     Alissa and I just walked down calmly because we weren't about to get wet from the ice.  I'm not about that life.  All three of them added in a snow bank, first Abby, next Taylor crashes into her, and then Kyndall crushed the two of them under her ginormous coat.
     Once they got up and walked back to camp, soggy and cold, we started packing up after getting dressed for real because pajamas weren't the best for 50 degree weather.  We packed up camp and left around 10:30 to get back to the car.  It was down hill and the trek was much easier this time so we managed to get back in only 7 and a half hours.  I drove the first shift once we got back to the at 5:30 pm, but we weren't near any restaurants, obviously because the next town was Vik.  
     We ate granola bars and some dry cereal, which wasn't ideal, but it worked in a pinch.  We wanted to get to Vik before we had to stop for the night somewhere random instead of at a hotel.  But we wanted to make a few stops along the way at a couple beaches.  

Dyrhólaey arch

     Our first stop was Dyrhólaey.  It's a peninsula which used to be an island, but because of volcanic eruptions and lava flow, it is now connected to the main land.  
     Eyja is the Icelandic word for island, which is where it got it's name.  Dyrhólaey has a 1,300 foot cliff overlooking the ocean with a soul light house gracing it's precipice.  The light house is a 43 foot structure made of white concrete with a red paint trim.  
     On the left of the building there is the keeper's quarters.  It's the second light house to be built there.  The orrigonal was made in 1910 and was only a steel frame with a light attached to it as a transitional lighthouse until the present one was built in 1927.  We were lucky to go when there was no one there to bother or be bothered by.  
     In the water there is an arch of hardened lava.  Puffins nest on the cliff and hang out on the arch.  They were absolutely adorable and I had to resist the urge to try catching one to keep as a pet.  They looked so snugly, almost like a stuffed animal.  We hiked down the ledge to the beach itself.  Most--if not all--beaches in Iceland have black sand, which are very rare.  We only stayed for like an hour, and then got back on the road.  

Alissa at Reynisfjara

     This time it was Taylor's turn to drive, but she got it really easy because the ride to the next beach, Reynisfjara was only about an hour and a half away.  Reynisfjara beach is known as one of the world's best black sand beaches and in 1991 it was ranked as one of the best non-tropical beaches in the world.  
     There are three rock formations in the water.  Legend has it that Reynisfjara was formed when trolls pulled a three masted ship ashore and when daylight broke, the ship turned into rock.  Another legend  is about a husband whose wife was taken by two trolls, and frozen to death at night.  The husband made the two trolls swear to never kill anyone ever again. Her spirit lives along with the sea, rocks, and trolls to this very day as the story goes.  
     Reynisfjara is actaully known as a more dangerous beach though, it's rough currents can overpower those who are not careful.  Often times tourists aren't careful, and in several instances they have needed to be rescued.  They don't take into account that there is water on both sides, so when avoiding one side's waves they get bombarded by the other. 

 Reynisfjara

     We got back on the road when high tide hit around 6:30 and set off for Vik to stay in the Icelandair Hotel.  We were all really looking forward to getting to sleep in real beds and take nice hot showers, especially Abby, Taylor, and Kyndall after their trip down the glacier.  

     It was only a forty five minute drive to the hotel, which we were thankful for because we were running on five hour energy fumes at that point.  Once we got in our rooms we just collapsed in our beds and didn't so much as move a finger until lunch the next day.