Sunday Oct 2
Dyrhólaey was our first stop today. Jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, the point is home to sea stacks, arches and a lighthouse, with beautiful views of the long black sand beaches from its cliffs. Summer finds this cliffs full of nesting birds - puffins and Arctic terns. Now we see only kittiwakes sailing on the air currents. Mary and I meet an Icelander who told us his family caught and ate puffins for generations but now have stopped. Global warming has changed the available food source, and many puffins have left the cliffs of Iceland. He described how they build their nests and that puffins have lice, an interesting fact.
Walking behind the waterfall Seljalandsfoss was our next adventure. Spray in our faces, we found niches to shield us from the mist. It is so difficult to capture the size and power of these falls in words or pictures, but it is simply amazing to look up through them, to hear the thunder, to see how small people look in front of them. I spotted a little Icelandic graffiti!
Just a few hundred meters on, we found the falls Gljúfurárbui, with its hidden canyon. The question was - How to get in? On the far left there was a crevice in the rock face and a small stream. Looking up the stream, the chamber was visible, and rock hopping was the way to get there. It was exhilarating inside - the falls tumbling into their pool, the mist highlighted in the darkened circular rock chamber. I climbed up on a large rock to feel more a part of this magical place.
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