After my complimentary night stay in the national park campground — well, technically it wasn’t complementary since I paid for a night of camping, and the “park guy” was, thankfully, very nice and accommodating (he could have easily been a by-the-book jerk and asked me to leave or pay properly for the campsite) — I planned to head back to the black sand beach, even though it was a 40 minute drive.
I wasn’t entirely happy with the shots I had gotten the day before, and I was a little disappointed with the number and quality of the ice chunks. Hopefully there would be more, and the surf would be more cooperative. I also wanted to try some new perspectives. In other words, something different than I had done before.
Fortunately there were lots more ice chunks (it’s so interesting that so many are deposited on the beach simply overnight), especially on the west beach (there are two beaches separated by the tidal estuary which sends the icebergs out to the ocean). I started on the east beach and then moved over to the west beach. I spent well over a couple hours trying out new perspectives, and I was extremely pleased with the results. See the photos below and judge for yourself.
Editorial (& Venting) Break: During both visits to the beach, I witnessed individuals destroying ice chunks on the beach by kicking them, picking them up and smashing them, or kicking black sand all over them. I can somewhat understand if it’s a child doing this (maybe…where are the parents?), but I also saw adults doing this. I mean, I realize the ice chunks won’t be there very long and will soon be replaced by a new batch of chunks. But why would a person want to be so destructive and disrespectful, preventing others from enjoying those beautiful ice creations? I have a name for people like this but won’t print it here…you know what it is!
It was early afternoon, and it was too late to hit any new locations. So, I decided to head to Vik and stay at a campground that I stayed at during my previous trip. As always, though, I stopped a few times along the way for photographs! See photos for some of these.
A few words (well, maybe more than a few) about campgrounds in Iceland. They are all virtually the same, having the following characteristics:
- They are first-come, first-serve
- While some have designated sites, most are park your campervan or RV wherever you want (there are typically tent-only areas, though)
- There are usually no fire rings, individual picnic tables, etc. like you’d find in the US
- If you need electricity (which I did), there are special areas with “gang boxes” that multiple RVs can plug into (unless you have a long cord, get there early so you park near the gang box…I learned that). Cost is typically 1000 krona (~$7).
- There are often communal cooking and eating areas. I only utilized once, but looks like fun…very “youth hostel-ish”. There are also areas with multiple sinks to wash your dishes.
- There are toilets and showers. More often now it seems the showers are free, but sometimes there is a charge.
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| Drips from melting ice chunks |
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| Waves at the black sand beach. Amazing! |
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| In some places there’s a whole lot of nothingness! |
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| More Lupins (or lupines) |
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| Waterfalls are EVERYWHERE. Some are unnamed and some are inaccessible. Some, like this one is in someone’s back yard. How cool is that? |
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| There are many churches throughout Iceland, some old (and very old) of traditional design, like this one in Vik, while others are very modern. |
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| The sea stacks at Vik. |
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| The Vik campground early next morning. Hard to tell, but it was packed! |
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| Dishwashing area |
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| Communal cooking area |
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