New Territory

I awoke to the sound of rain morning of day 2, which sounded worse inside the campervan than it actually was.  But, it was still rain.  In fact, it rained the whole freakin’ day!

I knew from the weather forecast there was a good chance of rain, and steady rain at that.  It would be easy to get depressed, but I told myself there was nothing I could do about it.  I just needed to make the best of it and, as they say, make lemonade out of lemons.  So I came prepared with rain pants and a heavy duty rain jacket.  My camera and lenses are weather-sealed and can handle most conditions, but I still brought a special rain bag and plenty of towels & chamois to dry the equipment off afterwards (I even have some silica gel if it got recalled soaked).  The biggest challenge, though, is keeping the front lens element free of water droplets.  In a light rain or little/no wind, this is fairly easy to do.  Just wipe the lens dry right before clicking the shutter.  But in a heavier rain or windy conditions, this can be nearly impossible since water will hit the lens element before you can say “Bob’s your uncle”, er, I mean, click the shutter.  There were quite a few situations like that this day, so I didn’t even bother to try.  Maybe on the way back.

The first stop, which was a nice little waterfall very close to the campground, wasn’t too bad, rain-wise.  So I geared up and grabbed some shots.  Considering the conditions, I was pretty pleased how they turned out.  “I’ll take a lemonade, please.”

After that I set the GPS for Egilsstaðir (again, don’t ask me to pronounce this, though the funny looking “d” is actually a “th” sound…sort of).  It was about a 3 hour drive and was central to several spots I wanted to visit.  It is also in the east fjords, which is new territory.  The farthest I had gotten on my last trip was Höfn, which is in the southeast “corner” of Iceland.  So, I was pretty excited to be visiting a new part of the country.

It turns out the east fjords are amazingly beautiful with rolling/rocky terrain, snow-capped mountains, winding roads, and spectacular ocean vistas.  They are not like the Scandanavian fjords you may have seen photos of, but they are stunning nonetheless.  Why did I not go here last time?  (Answer: not enough time.)

They were a number of spots that I would have liked to stop at and take some photos, but either (a) there was no place to pull off or most often (b) it was raining too hard (see previous comments 🤓).  The mountains in fact act like a huge scoop and funnel the wind and down below.  Crazy!  That said, I did manage to grab a few shots when the rain eased up.

I reserved a site at a campground right in Egilsstaðir (that’s another story), and when I pulled in there was no electrical hookup near the site I reserved (my campervan needs electricity to power the heater, lights, and electric cooler).  I misread the diagram they had on line, so my fault, but I was in a quandary since I needed power.  Fortunately I found someone who worked and they switched me to another spot.  “Could you fill up my lemonade please?l

Turns out there was a cafe/bar attached to the campground facilities, so I said, “I think I need a beer after today!” (Instead of a lemonade)  So I did.  (Actually it was 2 beers.)

The waterfall near the campground.

Notice the glacier.

This is Jökulsárlón, the glacier lagoon.  It was too crowded and rainy (rain doesn’t keep the paid tourists away) to spend any time here, but I grabbed this as “what the heck” photo. 

The “famous” red chair.  I don’t know the significance of this, but if you Google it there are some references to it. 

This was a lucky find.  It was t on my list, and I only saw a sign along the road.  It was raining pretty hard, and I struggled to get one with water on lens.  Check the box for today!