ICELAND: THE LAND OF FIRE AND ICE

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ICELAND: THE LAND OF FIRE AND ICE

We already had plans to go ice caving and dog sledding on our winter vacation in Iceland. If it hadn’t been the time of the year when the waters freeze over, we’d have definitely done a beautiful amphibious boat ride too. So when a friend suggested we do a helicopter ride, our reactions ranged from lukewarm (mine) to uber-excited (my husband’s). A chopper ride doesn’t come cheap and then, really, what would we see, a white blanket over everything? But the husband moped. I caved.  

Reluctantly, I googled and went with the first name that caught my eye, Reykjavik Helicopters, probably because it was in all CAPS! Their owner/CEO Fridgeir Gudjonsson confirmed my fears: “Right now everything is covered in snow on most routes.” He also said he had no pictures from December tours. Want to know what I read into this? There were no pictures as not many people had done a winter chopper ride because … i t  w a s  j u s t  n o t  w o r t h  i t!

But Fridgeir suggested we do the Volcano Explorer. He said it would be great for photographs with the river beds and coast line in view along with waterfalls, cliffs and glaciers.  I made the reservations. The husband was still sulking so I didn’t have much choice.

Dec. 10 rolled in with a bright orange streak on the horizon and clear skies. Fridgeir drove up on the dot to pick us up. We rode toward the rising sun.  Nothing like a beautiful beginning to set the pace just right, isn’t it? For the first time, I was beginning to feel it might just be worth it. Fridgeir took us to their office, in Iceland’s oldest hangar. Then, after brief worries as the quake monitor registered some tremors, we finally met our captain Thor and his craft – a stunning black squirrel helicopter.

Fridgeir said it was the most beautiful chopper in the country. We agreed.

The chopper took us on a South Coast tour, one we were scheduled to do by road the next day. We saw the black sands along the south coast, Heimaey island that was evacuated overnight when a volcano erupted in 1973, as well as the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano which last erupted in April 2010 and brought flights across Europe to a halt. We passed by the volcano Hekla which erupts, on average, once every decade and which our pilot very helpfully told us was long overdue! We made two stops, one between three glaciers and the other where there was a lot of geothermal activity.

It was oh so beautiful. We ran our fingers through warm water as it made its way across ice that was thousands of years old. And we took pictures, lots of them.

It was a tapestry of colours. I knew I’d get an earful from the previously moping husband about not wanting to do this, but I didn’t want to think of it then. I would deal with him later.

For the moment, I busied myself with just loving it all.

The horizon now a bright orange, we flew back in silence






Comments

Nandini Sarkar said…
Its a treat reading on Iceland, the mysterious land covered by icy glaciers & fiery volcanoes, providing us an opportunity to soak in the intriguing riot of geothermal colours. Very well crafted.
4:38 AM
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