In The Evening

The daylight hours in Iceland are quite long in May. The Sun stays low on horizon for quite a while in the evening. This makes for wonderful photography opportunities. I started the evening of May the 13th, by driving to the town of Vik. I needed gas, and Vik seemed like it would make a good turn around point. On the way back to my hotel I made a bunch of stops to take photos. One of my stops was going to be at the peninsula called Dyrhólaey. It has a lighthouse. The coast also has great rock formations including an arch. Unfortunately, I was able to drive all the way to the point. The area had closed at 7PM. From what I could see it looked cooled. I’ll have to come back on my next trip to Iceland. My partial drive out to Dyrhólaey did give me a good view of Katla. Katla is a volcano that is due to erupt and cause problems like Eyjafjallajökull did in 2010.

Katla

Sólheimajökull Glacier

Hwy 1, my ride, and the volcano Eyjafjallajökull

I had stopped at a viewpoint for Eyjafjallajökull in the afternoon. The lighting was more interesting on trip back. So I stopped again.

Eyjafjallajökull

I had spotted the Westman Islands the day before from the plane. I had also picked out the islands earlier in the day. There are some iconic photos and video taken of a volcano erupting on the island of Heimaey during the 70’s. I found a road that was newer than my map going to a harbor called Landeyjahöfn. The harbor was built in 2010. It looked like a good opportunity to check out the coast. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take a ferry to the Westman Islands. Maybe next time. The pictures I got along the coast next to the harbor were pretty though.

Waves

The coast

Westman Islands

Black Sand Beach

Westman Islands

The Coast

Westman Islands from Hwy 1

After my stop on the coast, I drove for a little while. When the Sun was finally setting, I had to find a good place to stop. I found a paved road that led me off the highway. It took me to Hellisheiði Power Station which is the largest geothermal power station in the world. The view of what was left of the sunset was outstanding. It was after 10:30 PM at this point. I had the place to myself.

Steam from Hellisheiði Power Station

The Sun is behind the clouds and/or mountains

Snow and my rental car

Sunset

Another Photo

View to the southeast

Part of Hellisheiði Power Station

Along Highway 1 around 11PM

All good things must come to an end. I’ll wrap up my trip in the next post.