Caves, Craters, and Coves, oh my!


We have arrived in Grundarfjordur-try saying that 3 times fast : )-located at the foot of Kirkjufell on the Snaefellsnes peninsula.  The waters were rough so the Captain could not get to the dock, so we dropped anchor in the bay and tool the tenders to the dock.  Enclosed tenders are no fun in rough waters!

11% of Iceland is covered with lava, and the old lava is covered in beautiful moss.  There are 500 different species of moss.

 

Our first stop which was the crater, they had steps going up to the top of the crater, that wound around the side of the hill… Sue made it ½ way up and said nope to creepy and went back down.  Cheryl of course made it to the top!




Saxholl Crator - 990 feet

Next stop was a beautiful cove with black sand and black rock beach.  The water was extremely
turbulent with big crashing waves. 


Dritvik Cove


The beach was black sand and rocks, created from lava



Lava rocks, tumbled smooth by nature

These are the remains of 2 volcanos - only the core remains. The outer portion has been eroded by wind and waves.

The highlight today was exploring the Vatnshellir Cave. It is a 200 yard lava tube. This cave was made famous by Jules Verne in Journey to the center of the Earth.  Hard hats and flash lights were provided for our safety.  We weren’t sure about what to expect in the caves, would we be claustrophobic?  Surprisingly the caves were very big, with lots a space to move around.  To get to the first cave we went down a narrow spiral staircase.  Then we continued down to the next cave via a straight staircase.  The air in the caves refreshes because the lava is porous.  We continued down to the third cave via a very steep spiral staircase.  Once everyone was down our guide had us all turn off the flashlights and stand there in complete darkness and silence… that was an experience!  Then our guide turned on his light and showed us the staircase we just came down.  OMG so glad it was dark coming down.  At this point we had descended 115ft below the surface.  Scientists believe that this cave was created in an eruption 6,000 – 8,000 years ago.


 



Reference to Jules Verne - Journey to the Center of the Earth



 



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