1st day in Iceland.- Saturday 10/19/24

Rachel and I landed in Iceland at about 5:30 am.  Our first stop was at Dollar Rental Car to pick up our diesel Ford "Kuga" (Taurus). Then we headed out before dawn to the Bridge Between Continents.  

There were really cool lava rocks that people has stacked and it kind of felt like we were on another planet.

It was still before sunrise when we got there so it was pretty cold and a wee bit windy this morning.

After the bridge we headed down the road to the Brimketill Lava Rock Pool (a.k.a. Troll's pool). On the way we passed through a huge sulfur plume. Nothing quite like the smell of sulfur in the morning. Yum!

At Brimketill we collected our first sand sample, 

but it was high-tide and the waves were crashing onto the platform, and we were getting sprayed even this far back. 

Since we had 7 hours before we could check into the hotel, we didn't go all the way out onto the platform and risk getting drenched. But we will likely head back out there tomorrow at a lower tide to see the actual pool (pictured below) and there is rumor of a shipwreck that is visible at low tide farther up the coast.

After the chilly beach trip we headed into Reykjavik grabbed deli sandwiches, before unsuccessfully napping in the car for a few hours before our 3pm check-in.  Taking a real nap in a warm hotel now and then this evening we will see what we decide to do.

Tomorrow we have a full schedule of geysers, craters, lava caves and waterfalls. Before relaxing at the Blue Lagoon.