Day 9: Narrated by Alaina

After finally having a good nights sleep, we were excited for our last full day in Iceland. The moment I walked outside I knew it would be an amazing day as the air was warm and the sky was bright blue.

We hopped in the car and headed to the national park, Thingvellir, for our final “big activity” of vacation. Thingvellir is where the Iceland Parliament used to have gatherings as the cliffs created a natural amphitheater and parliamentary members only stopped meeting there about 200 years ago.

When researching the trip, I learned you can snorkel through two tectonic plates within the continental divide. I mean, how many people can say they have done that?

We arrived to our meeting spot and were quickly introduced to Carlos, our guide that hailed from Portugal but most recently moved to Iceland from the Maldives (upon learning that, I told him that was on my top places to visit list – Mike proceeded to give me an eyeroll). We were joined by four Aussie’s who currently live in London and we were off!

Carlos drove us to the staging area to take us through all the safety information and get us geared up. Because the water stays at a warm 42 degrees, this activity called for dry suits. The water that we were snorkeling is some of the freshest water in the country coming from deep with glaciers and taking 30 years to filter through the area known as Silfra. This makes the fissures extremely deep and clear, very cool to see in the water.

I quickly learned that dry suits are not my thing. It was not the easiest thing to put on, we both felt like penguins and it was hot! How could it possibly be hot in Iceland?

But after all was said and done… didn’t we look cute?

We slowly got into the water from the platform and having thought the suits were already tight, once in water it was like Spanx on overdrive. The first thing was keeping our face in the water to get numb. Once that was done the snorkeling began!

The water was absolutely crystal clear and with the sun coming through it was stunning. When snorkeling I sometimes get creeped out in deeper areas, but because the water was so clear, it was really cool to be able to see all the way down.

I honestly couldn’t keep track of Mike because we all looked the same, but Carlos was an amazing guide and while I had our GoPro, he was also taking pictures… fun ones like these:

The coolest part was when Carlos announced that we were officially swimming through the two tectonic plates. Iceland has about 1000 quakes a year, but the majority are so small that they aren’t even felt. The plates shift about 2 centimeters a year and being able to be between them will be a lasting memory.

We were in the water for about 40 minutes and it was the perfect amount of time. Apparently when I got out of the water and took off my mask, I looked like Goldie Hawn from First Wives Club. Awesome.

It felt so good to get out of the suits, I don’t think I have it in me to be a professional scuba diver.

We parted ways with Carlos and the Aussie’s and went to check out the rest of the park which included a cool man-made waterfall where apparently men were beheaded at the top and women drowned at the bottom as part of the law & order from the olden days. Fun and fancy free those Icelander’s are!

It was walking around the park where we realized it was getting really warm. People were walking with tank tops and shirts, guys were shirtless, it was crazy. Not packing for this type of weather, it was a little toasty in wind-pants and long sleeves!

We had yet to explore the “Golden Circle” so this was one activity to check off the list. The second stop was an ice cream place I had heard about, Estidalur. As many of you know, I love a good ice cream and it just happened to be a perfect day for it! We drove up a dirt hill (because why would anything be paved?) and arrived to a really cool farm setting. Before we even walked in the door, there was a farm stall with four baby calfs inside! We instantly fell in love with these guys, they were so cute. We were also happy that they are dairy cows so they have a nice long life ahead of them 🙂

We got our homemade waffle cones and the ice cream was delicious. It was the perfect snack on a warm day. We may have also met all the resident dogs who were adorable. Mike was in heaven.

Next stop was finding a secret waterfall. Bruarfoss is a waterfall that many people do not know about because you have to drive through a summer house neighborhood (ignoring private property signs), find a small bridge, walk through a large field and then find the falls. I had printed out directions from a blog and was thankful I had them! We were not the only ones there, but considering the other falls had tour buses full of people, the three other cars here weren’t too much to deal with.

The scenery was beautiful with the mountains in the background and then we heard the rumbling water. Just look at this gorgeousness:

I was so excited to have found this somewhat secret spot.

We snapped a ton of pictures, took it all in and started to make our way back when we noticed another path near the first bridge. Mike and I decided to go do some additional exploring and came across this! We were the only ones there so we just sat on a rock and watched the water flow. I could have watched it all day.

The day was quickly passing us by but with the sunset setting at 10:30 p.m. it is crazy how much you can do in a day!

After hiking back we were back in the car, we visited a couple Icelandic horses:

And then headed to the mother of waterfalls, Gullfoss. It is the biggest fall in the south and quite a spectacle. Somehow luck was on our side as we had yet another rainbow! This fall was absolutely massive and just watching the water fall over was insane. Here is a video that tries to do it justice:

 

I really enjoyed visiting but I must say, I liked how much closer we could get to the other falls…

Sidebar: we were walking through the parking lot at Gullfoss and came across a crazy, pimped out Icelandic 4×4 – aka a Mercedes sprinter van on massive wheels. The trucks we saw on the roads were out of control and SO cool. We talked to the owner and he said there are two shops in Iceland that create these steroid trucks, or as he called it, his toy. We may have to start this trend in Maine:

Last but not least as we headed back to the house, we stopped at the geysirs. There is one that explodes every 6-10 minutes and it was pretty fun to watch. We lasted all of about 20 minutes and were ready to get home. It was a long day but perfect for our last in the land of Ice (ironic considering our sunburns).

 

When we got back to the cabin we enjoyed drinks while watching the sky change colors and finally darkening around 10:45. So very beautiful.

The following day would consist of driving to the airport, so this is our final post.

Thank you Iceland and the Faroe Islands for your hospitality and sharing your beautiful country with us. We made unforgettable memories and hope to be back.

Signing off until our next trip (hint hint, September),

Alaina & Mike