One of the thrills of Iceland is the fact that you can just be driving along a road somewhere, pull over, and see something incredible. It might be a gushing waterfall, lava-covered terrain, or a field of Icelandic horses.
One hardly gets anywhere if such opportunities are consistently preferred. On the way to this milky-blue view, we stopped at a road-side pullout and stumbled upon an unmarked lava tube.
After photographing the landscape, one of rugged lichen-covered hardened lava, we climbed down into the lava tube. There were no lights illuminating the way, no warning signs, no person collecting entrance tickets. (Read about my Jeju Korea lava tube experience two years ago.) With one small head lamp, a few others and I felt as if we were discovering the cave just after reaching 50 meters inside.
Back on the surface, we continued driving across the treeless lava fields into the interior of the Reykjanes Peninsula (southwest of Reykjavik) towards the Blue Lagoon. That actually explains a little about this photo. This is the runoff from the Blue Lagoon, the famous geothermal spa.
By the time the runoff water reached this point it was cold. I jumped out of the car and took these photographs. The always interesting clouds, enhanced by the sun near the horizon, make the one-of-a-kind Icelandic landscape even more photogenic.
Text and Photo by Stephen Bugno
