Caving and The Blue Lagoon

Caving was not as fun as the brochures made it out to be...It wasn't a magical Fraggle Rock land. It was dark, tiny, rocky, wet, unstable, difficult, scary, and painful at times. We had to crawl 50% of the time, crouch 25%, and be careful not to hit our heads 95% of the time. The ground was very rocky, with mostly broken shards of stone, and sharp and pointy bits of lava rock. There was a lot of mud, as Iceland has been warming up (due yet again to global warming). The ceiling was dripping with ground water, and there were many large icicle stalagtites that we were discouraged from disturbing. The tube was "traversable" (in the lightest meaning of the word) for about 1000 meters in. It shot off in a few directions, and we did a bit of wandering. We came saw a 1000 year old sheep skeleton; the poor thing wandered in, got lost in the total darkness, and died. The environmental conditions in the lava cave prevented the bones from decomposing. Lava caves are actually lava tubes that are formed during a run of very hot lava, cooling to just hot lava on top, and the very hot lava continues to run through, until the eruption stops, and the hardened, hot outer layer cools to form a tube of lava. Over the years, the lava tubes become caves, depending on the ongoing geological activity (i.e., earthquakes, or other lava eruptions.) The other 2 lava caves in the area are too unstable to go down into. I know this is an exageration, but it felt like we were climbing down to hell for over an hour. I'm glad I went, but it is not something I will be doing again!

The Blue Lagoon was very exotic. A nearby power plant harnesses geothermic heat to transfer it into power. The leftover hot water that is used in this process is filtered over to the Blue Lagoon, where it is enjoyed as a luxury spa. The water is very salty and a milky blue colour. The bottom of the pool was very gritty and uneven. I picked up some of the grit with my feet to look at it, and it was black sand, presumably from crushed lava. The ground was very uneven lava rocks. My feet are very smooth and exfoliated now! There was a storm, so luxuriating in the hot, salty was very exciting and relaxing at the same time. My hair became frozen strands, whipping around my face if I was facing the wind in the wrong direction. The steam above the waters turned into tiny ice pellets that whipped my face if I was turned into the wind. The mists from the ultra-hot waters mixed with the wild weather to create a very heavenly aura. I enjoyed it immensely, especially when floating on my back, watching the storm rage above me, while gliding through the mists and the boyant, geothermically heated waters. It was like being in a natural sensory deprivation take; I could hear my breathing, and feel the dichotomy of the hot water and the cold wind, but all I could see was the gorgeous winter sky.

On my way back to the hotel I felt like some sushi, so I went to a small place I saw in the heart of downtown Reykjavik. It was good, but they didn't seem to utilize the local fish as much as I had hoped. As I was leaving, I overheard the waitress tell a horrified German couple about their order. They had inadvertantly ordered whale sushi! I took a picture, and listened to the waitress explain Icelands' cutural legacy of eating whale meat. The poor couple looked like they had lost their appetites.

Overall, another great day! Due to some issues I had with the originating tour company, they had given me a free ticket into The Blue Lagoon (yay! I saved over $30 cdn!) Tomorrow, another free (!) tour into the interior and the southern shore. My arms and legs are banged up and I am really beat from the caving, so I hope the Blue Lagoon was enough to revitalise me for the hiking tour tomorrow!

Please look at the pics of today @: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smadventure/

There are two new sets of photos, "Iceland Caving" and "The Blue Lagoon". (Please note--there are a LOT more pictures where the (above) link to the photo gallery is, then are viewable in the slideshow in the upper right corner of this screen.