Chasing the Northern Lights in Iceland

Northern Lights success!

 

We’ve been able to take advantage of each of the three Thanksgiving breaks we’ve had while living in England.  (I can’t believe we’ve been here for three Thanksgivings, wow.)  The first one took us to Barcelona, where we met the coolest girl named Cassi.  Cassi was a (particularly young) corporate big shot before she decided that the work was killing her soul.  She saved up a chunk of money then quit her job, packed a bag, and traveled across the world.  I just realized that Cassi’s travel advice inspired our next two Thanksgiving’s trips: last year to Istanbul and Cappadocia, Turkey and this year to chase the Northern Lights in Iceland.  Thanks, Cassi, for helping us to discover two of our favorite places!  

We spent a week in Iceland a few months ago, driving the country’s ring road and catching many of the sights.  We were warned many times to not plan a trip solely to see the aurora, since it’s not guaranteed to show up any particular day and seeing it requires clear skies.  Having absolutely loved our time there, though, we were happy to play the odds.  We’ve never had a trip be so dependent on the weather and as the weekend approached Iceland’s forecast turned pretty bleak:  rain, total cloud cover, and 30 mph wind.  That said, we already had Bailey care sorted, car parking booked, and our plane tickets purchased so it seemed silly not to at least try our luck.  We had an uneventful trip to the airport and arrived in Iceland where the weather turned out to be even more rainy and windy than predicted… there was no chance whatsoever of seeing the lights that first night.  Since the sun didn’t rise until 10:30, we decided to have a lie in (as the Brits say) and eat a massive breakfast before exploring the capital city of Reykjavik.  We wandered around the cute downtown for a few hours and despite the light drizzle found it to be quite charming in a ski-town sort of way… many outdoor stores, narrow hilly streets lined with cute shops, colorful small houses with sharply angled roofs, etc.   As the weather turned a little nastier we took a break to watch a great documentary about two of Iceland’s latest volcanic eruptions and enjoy a cup of coffee. 

Reykjavík

Reykjavík

After the movie we headed towards our next lodging.  I had booked farm house accommodation in the middle of nowhere (the goal was to be away from city lights) for the following two nights, so we drove northwest along the ring road for a few hours, watched the sun set at 3:30, and checked in by 5:30.  Honestly, the darkness even that early in the evening was profound.  If it hadn’t been chucking down rain and hurling 30+ MPH gusts of wind we would have had an ideal spot for aurora watching!  But the weather was what it was, and so we cooked dinner and played cards and had a good look at an online aurora forecasting site.  The website predicted 0% chance of seeing the lights for about 95% of Iceland for the next 48 hours.  The only tiny spot that had a chance of clear skies the following evening was the southernmost tip of the country – about four hours drive from where we were staying.   Worth a try?  Well, we did come all the way to Iceland for this sooooo…. yes.  We lucked out and booked the last room in our favorite B&B from the previous Iceland trip - Grand Guesthouse Gardekot – which happened to be right in the middle of the predicted clear spot.   

The next morning was another lazy one with a huge breakfast (we may not have had a proper Thanksgiving feast but we managed to consume an equivalent caloric excess!)  The darkness and rain ruined all chances of a hike, so we were in the car heading towards Vik before sunrise. 

Leaving our farmhouse accommodation in western Iceland... at 10:00 in the morning.  Menacing skies, no?

Sunrise on our drive to Vik.

An entertaining James Patterson book on CD made the trip pass quickly and we made it to Vik with an hour of sunlight to spare.  Maybe it was the joy of seeing relatively clear skies, or stretching our legs after an atypically sedentary few days (not helped by the large breakfasts and constant snacking on Pringles, bagels, and candy…) but we really enjoyed Dyrolahey black sand beach and its cool caves and basalt columns. The wind was amazingly strong and we entertained ourselves by running with it (I was fast again!) and then against it (achieving the pace of a fast walk even at max effort).  We also spent some time watching the angry sea and exploring the area. It was lots of fun except for the occasional stinging stone projectile. 

Basalt columns on Dyrholaey Beach near Vik.

Very angry ocean and fierce winds.

Cool geology in the cave.

Fun times in 40 mph winds... until one of the little black rocks flung up and smacked me right as the picture was about to be snapped. 

After the beach we headed back to our place to warm up with a shower, then joined a couple other guests for some tea and a chat.  We heated some soup for an early dinner and were ready to go searching for the Northern Lights as soon as darkness fell.   We ended up in a little rest area with a good view of the northern horizon, far enough off the main road to not be bothered by passing traffic.  Then we waited.  I’m not sure if it usually happens this way, but we saw the first wisps of the lights fairly early in the evening (around 7:00 pm) and they were just barely off the horizon.  By 1:00 in the morning they were visible all the way from the horizon to overhead.   And yes, we stayed out there looking at them for 7 hours!!  I think some people get lucky and see the lights without much work but for us it took a bit of tenacity.  The first few hours we saw underwhelming, very faintly green (almost gray, really) streaks that looked like clouds.  Honestly, the 25 -econd shutter speed we were using on the camera makes the green look more brilliant than it did in person for most of the time we were out there.  That said, the camera did absolutely no justice to the two-minute stretch of crazy light show we saw right at the end of the evening.  Chris happened to be outside of the car and started pounding on the roof.  I jumped out and looked straight up and saw at first some bright shades of green swirling slowly overhead that gradually turned into a brilliant kaleidoscope show.  Yes, it was two minutes out of the seven hours we sat in the car (again, thank goodness for James Patterson) but honestly it was so worth it! I hate to say it, but I feel a little hooked on seeing more of a show.  Maybe we’ll break the budget and go Lights hunting again this winter? 

Staying warm while snapping photos of the lights required a little imagination :)

The lights were just along the horizon in the earlier hours.  That bright spot is Chris holding a flashlight on himself for the 25 second exposure.  LOL.

Clouds in front of the band of light.

My favorite photo - maybe 10:00 pm?  Northern Lights with the Big Dipper.

Car drove by :)

Other than my trip home to see family in December, we literally have no other trips planned (for now).   It seems like the sun is setting on our string of crazy travel adventures.  As I get further and further along in this pregnancy (can’t believe I’m already 6 months along) we’re hesitant to venture too far from home and are looking towards the future.  There will certainly be more adventures, but for the next while they’ll be much more focused on the birth and rearing of a hopefully healthy and happy baby.  Boy and girl name suggestions and advice are always welcome, as are used baby clothes!