[Photos taken 03 – 05 January 2025, posted online 01 August 2025. Been a quiet couple of weeks on vacation, minus a weekend trip to Vík with a group of lovely ladies.]
We recruited good friends into guiding us around the western part of the Reykjanes peninsula. The first stop was the mostly deserted town of Grindavík, then we went to look at some interesting coastline features, followed by walking to a hot spring area, before enjoying some wonderful refreshments at their home.
Their last whole day we went to Flyover Iceland, did a bit of shopping, lit some leftover-fireworks, and then went aurora-hunting again. Their last day was more shopping, before heading to the airport. We were sad to see them go, but should see them again soon, as there’s a full solar eclipse in Iceland on 12 August 2026, and they’ve already reserved beds with us!
Friday 03 January 2025
Ready to run at a moment’s notice if the evacuation alarms went off in Grindavík, while also looking at photos from the past few months of madness.
For a long time, both Grindavík and Blue Lagoon were crossed out on the road signs, but now they’re open again.
We met up with our guides, and drove on south towards Grindavík, using the freshly constructed road over the 1-month-old lava-field. Note the steam rising…
These is no stopping on this road to get out and take photos. We didn’t want to risk melting any tires…
Driving past the original road to the Blue Lagoon, it’s been covered up quite a bit!
The arrow points to the road where the December 2024 lava-stream covered it, we were driving south on the red road. The original photo text says: “The image shows earthquake activity around the Sundhnúkur crater row from the last eruption on December 8, 2024, until today, March 18 2025. The map displays the location of earthquakes during this period. Note that the positioning of earthquakes east of the Sundhnúkur crater row still needs to be corrected. The lava field from the last eruption is shown in gray, while dark red lines indicate the location of eruption fissures from eruptions since December 2023.“
The big machinery busy raising the wall protecting the local Svartsengi (Black Meadow) power station and source of hot water for the peninsula towns, and by happenstance, the Blue Lagoon.
An overview of the lava-fields created from December 2023 to December 2024. The walls built around the Svartsengi power plant and Blue Lagoon have kept the lava away (they are both in a “bowl” of sorts), and the same can be said of the wall around the town of Grindavík, with lava having run along them towards the coast. Photo from here, the original text is “A lava thickness map showing the product of the last eruption (20 November – 9 December). The map is based on photogrammetric data from Náttúrufræðistofnun and Landmælingar Íslands which flew over the eruption site on 13 December. The yellow area represents the newest lave field and the purple are lava fields formed in eruptions in the past year.”
Entering the town of Grindavík, where the ground has been severely cracked up.
The cracked areas have been fenced off, which is good because the snow hides the cracks really well.
Taking note of all the Emergency Exit paths.
The town is essentially deserted, aside from work ongoing down by the docks, the occasional food shop, and a handful of residents that have returned. We saw these photographs on display and decided to take a closer look.
Signs, signs, everywhere.
Photo of the house behind the photo, with reporters camped out by a crack in the road that has since been fixed.
The town was completely evacuated in November 2023, when lava squirted from the chamber underneath the power station and into a nearby crack that runs under the town, causing the big crackage. In the following days, folks were given 5 minutes per house to grab essentials… such as this blow up dino!
Crazy areal photo of an eruption very close to town. If it hadn’t been for the big walls erected around it, the town would already be under a layer of lava. The harbor is very valuable though, so it’s been deemed worth saving.
More signage.
Equipment as art down by the harbor.
That lava-mound behind the traffic sign is the only lava that’s run inside the town so far, taking down 3-4 houses before stopping.
Closed signage, but tire tracks in the snow nonetheless.
More severe signage.
A view of the wall that’s protected the town so far.
The wall by the town’s mountain, Thorbjörn.
A gap in the wall, would probably get filled in case of need.
The fresh-ish lava to the west of the town, where the submarine-communication-antennas are.
There was a place to stop the cars, and so we ventured out on the fresh-ish lava.
Yum, minerals!
Lava-lady.
Our US visitors, visiting their country’s antennas.
Interesting colors.
We drove a little ways along the coast, parked, and walked to the sea-side.
The official attraction is called Brimketill, a bit of a natural pool-shape by the sea’s edge.
Emma was underdressed (cold), and hid behind the shark.
A reminder that this whole area is lava-born.
Bjarki and the natural pool.
A pretty view.
Poseurs.
Sea splashing.
Seaweed had made it up to the platform recently… somehow.
The fresh air made everybody hungry, so we broke out some refreshments. It was quite chilly outside.
Finnur putting on borrowed pants from the true locals, as he was freezing.
By the hot springs area called Gunnuhver, or Gunna’s hot spring.
Reading the signage.
Apparently, Gunna died and became a vengeful ghost.
The house of the last person who lived there.
Hiking up to where the clouds were billowing up from the ground.
Danger, hot water, in case you’re blind.
The path was icy, except for the edges.
The sisters, partially braving the cold.
The wind direction wasn’t very beneficial for seeing much of anything, but it all looked quite ominous.
A bus stopped on the other end of the walkway, and we were quickly swarmed.
US visitors pointing at clouds.
Interesting ground colors.
There’s more industrial buildings a little ways off, another power plant, and possibly another source of hot water?
Sillies, before heading back to the cars.
Map of the Reykjanes peninsula. We’d driven down the road in the middle, than along the bottom of the map to the left, and we were about to drive north along the edge to close the circle.
Our lovely guides invited us in for a feast before we drove back home.
School was about to start, and we hunted down Bjarki’s school books from the local libraries. So much cheaper than buying them.
He still had to buy a book or two, so to the store we went.
Laying low in the late afternoon after an eventful day!
Energy returned after dinner, and the silly Falling game was a hit.
By the map of where the videos were taken, after the show.
We found a troll!
I needed to get Emma a winter-coat, but first blood-sugar was revived via ice-cream. A couple of guests came along, ice-cream is hard to say no to!
Everybody got some!
It’s a colorful shop!
Cute signage.
Time to shop!
The huge stack of games our guests had brought! They left a few behind for us to enjoy. 🙂
Brain-cells getting a workout.
Outside, the northern lights appeared…
The last dinner!
Playing with the rest of our fireworks…
Star-lights are best to light other star-lights.
Our guests wanted to see more aurora, so we drove a hop and a skip to the parking lot by Helgafell, but the lights were weak, and I was surprised by just how much light pollution was out there.
Orion saying hi.
As the lights were underwhelming, we ended up playing with the camera on the tripod, doing double-exposures of-sorts using the phone flashlights.
Focus is a tricky thing!
Only the phones really saw the reddish hue, so we decided to head back home.
Sunday 05 January 2025
It was departure day! Our visitors went to the store to buy candy for their friends in the US to try.
One last Falling game…
Siblings saying goodbye to the friendly shark.
Ok, perhaps not that friendly!
Mild pandemonium. I drove them to the airport at both a reasonable time, and in reasonable weather. However, when poor Finnur was recruited to pick them up, it was stupidly early in the morning, and in horrible weather. Oh well! Win some, lose some!
The hiding-the-departure-sadness photo.
“Oh-no-we’re-leaving-this-marvelous-place”
We survived the trip to the airport, and then they were off!
The remains of the fireworks-fun the night before.
Some shopping… as life returned to normal.
Bjarki and his friend were happy to reclaim the front room…!
We had a double-dinner-date with friends to celebrate the new year.
