The Land of Fire and Ice: Part 3: First Encounter with the Aurora Borealis! (Northern Lights)

Hello and welcome back!

Today we're picking up where we left off last time, finishing off walking behind Seljalandsfoss, one of the most amazing waterfalls in Iceland!

I'm already quite wet from that, but I knew there was another amazing waterfall in the area that I really wanted to see. I just wasn't 100% sure where it was, but we headed the way I thought it was. You're probably thinking "Well can't you just see it?" and the answer is, no. Why? Because it's kind of in a cave! Epic right?

After about a half mile of walking, we found a sign that says we were there, but there were multiple paths and we weren't sure which way to go. Then we saw someone coming out of the river, and that was the entrance. I know it makes sense, but I didn't anticipate it to be THAT wet and to have to actually wade through a small river to get to it.

But we were already there, and we had to try, so we did.

My shoes weren't fully waterproof, so I was trying to jump from small rock to small rock, while getting blasted from the mist coming out of the cave, I'm getting pretty soaked. At this point, I kind of want to leave already, I can't use my camera in here because it will get soaked, and my GoPro was getting water on the lens and blurry shots, but I got a selfie that was worth it and then I ran out of that cave. Absolutely want to go back better prepared though, because that was incredible!

We start making our way back to the van and the sun is going down, fast. I'm soaked and trying to dry off. We get to the van, I shake off my jacket and try to dry what I could, we had one more stop before sun down, so we hit the road fast.

There's these small islands off the coast of where we were, known as the Westman Islands, translated. I really wanted to go visit them, but we just didn't have the time, but we could still get a glimpse of them if we got to the coast quick enough.

As we're driving, it's almost surreal seeing these huge blocks of land, that look like mountains almost, because they're so much higher than the main land, which is so strange.

We drive down the road and get to the coast and get a view of the islands.

With daylight pretty much gone, we headed to Skogafoss, probably the most iconic waterfall in Iceland, but we won't see it today, but we are camping there for the night!

We get there in the dark, pay our camp fee, and setup for the night. There was a small hotel/restaurant there as well and my friend wanted to get some food, so we headed over after. 

We grabbed some food and hung out for a bit. Then the waiter asked if we saw the Northern Lights? We said no, he said, well you should go outside, you can see it now!

We ran outside, and it was faint but it was there! The skies were clear, so I got my camera and got to shooting!

I tried to get the Aurora with Skogafoss, but it didn't work too well, and someone had their lights on :(

We waited a bit more and it started to get more intense.

After about 30 minutes, you could really start seeing it with the naked eye!

It was incredible! Our first night there, and clear skies and a decently strong aurora! It kicked up a bit from here too! So I shot it for a bit while it was going strong.

Wow! What an incredible experience! I was hoping we'd get a glimpse if we were lucky, but for our first night to get clear skies, incredible! After wandering around and photographing in the dark for a few hours, it was time to call it a night and get enough sleep for an early start for another busy day.

Well, that was the end to our first day! Pretty epic way to end it, right? I was obviously hoping to see the lights on this trip, but honestly didn't really expect it. It's pretty rare to get a clear sky, and with our trip being so short, we would have to get pretty lucky, and we did!

What were your favorite shots? Have you ever seen the Aurora? Let me know in the comments, and I'll catch you on the next post soon!

Thanks for reading!

-Sean

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