Day 92-Skírdagur

   April 5-Literally translated, Skírdagur means "purification day," which actually means the same thing as "Maundy Thursday."  Just like most English speakers do not use the term
"maundy" outside of references to this specific day, so do Icelanders not use the term "skír" outside of the reference to this day.  It a national holiday in Iceland, where Lutheranism is the official national religion.  Schools (and some other institutions) are closed the entire week, which allowed us to take the kids for the road trip.  Most other institutions and businesses
are closed for at least part of the week.
   My family decided to visit the Heimaey island of the Westman Islands chain today.  They lie less than ten miles off the southern coast of Iceland, not far from the place we were staying.  You might think that this would make the visit relatively easy.  However, most of the south coast of Iceland is a sandy beach, so the closest natural harbor to Heimaey is located over 50 miles to the west at Þorlákshöfn.  A few years back a new harbor was built on the mainland directly across from Heimaey  Since it was built at the mouth of the Markarfljót river, sand is constantly churned up, filling up the new harbor.  Consequently, a sand pump
must be used occasionally to clear the harbor so the ferry can dock, and the new harbor is not used during the winter when tourist traffic is low. 
   As luck would have it, the Easter holiday results in relatively high traffic, so today would be the first day since December that the ferry would dock at the new harbor.  When we called about the ferry, though, no one was willing to be definitive about this, because they were unsure that the harbor would be deep enough at the new harbor to allow the ferry to dock.  Since there is only one ferry boat and it had been docked overnight at Þorlákshöfn, the plan was to run it to Heimaey late in the morning and then to do two round-trips to the new harbor late in the afternoon.  This meant that my family had to drive halfway back to Reykjavík, board the ferry at Þorlákshöfn, and take the 2.5 hours trip back down the coast to Heimaey.  Since Sally gets seasick very easily, she was not interested in being on the ship that long.  The kids and I agreed to stay with her, so my family took the van and headed off on their adventure.
   Meanwhile, we decided to go see the glacial lagoon of Jökulsárlón and the various glacial tongues that extend down towards the sea from Iceland's largest ice cap, Vatnajökull.  This and the other ice caps in southeastern Iceland make the landscape in this part of the country unique.  The ice caps cover active volcanoes, which melt large amounts of ice when they erupt.  The resulting large floods, called hlaups, carry enourmous amounts of sand, gravel, rocks, and other debris out from underneath the glaciers.  As these flood waters wash across the lowlands between the glaciers and the sea they wipe out vegetation, roads, and anything else in their path.  The resulting extensive deserts of sand and gravel with virtually no vegetation are called sandur.  Farms are few and far between, located in those few locations where hlaups have not washed away vegetation, leaving decent pastureland for the livestock.  Since the sandur can be treacherous to cross, these farms were very isolated until modern roads were put in during the mid-20th century.

Nealy one-half mile tall, the cliff Lómagnúpur marks the western edge of the Skeiðarársandur.

The vastness and bleakness of Skeiðarársandur.

The broad, dirty glacial tongue of Skeiðarárjökull, whose hlaups have created Skeiðarársandur.

To the east of Skeiðarársandur is the peak Hvannadalshnúkur, the highest point in Iceland at 6700 feet.
Its actual elevation fluctuates seasonally and yearly depending on the amount of glacial ice that lies atop it. 

   We arrived at Jökulsárlón early in the afternoon.  It was an amazing sight!  As the glacier Breiðamerkurjökull advanced over the eons, it carved out a large depression.  About 75 years ago, it began a slow retreat and the depression filled with its meltwater, creating the lake, Jökulsárlón.  Since the tongue of Breiðamerkurjökull lies within Jökulsárlón, it calves icebergs into the lake.  Once the icebergs have melted enough to float, they flow out to sea down the Jökulsá, the 200 yard long river that drains Jökulsárlón.
Our second sign today that winter is changing to summer came when we saw that the company that operates boat tours on the lake gave their first tour today.

The tongue of Breiðamerkurjökull dives into Jökulsárlón about two miles across the lake from us.



Icebergs flow under the Ring Road and out to sea.



The kids frolic among the icebergs that have become stranded on the seashore.

We saw many seals swimming among the icebergs and up and down the Jökulsá.

   Emma and Pálmar had come down to Suðurhvoll the day before to spend part of the Easter vacation with Emma's cousins and aunt and uncle.  We had hoped that they (and we) could find some time to spend with each other as well.  While we were at Jökulsárlón, Emma called and offered to take us to an old thermal pool, since the swimming pool in the nearby town of Vík was closed due to problems with their hot water supply.  So, we tore ourselves away from the place and headed back towards the cottages at Miðhvoll. On the way, we made sure to stop and purchase food supplies, since most businesses would be closed the next day for Good Friday.  Unfortunately, the state-run liquor stores were already closed for the Easter holiday, so we had no luck there.

Seljavallalaug is nestled in the left side of this valley.

   Soon after we had arrived back at Miðhvoll we were packed up and ready to go again.  Seljavallalaug, the thermal pool to which Emma took us, is historically significant, because it was the first swimming pool built in Iceland.  Before it was built in 1923, most Icelanders, including the large contingent of fishermen, did not know how to swim!  At 25 meters in length, the pool remained the longest pool in Iceland from many years
It was built by the local "young

Arriving at Seljavallalaug after a half mile hike.

people's club" on the side of a mountain so the hot water of thermal springs flow directly into the pool.  In the intervening century, those springs have cooled, so now they are supplemented by water that flows via gravity feed through pipes from a nearby thermal spring.  The setting was stunning, but the kids found the facilities lacking.  They have become accustomed to modern conveniences, so they found the lack of electricity, the lukewarm
temperature of the pool, and the unheated dressing rooms with dirty floors, a single bench, and a few coat hooks a little off-putting.  Nonetheless, it was quite an experience.  Since the pool gets cleaned once a year at the beginning of summer, we got to enjoy a year's worth of algal growth.  We were even brave enough to walk down to the nearby creek and soak our feet in the freezing cold water before heding back to the pool.  Only Pálmar had the courage to go so far as to lie down in the creek.

We leave the pool to take a quick dip in the nearby glacial creek.

The lukewarm pool now feels much warmer to Emma, Þorsteinn, Pálmar, Joslyn, Shan, Spencer, and Alex.

   We swam until we started to feel a little chilly and then we quickly dried and dressed ourselves and hiked back out to the vehicles.  When we got back to Miðhvoll, we invited Emma and Pálmar over to our cottage for supper.  They brought some beer and we shared the food we had bought.  It was cozy inside the small cottages, but we had a very nice time socializing with them.  About the time we started eating, my family pulled in.  Everything had worked out very well for them.  The ferry had been able to dock at the new harbor, so the group was able to take the second short ferry ride back to Iceland.  This meant that they were able to spend a few hours on Heimaey.  While it was rather foggy on the island, they were able to see the places the volcano had engulfed houses in the 1974 eruption.  The museum was closed, but the woman who runs it saw them hanging around and opened it up for them to visit, so they were able to learn about the interesting history of Heimaey.  When they got back to Iceland, they ran into Vík to eat supper at the gas station's café, before coming back to the cottages.  After everyone related their day's adventures and we discussed the possibility of riding horses the next day, Emma and Pálmar went back over to her aunt and uncle's to visit with them, while we all settled in for the night.