The Amazing Geyser

Yesterday found myself and Silja, driving off into some of the remote parts of Iceland. We were off to see the Geyser.

The drive there was long but there were absolutely no complaints because the scenery was just breath taking. And cos the day was so bright and sunny, the colours of all the lakes, sky, mountains and grass just popped, like someone had painted them minutes before we got there. I was constantly yelling out to Silja to "Stop" so I could jump out and take some photos.

We eventually got to the Geyser and when I say this thing was/is truly amazing, I am not kidding. Never have I seen anything like it. The heat and steam coming out of the hole where it explodes from is so intense, it prevents you from getting too close. There is also a strong smell of sulphur in the air, which we became immune to very quickly.

The Geyser was very random with it's explosions. Sometimes it was about 3 minutes. Other times you were standing there with the camera held to your face for a good 7 or 8 minutes before anything happened. Legs and arms had a tendency to start cramping, but there was no way I could risk moving, I didn't want to miss capturing this spectacular show. I took hundreds of pictures and a short video of the Geyser in action. I'll try to figure out how to up load the video later so you can enjoy it as if you were there with me.

But here is a series of photos of the Geyser doing its thing.

Then we decided to have some fun with our Geyser friend, so both Silja and I took turns trying to time our acrobatic skills to coincide with an explosion or two. Here is my performance.

See how I nailed the landing. Easily a 9.5

This is what I was doing for most of our trip yesterday. The camera was barely out of my hands for more than and few seconds. This country is so beautiful, I didn't want to miss anything. Who knows when I'll get the opportunity to come to Iceland again. And all these opportunities to take pictures is getting me more and more comfortable with my very complicated camera.

P.S just something non Iceland related. If your wondering am I watching all the track action from the Olympics, let me tell you, I am glued to it. The TV coverage of all the track events back in the US was just pitiful, as in, I didn't see 1 race until I got to Europe. But here it's on like 4 different channels in as many different languages and you can watch everything live and repeated again later in the evening. It's fantastic. Silja and I spend the morning watching it all live, then we have the afternoon and evening to do all the tourist stuff.

Husband has 24 athletes that he manages competing out there, some have just had a nightmare and others have performed out of their skin and taken medals. I will do a separate blog updating a couple of the highs and lows of a few of his athletes in the next day or so.