Iceland Road Trip 2016, Day 3 — Mývatn

Day 3 in Iceland, and Alex was still pretty sick. He survived by taking Tylenol on a regular basis. I tried to persuade him to try Ibuprofen, but for a reason only he knows he refused. (Proofreader’s note: Hm, why did I refuse? No idea.) Anyway, he could not allow himself a sick day, because we had only one full day in Mývatn area and wanted to go to a whale-watching trip in Húsavík (about a 40-minute drive from Mývatn).

We stayed in Eldá guesthouse in Reykahlið. The guesthouse consists of a collection of regular single family houses where each room is rented separately and bathrooms are shared. Breakfast was really good, though. We love lava bread and smoked fish.

One of the best memories from our last visit to Iceland in 2014 was whale watching in Húsavík bay. It was the most expensive tour we had back then, but nevertheless we liked it so much that we wanted to re-experience it.

This time, however, the whales did not want to play with us and were diving for a much longer periods of time. Because of that, we could not observe them as closely but we had a good time anyway. We did miss one spectacular shot: one whale jumped high out of the water and flipped its flippers for another whale it was accompanying. I guess they were a couple, and the “guy” wanted to show off for the “gal”. That was so unexpected and out of season: whales usually behave like that in the spring, and this was mid-July. But even just seeing that was worth taking the whole trip over again.

Just like last time, the weather was warm, sunny and all-around perfect. It is interesting that we always had better weather in the north of Iceland, maybe it has just been our luck. We shed the jackets and ate outside at a cafe facing Húsavík bay.

That day we planned a short hike in Hólmatungur area of Jökulsárgljúfur canyon. The hike was pretty easy, and we saw numerous waterfalls and pretty flowers. However, we thought that the hike to Rauðhólar that we took last time was more remarkable.

Then we had an argument, but now I do not remember what it was about. I do remember that I did not want to go to see Dettifoss. I am so glad that my husband did not pay too much attention to my mood swing and insisted on visiting Dettifoss. It was majestic. A huge rainbow arched over the waterfall. I have never seen a rainbow as beautiful as that one.

(Psst! Husband here. I do remember what that argument was about. It was about somebody’s crisis of self-confidence in her photographic skills. Now look at these shots and tell me how seriously I should have taken it.)

Well, after we spent too much time at Dettifoss, unable to leave a site so beautiful, we decided that it was a good time to relax and bathe in Mývatn Nature Baths. And so we did…