Journey through the Centre of Iceland

Posted by Lisa at 9:32 AM, June 26, 2005

© Greenpeace Stefan takes a photo of some little pink flowers which we saw growing out of the volcanic rock in the middle of Iceland

It was really hard to say goodbye to Frode (by the way his name is pronounced more like "Fruda" - yeah I know, bizarre name! I have often resorted to "Frodo", which is easier and usually followed by Lord of the Rings innuendos), not so much because he's become a good friend but actually because he was asleep on the floor when we left Reykjavik with an eye cover thing strapped to his head, which he refused to take off. He waved his arms around in the air while wrapped in his sleeping bag and whispered "Lisa, ....give me a hug".

We'd had a long week and I think Frode probably suffered the most stress and lack of sleep out of everyone. He was the one who had to coordinate everything, meet very important people, talk to the press, the crew of the ship, the scientists! I really don't know how he does it. I haven't seen him get even slightly upset or moody throughout this trip. He is a true asset to the whales.

Sadly Frode doesn't work for Greenpeace full time anymore but we can expect to see him back again for some short projects. I know he will be back in Iceland if we ever need to go back and I think that we will need to. Whaling is not going to end in Iceland overnight. We are close but not close enough to give up. If you haven't already taken the pledge and the cyberaction please make sure you do that now (see links on right) and then tell your friends about how they can save whales so we can increase the pressure. That's what this campaign is all about. We haven't been using the inflatables to chase after whaling boats, because each and every e.mail to the Icelandic government is like a little inflatable chasing after the politicians and civil servants, which are involved in Iceland's "scientific" whaling program. Every single person who pledges to visit Iceland after they stop whaling shows that Iceland can make even more money from whale watching without whaling.

Johanna, Stefan and I got into a little rental car and headed out of Reykjavik and up into the mountains. Our first stop was the Geyser (the most famous one). It was horridly windy and wet but we braved the weather and walked up onto a muddy, rocky slope, which appeared to be letting off steam! I've never seen anything like it before. Holes in the ground were literally full of boiling bubbling water. Some cracks in the mud would not reveal anything from the surface but we could hear the crackling hot water just underneath. There were small pools filled with steaming turquoise water and one large rock pool which was THE geyser. After a few minutes the water in this pool would start to bubble and bulge in the middle and then all of sudden the bulge would push up and out very quickly so that a load of steam and water would spray 20-30 feet up into the air! I have no idea how this happens but the water rushes straight back into the hole at the bottom of the rock pool and then it happens all over again and again and again on and on while tourists come and go throughout the day. If I didn't know any better I'd think someone was controlling it with a button but the fact that this happens completely naturally is nothing short of amazing. Can anyone explain why a geyser shoots out water like this? If so, please post a comment! I don't have Internet access right now.

Our next stop was a huge waterfall which had carved a deep gorge through a beautiful green valley. We got absolutely soaked because it was raining but also because the force of so much water falling down from such a height created a lot of water vapour which rose up into the air all around the falls, swirling about like ghostly spirits. Johanna and Stefan climbed right down the steep cliffs close the the water while I hung around in the mist up at the top. The noise of the water cascading over the rocks was so loud that I almost couldn't hear my own thoughts! It was a truly exhilarating experience and probably the biggest waterfall I have ever seen in my life.

After driving through black volcanic landscape for hours, speeding along green valleys, past lakes and fjords, down mountains and through clouds we arrived in Husavik at just gone midnight. We hung our wet clothes on the radiators in the room of a little guest house and fell soundly asleep as soon as we switched the lights out.

I dreamt I was swimming alongside a blue whale.

L.