No guys, lying on the beach on Majorca has nothing to do with
relaxation - this has!
A view of the Westman Islands towards the south-east
from Heimaey - in the far distance Surtsey
can be seen - the island which became famous for not being there before 1963.
Iceland as seen
from the distance can be impressive, but sometimes the details can
attract all your attention as with this reddish front of lava which
fills a great part of this picture. I could almost feel the force of
the volcanoes erupting when I worked around on the lava which mainly
consisted of
pumice.
I have long known what pumice was, but never seen
it in quantities of several hundred thousand tons and never walked on
bare hills of it. I was amazed that I had to take extra care for every
footstep I took since the low density pumice had a lot of cavities -
and sometimes even foot swallowing ones.
A closer look at the pumice desert which is used by the locals as a speedway track.
Apart from the area being used for motorcycle sports it is not used for
many things, however a lonely lighthouse can be found on the
north-eastern corner of the island. With the sun very low in the horizon
it almost looks like a scene from the 1990 film "Total Recall" with
the beautiful red lava.
With the Westman Islands in my memory I was standing on the harbour in
Reykjavik waiting for boarding the ship "Elding" for a whale watching
tour in the bay of Reykjavik. As can be seen on the photo the weather
was fine, but...
...we did not see a single whale on our prolonged 4,5 hour tour around
the bay, instead we pointed our zoom lenses at birds and Reykjavik. The
wind made it a very cold experience, so I was happy to get back and
enjoy a cold beer.
Before leaving for Iceland I expected clouds, rain, fog, more fog, storm and more bad
weather I knew that I was the luckiest man on the planet and my good
memories will be there to return again and again until I myself again
will set foot on this magnificent piece of our common planet.
Ivano-Frankivsk, 21st May 2008