I arrived in Iceland around 6:30am after an overnight flight on Icelandair. I picked up a rental car (a Land Rover Discovery with studded tires). I didn’t need such a large vehicle but I wanted the studded tires. The roads can get very slippery this time of the year.

I drove to the Hotel Keflavik where I had arranged an early check in. I had breakfast and took a nap. Sunrise wouldn’t be to about 11am. I had big plans with many places to visit in the southwest of Iceland, the Reykjanes peninsula. My first stop was the Krisuvik geothermal field. Driving into the parking lot you can smell the sulfur and see the steam coming up. There is a boardwalk that takes you safely through portions of the geothermal field.

The sulfur smell was always there. There were numerous small vents with steam rising and small pools with bubbling boiling water. I found the colors of the soil interesting.

This image shows some of the interesting colors that can be found in the geothermal area.

I didn’t get to explore to far because it started to rain heavily. I sat in the car for a while, but eventually moved on to my next stop, Brimketill. The rain had finally stopped. Brimketill is said to be a troll’s pool. Legend has it that a troll named Oddny used the pool for bathing and too wash her clothes. The round pool has been carved out of the lava by wave action. Supposedly people swim in it on calm days. Today was not a calm day. It’s hard to see the pool because the waves were washing over the pool, but it is in the lower right portion of the image.

This coast can be good place to see birds. Gulls and other ocean-going birds nest in the cliffs. Few birds were about in the windy conditions. I couldn’t explore much because of the wind and rain. Ocean spray was even washing over the viewing platform. It started to rain again and I decided to call it a day. The sun was going to set in ½ an hour at 4:30pm. The rain and short day length meant I didn’t get to see everything I had planned to.