9-10 July, 2010

Continued from Saturday, Snæfellsnes South

We took a few more pictures of the coast at Arnarstapi, and then headed onwards around Snæfellsnes, yet again with simply stunning weather. We spent some time on the beach at Djúpalónssandur, then it was on to new roads! The landscape changes, more lava fields and coastal plains.

We drove out to Öndverðarnes, something I wanted to do, which was pretty and idyllic, a black rocky beach, luminous green grass covered in wild flowers, deep blue skies, and a whopping big volcano loitering around beside us. Fairly icelandic really.

The gem was Skarðsvík though. Who would have thought we'd find a yellow sandy beach, with protective rocks at both ends and some picnic tables. Beautiful! And with such great weather, it seemed half of Hellisandur and Ríf were enjoying the sun and the water. We even saw people swimming!

I enjoyed all the jellyfish, lots of Beroe family jellies, the same shiny comb jelly I'd seen in the Reykjavik harbour a year or two ago. The waves were pushing them around a bit, so it was hard to get a picture showing their sparkling hairs, but still neat. There was also hundreds of tiny (15-30mm) clear jellies stuck on the sand. No idea what they were, but it made the beach look nice and sparkly.

We continued around to Hellisandur, where we visited a quite nice seaman's museum for Kata to get some interviews, and me to read about fishing history and enjoy the sunshine. Then more sunshine and coffee and cake at the cafe in town, and eventually a long casual drive home. What an excellent weekend!