Katla Cave and exploring South Iceland (Day6)

I would not claim that Iceland had been very kind to us weatherwise especially in terms of photographing the iconic landscapes and doing the grand hikes, but I must say that we were VERY happy to be on the trip because we could do a lot of the adventure activities that we had planned. Moreover aurora sightings had happened within the first two nights!

When we woke up early that morning, it was raining heavily and so we simply stayed put inside our tent enjoying each other’s company while listening to the sounds of the rain. It was pure bliss and a peaceful feeling.

Eventually when it stopped raining close to 9am, we got out and packed up our tent, snacking on the leftover food from the previous night. Then we spend a load of time meandering around and driving around the area laden with shades of red, pink, green, blue, and golden yellow to make for an ethereal location. This dramatic region is nestled beside the raven-black Laugahraun lava field, a sweeping expanse of dried magma that originally formed in an eruption in 1477.

The activity for the day was scheduled to start from Vik at 3pm and it was to hike among the glacial caves of the very famous Katla volcano. When we got to the predetermined parking lot in Vik, a huge superjeep that would take us to the bottom of the caves, was waiting for us. This tour, like most others, was also booked via Arctic Adventures. 

Soon, we started the short drive in the super jeep along with a dozen others in our group and dropped off at the bottom of the cave. That was from where we wore crampons under our shoes for a “comfortable” ice hike and hard hats for protection. Thus began our journey over the ice covered volcano and inside the natural caves. There were people from the tour guide company who were chiseling away on the ice so that it did not become slick and provided a grip for people to walk on. We stopped at various places, which also included a waterfall and hiked away admiring the gorgeous black and white views. A completely marvelous experience indeed.

When we got back to the Vik parking lot, it was close to 7 pm. It was not yet time for sunset, so we decided to try to catch it from the famous black beaches of Vik. 

Some of the most breathtaking things that come as a result of being the Land of Fire and Ice are the black sand beaches. These unique-looking beaches can be found all across Iceland. Yet, some of the most notorious black sand beaches are the black sand beaches of Vik.Reynisfjara is by far the most famous black sand beach near Vik, if not the world. From there you get to view Reynisdrangar, a group of three rock mounds individually known as Langsamur, Landdrangur, and Skessudrangar.

So we kept our car parked in the same lot and started walking on the black beach in order to get close to view Reynisdrangar and photograph the sunset in its backdrop. Had it not started to get cloudy and raining heavily which made us turn back to get back to our car, it would have made a gorgeously stunning photograph. One photographer was disappointed very much, once again. 

It was going to be another two hour drive to get to the cottages, which is where we spent the night before the next day’s adventure (which was basically the most adventurous activity for the entire trip). The tiny cottage was just the perfect place to recharge. Since we already picked up some groceries from Vik, we had dinner at the quaint cottage and immediately fell asleep dreaming about ice climbing the next day!