Last year we spent a couple of weeks in Iceland. Fabulous trip but we missed out on seeing an active volcano because it had stopped erupting a couple of weeks before we arrived. Now we had the opportunity. We were on our way to Canada and flying via Reykjavik. This is quite a cost-effective route. So, we arranged to stop over for a few nights. Our accommodation was the Viking Hotel in Hafnarfjordur, a little way outside Reyjavik. This is an interesting hotel. Quite comfortable and reasonably priced. It is also great fun if you have any interest in Vikings. Some of my Danish friends, who claim direct descendance from the berserkers of a thousand years ago, would undoubtedly relish this place and bring their own axes.
Our helicopter trip for the next day got pushed back a day because of uncertainty about the weather. Instead, we tried booking on a whale watching trip for the next day but this was cancelled because it was too windy. Such things are not an unusual occurrence, and the company were very good about refunding our money. Later that day we met up with Jón, our pilot friend from Iceland. He showed us round a few interesting places local to Reykjavik. We ended up having a pleasant meal in a restaurant overlooking a bay with a beach.
Next afternoon we all met up at the Reykjavík Helicopters office at the city airport. This is not Keflavík International Airport, located around 40km southwest of Reykjavík, but a much smaller facility just south of the city centre. Once again, our pilot was the very cool Solveig flying an Airbus H125. We felt safe hands. If you are going to fly around an active volcano then you really should pick a good pilot.
Fagradalsfjall is a an active tuya volcano volcano formed in the last glacial period on the Reykjanes Peninsula to the south of Reykjavík. Tuya are created when a volcano emerges through an ice sheet. They typically have steep sides and flattened tops. After sleeping for 815 years, it burst into life in 2021 and has erupted every year since. Being close to Reykjavík it has become a bit of a tourist attraction. Walking there will take four or five hours. This is a problematic way to see the volcano. Apart from the long walk, it is difficult to get anywhere for an unobstructed view and there are dangers. The current eruption is emitting a variety of poisonous gases so a sudden change in wind could cause a lot of problems. The broad valley where all recent activity has occurred is completely uninhabited and considered extremely dangerous. New erupting fissures and craters can open up anywhere without any notice. Much better then is the helicopter approach.
After a briefing we took off and tracked along the coast for a short way. An old volcanic cone acts as marker for the route. Helicopters fly out on one side of it and back on the other. A roundabout for aircraft. Getting closer to Fagradalsfjall you can see vast expanses of black lava. The remains of flows that have cooled. We spotted a place where a large bank has been built to try and control an earlier flow. These have been used quite successfully at times. If you are lucky the initial lava flow cools along the levee, cools and reinforces it. Sometimes it just gets washed away.
We headed straight for where the smoke was rising and then circled around the cone. From our perfect vantage point, we could see directly down at the boiling lava. It is a quite incredible thing to see rock boiling up close and personal. The lava boiled like a cauldron of thick porridge, spitting red hot gobs of molten rock into the air. A thick, viscous and slowly moving river of lava moved down one side. Absolutely fascinating to watch. We spent quite a few minutes there. I wished it could have been longer. Then we circled round the eruption site of the last two years and then, to my surprise, we landed.
Solveig put us down on a reasonably flat area of lava flow. Amazing. We landed on some of the newest rock in the world. It was still warm and smoke was rising through cracks. Sulphur collected on the edges of the rock and the air smelt of fire and brimstone. We were somewhere that Dante might have recognised. The rotor blades slowed to a halt and we got out for a wander round. Very strange place. It was quite a privilege just to be in such an unusual place. Just a few years ago it simply did not exist. I did wonder a little about safety. Was it possible that the ground could just give way and drop us into a fiery pool of lava? An immense eruption was busily going on not far from us. The rock seemed solid enough. After a few hesitant steps I decided it was probably alright and tried to look casual as I walked away from the aircraft.
After photographs and some time pondering, we clambered back on board for the short flight back. Quite an amazing experience. It is difficult to do justice to describing things like this without sounding all flowery. I am not a natural writer. Look and the pictures instead. Jón drove us out to a picturesque park and light house. Here we could reflect on the experience while looking at the many ducklings.
In the morning, we continued our journey to Canada. The aircraft was a bit cramped but this is not such a long haul and we did get some amazing views over Greenland.
