Iceland 2013: Water

Well, yes, it's an island, it's rainy, it's snowy, and fishing is central to the economy, but that doesn't convey how water in all forms permeates your experience.

Of course, you're never far from the sea.

Harlan on the island's west-most point, the trailing edge of Europe:

Rain swept through just about every day while we were there, and snow a couple days, and hail--the classic line that if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes, might as well have originated in Iceland.

Water is part of a landscape, the way the sky is.

Whether fresh or salt, it is glass clear.

And, of course, there are waterfalls, so many that you start to kid around, rolling your eyes about pulling over to snap pictures of yet another. The huge Gullfoss waterfall is magical with mist flowing up from the water that pounds down.

You can walk behind Seljalandsfoss waterfall if you've brought your jacket (odds are you probably have) or don't mind getting wet (odds are, you already are, at least slightly)--see the tiny figures left of center here:

Stop the van, another waterfall!

Dynjandi waterfall merited a long visit; I have a good video that's too painfully slow to load, so you'll have to go see it for yourself.

Water here embodies what could make for another post of its own about the contrasts in Iceland--forbidding, hard lava and thick, soft moss; uninhabited country and omnipresent sheep; living and breathing water while your laundry dries overnight: that is, anywhere you go, the water might be freezing or might be boiling. The center of Iceland has a big glacier and others are scattered over the island; you can drive close for access to this one (I could have included this shot in the Color post, no?):

Not all that far from this ice, water boils out of the ground.

I wish I could load my video of this little pool, center of this frame, as you could see and hear it bubbling like a cauldron over a fire, which I guess it is: