LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

We just returned from a week in Iceland. We booked the 7-day Northern Lights self-driving tour through Guide to Iceland. Anyone wanting to see our itinerary can visit their site. We went in February with the hope of seeing the Lights and, for much of the trip, we regretted our decision. The weather was mostly dreadful. The temperature wasn't bad - it ranged from 0 to 5 degrees centigrade - but the winds made it feel much, much colder. Worse was the fact that it was relentlessly cloudy with lots of rain and snow. Two severe storms caused us to skip a number of our stops. Driving was challenging especially when we had to cross the mountains. One day we spent an hour on a treacherous snow-covered road only to find that it was closed, forcing us to backtrack to a main road.

Despite all of that we were actually glad we went. Iceland is an astoundingly beautiful country and the people were warm and friendly. Because of the rain and snow, I took far fewer pictures than I hoped I would and, due to the near constant cloud cover, we pretty much abandoned all hope of seeing the Lights. But then, suddenly, on Thursday night in a pretty little town called Hofn on the southeast coast, a brief break in the clouds coincided with aurora activity and, thanks to a call from our hotel front desk, we saw them! I managed to get a few decent shots but I need to disclose that they looked nothing like that to the naked eye which mostly saw some faint grey/green streaks in the sky. I shot between 1600 and 2000 ISO at shutter speeds between 10 and 20 seconds with a Nikon 16-35mm zoom at f4 on my 810. The first two required minimal processing but the one with the beach and the moon required quite a bit and is still a work in progress.

The remaining pictures posted here and on a subsequent post were taken on the rare occasions when the sun made an appearance or when there was no precipitation.

Again, despite the many challenges, we had a great time and all 5 of us agreed we'd like to return but at a more temperate time of the year. Anyone wishing more information about the trip is welcome to pm me.

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meowmix Loc: Florida

Really nice photos! You make me want to visit :)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Great shots.

LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

Thanks, if you get the opportunity, you should.

LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

Thank you

toxdoc42

Very nice. I served 2 years in the navy in keflavik. The aurora were regular occurrences. You caught some bad luck weather wise.

LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

Don’t I know it. Everything I read said late February/early March is a great time to go to see them. But, after all, it’s weather. All the local were saying this has been a strange winter there. December was much warmer than usual and February much wetter.

toxdoc42

If you were going for the aurora perhaps. The summers are amazing with the midnight sun. You have to go back! Message me and remind me to send you some of my photos.

LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

Thanks, I will.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

Peace and quiet much? Really nice shots of a lonely-looking place. Like the aurora shots. And the "church on the rocks."

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Nice shots.

LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

Thank you.