National Geographic Explorer was once again docked in Akureyri. We disembarked early in the morning, heading out to tour geological formations that we couldn’t get to by ship. We explored sites around Lake Mývatn, an area with a great variety of geologically active features—bubbling mud pools, caves with hot pools, volcanic craters covered with vegetation—that made for an otherworldly, picturesque landscape.
We stopped and enjoyed a lunch of Icelandic meat and fish before setting off for the afternoon highlight: Hverfall, a tephra cone or tuff ring volcano that last erupted about 2,500 years ago. At 420m high and 1km in diameter, the hike up was truly a magical experience.
