Tag Archives: Vision of the Seas

Transatlantic — Iceland Golden Circle; Faxi Waterfall


Icelandic steam vents

Our tour group left the port city of Reykjavik and headed east. This drive is Iceland’s famous Golden Circle, and this day’s tour was with GeoIceland. During this trip we would pass some very interesting terrain on the way to our first major destination:

Iceland’s Golden Circle

Iceland’s Golden Circle

Golden Circle, Iceland

Our first major destination was the Faxi Waterfall:

Faxi Waterfall

Faxi Waterfall

And while the Faxi Waterfall was a nice break in the drive, the real attractions here were the surrounding vistas:

Tungufljót river, Iceland

Faxi Waterfall area, Iceland

Here in the area of Faxi Waterfall we got our first real glimpse of the famous Icelandic Horse, a very sturdy pony-sized animal that is much stronger than its diminutive size would seem to indicate:

Faxi Waterfall area, Iceland

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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation

Transatlantic — Iceland preview of GeoIceland Tour


Over the next several weeks we’re going on a tour of Iceland out of Reykjavik. Vision of the Seas arrived here on August 28, 2017. Ursula had us booked for a GeoIceland Tour’s incredible Golden Circle Tour, which took us to Thingvellir, the Great Geysir, Gullfoss Falls, Faxi Falls, and the Hveragerdi geothermal area. Today we’ll take a quick preview of what’s ahead, including a short video I put together of Great Geysir erupting and Gullfoss Falls falling.

Thingvellir, Iceland

So, to whet your appetite, here is a preview, including that aforementioned video:

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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation

Fun Photo Friday — Invergorden & Inverness Favorites (and a Monster?)


Green Bench at Beauly Priory

Okay, you’ve been waiting for this all week, I’m sure. First, some background. I was standing at about this spot at the northeast end of Loch Ness:

Loch Ness

I had my camera set to  manually focus for some closeup images when out of the corner of my eye I spied something swimming in the loch. Now, having read many of the stories of trying to capture this elusive creature, I suspected I only had perhaps seconds to react before Nessie, or whatever, would dive beneath the surface into the dark depths of Loch Ness below. Without hesitation, I swung the camera up to my eye, and here is the dramatic result of this seldom seen phenomena of cryptozoology:

The Loch Ness . . . Creature?

Hey, what did you expect? Something clearer than most other Nessie photos? Alas, my instincts, that I would have limited time to avail myself of a photo before the opportunity elapsed, were proven correct. Before I could manually focus or switch the camera to automatically do so for me, the creature disappeared with an odd, “Quack,” and skittered across the loch with a strange flapping motion before disappearing into the distance.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Perhaps I should have saved that one for next year, say, around April 1. Anyway, I’ll leave you with one last image for today before you start throwing rotten tomatoes at your computer screen:

A Mini Pair

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Filed under Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation