Someone is in a mood! (Strokkur (Iceland))

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Strokkur (Iceland)
Date:	21/04/09 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exciting when it happens, regular as clockwork

Disadvantages: Not as big as the big boy Geysir

Although I was disappointed with Gulfoss, Geysir or its neighbour Strokkur, I should say - almost completely made up for it. I have to admit, I probably had got my hopes up far too much when it came to Geysir. I'd read about it for years and finally I was there, having spent the day travelling on a bus with steamed up windows over the overland route the Kjolur, there was little to do other than to be impatient about what awaited when we reached "The Golden Circle"

Geysir is derived from the word "gjosa" - to gush and if you don't know what it is - it is a phenomenon caused in volcanic areas by water working its way down the earth's surface until it comes into contact with hot magna and erupts. Geysir is the largest geyser, formerly extinct it started erupting again in 2002. For some reason, I expected it to do it whilst I was there and was a little disappointed to find out that it only happens every 8-10 hours and wasn't going to do it whilst we were there (we were on a regular bus service which only stopped there for a while.) At 63m, it is surely a mammoth event and I do regret that we didn't get to see it - I would plan your journey around the erupting time.

Fortunately it is not the only geyser in the area and next to it is "Stokkur", easy to find due to the mass of tourists circling around it. This is one that you can rely on, erupting every 8-10 minutes with a varying height, we saw it do its thing properly twice with a couple of mini attempts either side of them.

Even at 15 metres (though it can reach 20m), this is an impressive feat and had me and all the other viewers in awe. I'd never seen one before, not even the tiny ones on Fuerteventura, so it was a novelty and felt like a bit of achievment to have seen it during my life! There's a notable friendly atmosphere in the circle as well, it's like witnessing this phenomenon creates a strange bond between the viewers like at a football match (not rival fans obviously!)

Another spectacular reaction of this bubbling steam and water explosion is the rainbows that can be seen around it. It's so large that videoing and photographing it is quite difficult and it could take a few attempts to get it right, it's well worth it though.

Summary: Still fun!