The search for diamonds on this black lava beach in the southwest of Iceland will be in vain. The ‘diamonds’ that shine brightly in the sun are fragments of the Breidamerkurjokull, a glacier which reaches through a lagoon down to the Northern Atlantic Ocean. With the tide, ice blocks with the size of a house flow from the lagoon into the open sea where they are crushed by the waves into many smaller pieces. The flood pushes them back on the coast. At the end remains a black beach, covered over and over with ice bits of every size, shining like diamonds in the sun.

Quietly winds the Fjaðrá on about two kilometers through the narrow Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon. Over thousands of years, the river has dugged itself into the surrounding scenery and created a bizzare and rugged canyon. On its cliffs with about 100m height grows deep emerald green moss, ferns and grasses which seem to flow down the slope between the bare rocks. Together with the river below they turn the canyon into a green jewel of Iceland.

An ice-cold wind howls over the basalt cliffs at the most eastern point of Iceland. They are the home of thousands of Kittiwakes which build their nests on the ledges of the cliffs to nurture their chicks. With the hatching of the chicks, one parent always stays at the nest in the first weeks. Without its presence, the chick would be unprotected against the wind, the sun, predators and the deep fall down the cliff. However, even due to the presence of the parent only every second chick will fledge.

During the last thousands of years many smaller volcano craters have been created in the surroundings of the Snæfellsjökull volcano. At the last eruption, about 1700 years ago, a far-reaching field of lava was created on the south western slope of the volcano. Today this has become part of the Snæfellsjökull National Park. Lichen, moose and isolate wild flowers have started to overgrow the rugged rocks in the past thousand years. However, it will need many more thousands of years until the traces of this eruption will have completely vanished.

The lupine is not a native inhabitant of Iceland. At the beginning of the 20th century, they were introduced from Alaska and Siberia to compact the soil which was loosened by glaciers and vulcanism. On that way the ongoing erosion was meant to be stopped and sandstorms prevented. However, the lupine felt so well in Iceland’s soil that it has spread out all over the land and started to displace more and more local species. The patches of lupines have become an Ocean.

In the north of Iceland lies Dettifoss, one of the mightiest waterfalls in Europe. On a width of one hundred meter, approximately 700 million liters of glacier water drop every hour into the 40m deep gorge below. In addition, the water carries in the same time about one and a half ton of sediment and rock on its way down. On this way, the stream is permanently digging itself more and more into its river bed. Herby, the fall itself moves every year about half a meter stream upwards.

They are the most well know feathered representants of Iceland: the Puffins. About 3 to 4 million couples breed along the coasts of Iceland. The social birds gather during this time in large colonies of up to several tens of thousands of individuals and lay their eggs in burrows in the cliffs, high above the sea. Although they look clumsy and are poor flyers, they are excellent divers and very skilled fishers. Nearly every hunt of them ends successful.

In the northeast of Iceland, the effluents of the Jökulsárlón glacier reach down to the coast of the northern Atlantic and have formed over the centuries a lagoon at the snout of the glacier. The minerals that have been dissolved from the soil by the glacier give the water its intensive turquoise color. Ice blocks with the size of a house gather at the exit of the lagoon, moved by the currents of tides. The blue of the ice, the turquoise of the water and the color of the sky form this ‚Symphony in Blue‘.

A steep and narrow gravel road leads from the national road N1 upcountry towards the 300m high rock plateau of Borgarhafnarheiði. In its center lie three lakes which are the habitat for several species of insects and water birds. The lakes also supply the surrounding marsh area with water. Crowberry, Cuckooflower and Cotton Gras have spread over the meadows and create a peat bog scenery which is unique for Iceland.

Like an Island emerges from the center of the glacier canyon Ásbyrgi a 40m high rock formation which splits the valley into two halves. During an early glacier flooding, ice-, debris- and water masses have dug deeply into the landscape which has become the bottom of the canyon. Only the free-standing rock in the center was hard enough to withstand the forces of the flood.

During July the Arctic terns indefatigably fly out towards the open sea in search of food for their offspring. Small fish and tiny crabs are the preferred nutrition for the chicks. Although being excellent flyers and successful hunters,  they have to run the gauntlet on their way back to their nests. Skuas, Petrals and other Terns are waiting for the returnees, trying to snatch their prey by smart attacks.

Under the surface of Iceland, the ground is in permanent movement.  Earthquakes ,caused by the shifting of the tectonic plates and volcanic eruptions triggered by rising magma bubbles apply a permanent change to the scenery. Hissing hot springs emitting boiling and mineral rich water indicate how thin the crust of the earth is under this island. Everything here underlies a permanent change. The change of this restless ground is the only thing that is remaining consistent here.

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