Northern Lights
Friday 8.3.2024 (still)
Having dined and returned to the hotel at 21:00 we depart in search of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. One of the first questions posed on arrival was which evening this excursion would take place. Local forecasts are published by the Icelandic met office of when they are likely to be visible and checking these before leaving the UK it looked like not seeing them was the probable outcome. (We had noted similar forecasts are available in Alaska last year when we were cruising there – but we were then far too late in the year for sight of the Lights).
Our local tour guide has no doubt consulted similar resources and so we head off this evening. As we progress there is some indication that there are some lights behind us – but it is also certain from the lack of stars that there is very little clear sky with a cloud layer. However on the positive side it is not anywhere near as cold as we had been anticipating – and I doubt the temperature has actually reached zero.
Finally around 23:00 it is incontrovertible that there are Northern Lights. Modern digital cameras are better at capturing what is there than either the naked eye or an analogue camera – where simply film would be wasted attempting to capture anything at all. Hunting the Lights has really only taken off since digital cameras became available.
More Northern Lights
The coach companies obviously know that other facilities are needed and we park in a car park with a set of toilets. The following day we find ourselves back in exactly the same location as it is adjacent to the sights we are seeing.
Jackie is unimpressed and claims that they are merely part of the huge Icelandic campaign to encourage visitors and that they are about as real as the moon landings (qv Houston).
At one point as we had seen nothing definitive (due in main to the cloudy sky) the tour manager and guide were discussing moving elsewhere and indeed we were all asked to return to the coach (Jackie and I were already aboard as in my case I had no wish to get colder than was absolutely necessary and although the coach heating was off it was out of the chill. The drawback was that in the dark the numbers of participants did not add up and I had quite serious concerns that we might actually leave two people behind. Such a minor
However I believe I have seen them and whilst it was not an impressive display there was something there. And we eventually get to bed around 1am.