Heimaey and the Vestmannaeyjar...

Just another volcano as the NatGeo Explorer heads towards Vestmannaeyjar on the southern side of Iceland. [1577]

Sheep roam freely on this Vestmannaeyjar island on the south opf Iceland, and probably don't appreciate the fabulous location that is their home. [1666]

Heimaey

For the last stop in our circumnavigation of Iceland, the NatGeo Explorer then headed for Vestmannaeyjar, the Westman Islands. We pulled into Heimaey ('home island') about 7km off the mainland south coast. Heimay has a difficult access to the harbour and is a 'world in the making', being the product of nine major volcanic eruptions, the most recent for six months in 1973 created 200m tall Eldfell('hill of fire'). They sound like thrill-seekers, but some 4500 people live on Heimaey, and the island has memorialised its geothermal volatility by building a magnificent volcano museum over the top of houses destroyed in the last eruption.

Looking out to see from Heimaey port showing why it is one of the most difficult channels to navigate. [1599]

This is how most visitors get to the Westmann Islands. [1729]

Our tour bus effectively summarises the main reasons why tourists come to Heimaey. [1618]

Near the very southern end of the main Vestmannaeyjar island, a spectacular view of the black volcanic ash beach and landscape. [1655]

Standing around their nests on Puffin Hill, the birds which are an irresistable attraction to visitors. [1658]

Puffins are the most cooperative photo models. [1661]

We visited the Þjóðhátíð Amphitheatre (no attempt to pronounce this tongue-twister!) which is a volcanic crater become natural amphitheatre which is now the site of an annual 4 day outdoor music festival. The festival began in 1874 when bad weather prevented locals attending an Icelandic settlement festival on the mainland, and it has grown to be the largest annual multi-day event in the country, attracting over 15,000 revellers. Nothing much stops this festival except for WW1 and COVID, and it even took place in 1973.

The volcanic amphitheatre at which the annual Þjóðhátíð is held. [1616]

Our tour guide shows us video of annual Þjóðhátíð festival. [1642]

In the amphitheatre, a replica of one of the first stone houses in Iceland, and inside is an exhibition based on what is known of the first Viking family to settle in the Westmann Islands around 900AD. [1622]

On board the NatGeo Explorer, we have been treated to many fascinating presentations from the naturalists during the expedition, but none moreso than that from underwater specialist Saevor Dagny Erlendsdottir. Saevor (rhymes with 'diver'), who was half of the dive team which made fascinating videos of their underwater excursions during our time on board, told of her parents who lived on Heimaey and what they did to survive and battle the 1973 eruption. The story is amazing and her personal connection to it, most moving. The initial eruption in January 1973 came without warning. A rift 2km long erupted, enlarging the size of the island and shooting lava 150m into the air. Because the fishing fleet was in the harbour, residents were successfully evacuated. Up to 4m of ash settled over the town, and then lava began flowing towards the harbour, threatening to obliterate it. Starting in less than a week, the fire brigade pumped seawater over the advancing lava in a successful effort over months to save the harbour. The eruption lasted for 5 months.

Saever the diver whose parents experienced the 1973 volcano on Heimaey, here on duty watching out for wildlife on the NatGeo Explorer's bridge. [1768]

Eldheimar, the volcano museum of remembrance on Heimaey, is built right over the top of houses destroyed in the 1973 eruption. [1672]

Eldheimar, the volcano museum of remembrance on Heimaey, is built right over the top of houses destroyed in the 1973 eruption. [1676]

View from the cafe in the volcano museum. [1678]

Half buried from the 1973 eruption, this house stands just outside the volcano museum. [1685]

Contemporary photograph of the 1973 eruption, on exhibition in the volcano museum. [1683]

Taken from the foothills of Eldfell, showing the new township of Heimaey built over the ruins of those lost in 1973, lava fields on the right. [1696]

Numerous uninhabited rocky outcrops scatter between Heimaey and Stursey, all popular with the profific gannet population. [1747]

Surtsey

One of the world's newest islands, Surtsey, was formed from a 130m below sea level volcanic eruption which reached the surface in November 1963 and kept going for almost 4 years. The island grew to an area of 2.7km², although erosion has reduced it somewhat since then. The new island was named after the fire giant Surtr in Norse mythology. As new land, it has been totally protected so that scientists can study the evolution of life from a totally virgin space. One evening, we were permitted to cruise around Surtsey and observe it from a distance.

The island of Surtsey, born in 1963 from an underwater volcanic eruption. [1770]

Dancing With Wolves...

Twelve years ago, on a winter zig-zag drive up the Rocky Mountains from Mexico to Canada, we attempted to visit Yellowstone National Park, but were turned around when the park was closed for one week to clear the roads of snow at the end of the season. The National Park office at the West Gate in Montana informed us that "everyone knows we do this about now", even though it wasn't shown on their website, at least not back then. A winter visit to Yellowstone has been on our bucket list since then.

Sad visitors, unable to enter Yellowstone in 2006!

Albert Bierstadt's rendition of Old Faithful in 1881, from Wikipedia

Yellowstone National Park is at the top left corner of Wyoming, but crosses the border into Montana and Idaho. It was established by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 and is thought to be the world's first National Park. It is centred over the Yellowstone Caldera, a huge super-volcano (one of four in the Rockies), whose current activity is epitomised by the iconic Old Faithful geyser. Old Faithful is reliable but not that regular, with 45-95 minutes between eruptions, so we hope we get to see a good one. Logically, the longer the waiting time, the longer the eruption - eruptions last 90 secs to 5 minutes.

Official Map of Yellowstone National Park, from Wikipedia

Wikipedia says that Yellowstone is "widely considered to be the finest megafauna wildlife habitat in the lower 48 states", and, amongst others, it's the timber wolf and the American bison (pop 3000) that we're hoping to see. We expect (hope?) that the 150 famed grizzly bears, and populous black bears, will be sound asleep!

Portait of a bison in a Yellowstone meadow in summer, by Steven Pribut, from Wikipedia

Wolf in Yellowstone snow, by Barry O'Neill, from Wikipedia

The roads are closed to regular vehicles in winter, but we're going in on a National Geographic Photography Expedition in oversnow transport. There will be 16 of us, plus a guide and a National Geographic naturalist. Non-government commercial operations are still running in the Park, so we're hoping that President Trump's government shutdown will not affect our expedition too much.

The Yellowstone excursion is the purpose of this short USA trip, but apart from that National Park, we'll be relaxing in a few city locations and visiting some friends, so watch out for whatever we post on this blog!

The elusive Fujiyama at Hakone...

One of Katsushika Hokusai's "Thirty Six Views of Mt Fuji" (ca 1830), looking across Lake Ashinoko.

Some 100km west of Tokyo stands the icon of Japan, Mt. Fuji or Fujiyama. We've been lucky enough to see the classical conic shape from Tokyo, but we now visited Hakone in the hope of a closer view. This didn't eventuate - in good weather (mostly), Fuji, still 30km away, remained shrouded in cloud, even though February (and winter generally) is statistically a month with plenty of clear days. Oh well, but we discovered that there is much more at Hakone. We got there on the Odakyu Line's Romance Car limited express from Shinjuku to Hakone's base station, Hakone-Yumoto, a very busy station clinging to the side of a hill on the edge of a rather cute mountain town.

This poster shows the view we never saw.

The Hakone area is a truly delightful mountain retreat, a beautiful and complex array of urbanisation, rugged wilderness and a whole cornucopia of transport options. In the four days we spent in Hakone, we got around by taxi, bus, train, ropeway, cable car and boat. Roads here are narrow, steep and windy - all drivers have to cooperate to get past any oncoming vehicle. There is so much of interest here, in the way of scenic attractions, bush walking, history, galleries and even shopping) that it would make sense to spend more time exploring, and possibly a rental-car would be a good idea. No wonder the Japanese love this place, all within day-trip range of Tokyo.

The Haya River cascades through the mountainous town of Hakone-Yumoto.

The Hakone Tozan Line is Japan's oldest mountain railway, about 1920. Its tiny three carraige train sets resemble a light rail system, but the signalling system is first rate. It has to be, trains are running in both directions on a single line track every ten minutes or so, with passing lanes and three "switchbacks" where the driver and conductor run to swap places. The train climbs from 108m at Hakone-Yumoto to 553m at Gora over 9km (about 40mins) of cliff-clinging, twisty track. It's a fun ride, full of things to look at.

Three carriage trains ply the steep twisty climb from Hakone-Yumoto to Goma.

Buses provide a similar experience. A comprehensive network covers the territory, the buses navigating really tight spaces with aplomb and consideration. Every other vehicle gets a wave of thanks from the bus drivers. Every time the bus takes off, the drivers count and "salute" each of their six mirrors. Like everywhere else, the buses adhere absolutely to their timetables.

Tori gate and cemetary at Moto-Hakone.

Lake Ashi or Ashinoko is a large crater lake in the caldera of Mount Hakone. It's 723m above sea level and it's a weird sensation to climb a long steep hill in a bus to look down on a lake, such is the nature of volcanos! A very popular way of crossing Lake Ashi is on ferries, each modelled on old pirate ships or war-ships for some reason, and from the southern end of the lake you can see Mt. Fuji, if you're lucky. We were not, a huge cloud stubbornly refusing to budge from the top of the mountain each time we were here.

The rather bizarre Ashinoko ferries were packed with Chinese New Year crowds.

Glimpse of Lake Ashinoko from the ropeway near Souzan.

By travelling between Goma, the railway terminus, and Togendai-ko, a ferry stop, we learned the difference between the terms ropeway and cable car, in Japanese parlance at least. Between Goma and Souzan there is a "cable car", two trains running on a steep slope (one up, one down) connected by a cable operated from the top station. There are four stops on the way, and the two trains have a passing lane in the middle. And between Souzan and Togendai-ko there are two seperate "ropeways" carrying dozens of gondolas, each holding maybe a dozen passengers. At the top, connecting the two ropeways is Owakudani (1044m), also accessible by road, an extremely popular vantage point.

The cable car from Owakudani arrives to a full platform at Gora.

Sulphur smelling steam wafts assaults the nostrils of everyone in those gondolas.

Owakudani is referred to as "hell" in much tourist literature, it's where the inner workings of our planet break through to the surface in swirls of steam and very strong sulphur smells. (Every passenger on the ropeways has been given a moist face-cloth becore coming here, and warned off if they have any breathing illnesses.) The Hakone area is actively volcanic, being right at the intersection of three tectonic plates. The major formative eruptions of the Hakone caldera were 180,000 and 60,000 years ago, the latest causing lava flow was 2,900 years ago. In 1170AD there was a significant eruption, and much more recently, in 1991 a seismic swarm of 300 recorded earthquakes occurred. In 2015 there was a lesser explosion causing a small, new crater to be formed, evaculations and disruption of tourism. The new crater is evident if you peer through the swirling steam escaping the valley near Owakudani but the whole area is such a sulphurous hell-hole you wouldn't notice it.

Hot water harvesting hell-hole that is Owakudani.

It's said that eating just one black egg boiled in dilute sulphric acid prolongs your live seven years.

If you want someone to take a good photo of you, pick a person holding a real camera.

Steam ejects from all over the Hakone caldera.

We had been wondering how onsen hot water is managed, and up here, we gained some insight to that question. Owakudani is a farm where hot water is grown and distributed. It an amazing, and ugly, industrial enterprise, but the scalding water thus produced is then used to warm us up in those wonderful Japanese bath-houses. When you are here, it looks like the end of the earth, but a study of the map quickly shows how close the trappings of tourist civilisation are, ryokans, golf courses etc. There's a Geological Museum at Owakudani and the JPY100 entry fee is well worth it, giving the history or the area, and with scale models of the heat exchangers.

Mythology regards Lake Ashinoko as a vicious nine headed dragon - artwork in the Geological Museum.

On the bad side, our whole time at Hakone was blighted by huge crowds. When we made these arrangements we didn't realise that it was Chinese New Year, and nor did we appreciate that Japan would be so popular with the Chinese at this time. We thought families were meant to reunite back home at CNY, not decamp to foreign countries! We first discovered this problem when we had to queue up for an hour at Shinjuku Station, Tokyo just to buy the Hakone Free Pass which would get us on the Romance Car limited express train to Hakone-Yumoto Station as well as local trains, buses, cable cars and ropeways within the district. For our visit, public transport was distressingly overcrowded - the cable car was the main bottle-neck, but the trains were packed too. We imagine that it is always busy in this tourist region, but Chinese New Year is definitely to be avoided!

The pirate ship-like ferry welcomed Chinese New Year visitors.

For accommodation, we picked the Kai Hoshino at Hakone for a few nights of luxury before returning to Tokyo for the last time. It squeezes in between the Old Tokaido Road and the Sukumo River. Our suite, which is in a new wing, faces due north across the river to a very pretty and very close foothill of Mt Yusaka. Steam from the onsen downstairs wafts pass our full width picture window. It's really pure indulgence, our suite, with large living and sleeping rooms, in a modern-traditional styling fusion, and a large ultra-chic bathroom and shower.

The Sukomo River passing below our room at Kai Hakone.

Kai Hakone is decorated in themes of parquetry from various local woods, called yosegi zaiku. There are truly glorious wooden creations, including impenetrable puzzles, in both the common areas and in our suite. Tempting but expensive.

Fine wooden creations were everywhere at Kai Hakone.

In individual paper walled rooms, we dine on Japanese style kaiseki dinners here, which are probably the best of the whole trip. The kitchen goes to great lengths to accommodate special food wishes, and the staff try to explain what everything is. We get written menus. Kaiseki breakfasts too - at this time of day we'd probably prefer our fruit, cereal and toast!

Just one course of our kaiseki meals at Kai.

Kai Hakone is located on the Tokaido road, a torturous path through the mountains taken by travellers between Edo (old Tokyo) and Kyoto. Under a policy called sankin kotai, once a year, feudal lords (daimyo) were obliged by the shogun to travel to and from Kyoto for the purpose, it was said, of impoverishing them beacuse of the costs of maintaining two households. This annual event is commemorated on a giant noren (curtain) which divides the Kai's onsen into "inside" and "outside" - it's a truly spectacular katazome (stencil dyed) sketch by Mitsuko Ogura made even more interesting by fanciful elements such as the mountains being represented by parquetry, the appearance of a modern day pirate ship on Lake Ashi and a tourist cable car too!

Sunset shot from our Kai Hoshino room.

The onsen is unusual, a large rectangular wooden tub (no natural rock formations here) half in and half out of the building. There is a very pretty, subtly lit, garden by the onsen, and if you sit on the bath edge, you can contemplate the river only a few metres away, until you get too cold and have to slip back into the 40C water. All pretty nice, but we wonder if this onsen is big enough to cope with sumer crowds.

We wondered how the shogun and his daimyo got to enjoy onsen.

And on that sankin kotai pilgrimage, one of the three ports in the pirate ship cruise loop on Lake Askinoko is Hakone-machi where the shogun placed a sekisho, a check-point, which operated from 1618 to 1868AD, where arrivals were searched for weapons, and (apparently more importantly) departing women were scrutinised closely in case they were wives (or children) of the said daimyo attempting to flee from Edo. The women were hostages in Edo to make sure the daimyo came back!

Hakone Shrine by Lake Ashi was called on by daimyo and other travellers.

As we left from Hakone-Yumoto station, we observed packed Romance Car trains arriving every 20 minutes from Tokyo, packed local trains arriving from nearby big city and Shinkansen stop Odawara, and wondered how this district can absorb such visitor numbers. We were very glad to have been able to enjoy almost absolute peace and quiet at an out-of-town riverside ryokan.

Romance Car train pulling into Hakone-Yamoto station.

Photo density map shows how we worked around Mt Hakone.

Volcanic Activity at Lake Kussharo...

After leaving Rausu we drove a "scenic route" to Yoroushi with many stops on the way. One of the highlights was a diversion to Kaiyodai Observatory near Nakashibetsu, a very impressive structure high on a hill complete with rooftop ampitheatre for guided stargazing, in summer we think. For our visit, the cafe here was firmly closed.

We approach Kaiodai Observatory.

Stellar observation theatre with Mt. Unabetsu directly to the north.

Icy hill track to the observatory made safe with our Sapporo-bought non-slip grips.

Then, in Akan National Park, we stopped to peer down into the volcanic crater that holds Lake Mashu. The crater walls are 200m high, the lake large and very blue, partially frozen at its shadier end. Measurements of clarity reveal that Lake Mashu is maybe the clearest in the world. Other measurements rate the volcano as "potentially active", but all was quiet for our visit. Lake Mashu is a newcomer in geologic terms, under 32,000 years old. Eruptions occurred 7,000 years ago, and 2,000 years ago. The Ainu people knew the potential here and called Mashu the "Lake of the Devil".

Panorama of Lake Mashu's stunning caldera.

Sika deer safe inside Lake Masha's huge crater.

On the shores of nearby Lake Kussharo we visited Sunayu where we where entertained by the antics of Whooper Swans on the verge of being fed by a business owner no doubt hoping to attract paying customers. More interestingly, we discovered that the 56km circumference Lake Kussharo is also a volcanic caldera which, prior to some eruption, was much larger and included what is now Lake Masha. We saw more swans further around the lake's edge at what seems to be called a "Wild Onsen", where there is a public onsen right on the beach, with an absurd little fence to segregate the sexes. Public nudity here would be rather discouraged by the swarms of photographers lurking in the onsen steam, hoping for great shots of the swans. It's possible to create your own private onsen here - just digging in the sand produces hot water. We imagine the swans are attracted by the warm water.

The Whooper Swans have their eyes on the man with the bucket.

Feeding time at Sunayu.

Another handful of swan food.

Swan photographers in wait by the "Wild Onsen".

You can imagine how the Lake Kussharo crater once encompassed Lake Machu, in this GPS map.

If we had any doubts about how the earth works beneath the surface, having been in the caldera of a "potentially active" volcano, and seen hot water and steam around the edge of a lake, we dispelled them by visiting the active volcano Iou-zan (literally "sulphur mountain"). Here numerous steam jets eject from the side of the hill, leaving the characteristic yellow colour and pungent odour of sulphur. It's a spectacular sight, a wonder to behold and amazing to contemplate what's going on beneath your feet! Inside a nearby souvenir shop, you can buy eggs boiled in the hot springs of Iou-zan.

From a distance, Iou-zan billows steam into the air.

The warning sign tells it all.

Boiling water and steam fizzing out of this hole.

Nice warm spot on a cold day.

As soon as we arrived, we knew the Yoroushi Yuyado Dai-Ichi Ryokan would be a highlight of the trip, a destination in itself, and we should have spent two nights here. It's such a shame we arrived at sunset. The lobby area was large and welcoming, with a firepit and large windows to a beautiful snowy creek replete with birdlife. Management leave food for the birds, and the clientele, mostly photographers judging from the cameras and lenses, lap it up.

Woodpecker emblem of the Yoroushi Yuyado Dai-Ichi Ryokan.

Cosy lobby and common area of the Yorouchi Ryokan.

Predawn outlook from our room.

The very pretty Euasian Jay with his eye on some tucker.

Looks like this Jay is being fed the rock-fish leftovers from last night.

Great Spotted Woodpecker just like at the Yorouchi Ryokan entrance.

Our room in this ryokan was unusual but traditional. The sleeping tatami was in a loft upstairs which we had to crawl into, because the ceiling height was only 1500mm. And we had no private bath or shower - guests here have to use the onsen! The onsen abutted the creek, and was a complex of rockpools and tubs of varying temperatures, indoors and outdoors. There was a large pool for both sexes, defying that old Edo edict requiring segregation to avoid moral depravity.

Red fox by the creek in Yorouchi.

Danger is this lady's business as Mike swings the mallett to make rice-cake.

Departing guests have their boots neatly laid out for them.

Japanese onsen tradition has particular towelling requirements. The only towel you take to the hot bath is what we could call a "hand towel", and while in the preparatory shower you can wash down with it, when you take it to the bath, it must never enter the water. Most bathers place theirs on their head, or on a nearby rock. Regardless, they still get soaking wet from all the steam, and we proved at this onsen that the laws of physics still apply - spinning it around wet in way sub-zero conditions soon freezes it. You are still expected to dry yourself with this soggy towel, and the conditions in the locker room are usually so dry, the heated humidity so low, that this works OK.

Having explained to our guide, Steve, that we were unable to find out what we were eating in the kaiseki meals, and that this was reducing the experience, he (who doesn't eat with us) went to great trouble to translate the menu for us, and helped us to select the main course. This was a great assistance, and we thank him for his responsiveness, and also, here, the staff tried hard to tell us what the various food items were, mostly fish, shrimp and shellfish as is befitting for a seaside village.