The next morning I was dragged up again at what I think was nearly sunrise.

I think it was nearly sunrise because it was pouring rain…so visibility wasn’t exactly there for me to tell much of anything.

One unwilling driver, one grumpy bear, and one hopeful photographer packed into a car and headed for Reynisfjara, the sunrise edition.

We parked at the beach, Pokin bundled up and went out —

and promptly came back. Not only was it rainy, but strong winds were blowing her backwards. Combine that with dangerous waves and even this crazy person found her limits.

So we sat in the car to see if weather conditions would improve. While sitting in the car I spent my time watching the wet sheep.

There, in the pouring rain, in windy conditions were the sheep, calmly munching away as though nothing was amiss. IT’S SO WET OUT THERE YOU CRAZY SHEEP!!

Due to the geographic isolation, the Icelandic sheep are considered one of the purest breeds in the world. They originate from the Northern European Short tailed stock of sheep, introduced to the country in the late 9th or 10th century by the vikings.

The fleece is apparently double coated, making them highly resistant to cold. There are apparently over 800,000 icelandic sheep to a population of ~390K Icelandic people.

I guess that makes them tolerant this dampness better? I don’t know. Give me hot cocoa by a toasty fire any day.

After I watched sheep for long enough, and after Pokin waited for long enough to know sunrise had most definitely already certainly happened, we drove back to the hotel to get ready for our day.

Today’s agenda? Waterfalls!

Wasn’t it wet enough already?

It was still raining a little when we set out, so we decided to first swing by to the Dyrhólaey Lighthouse because at least that was visible from the car. The rain was nice enough to stop by the time we got there, so we got out.

And immediately regretted it because it was so windy. I clung on to Nicholas tightly, I was that worried about being blown away.

Dyrhólaey Lighthouse marks the southernmost point in Iceland. The light station was first built in 1910, and the actual lighthouse built in 1927. The lighthouse was prefabricated in Sweden. Dyrhólaey stands for Door Hole Isle, named for this rock structure that sat below:

Nice peninsula. Nice lighthouse. Too cold! Back in the car.

Our next stop was Kvernufoss, which is located a short drive away from the more famous and touristy Skógafoss. Pokin picked this place because she thought there would be less crowds. There were, but it was made up for with more drones, which she shortly discovered from all the buzzing she heard.

I saw more sheep. Naturally.

The waterfall was wet and sprayed water everywhere. Naturally.

I helped out where I could, while doing my best to stay dry.

And was overall glad when we were done and hiking away from this waterfall.

Even though I knew it was unlikely, I still hoped Kvernufoss would be a one and done waterfall for the day.

“Next stop, Skógafoss,” announces Pokin. “It’s only a couple minutes away.”

Alas.