3 Jun 2017 - Iceland Day 9: Hvítserkur Rock Formation

Our next stop is Hvítserkur, which is a 15 m high basalt stack along the eastern shore of the Vatnsnes Peninsula.

From the car park, it's just a short walk to the lookout point.

It was amazing to witness such a natural wonder.

At certain angle, it resembles an animal drinking water.  Some said it looks like a rhino while others think it looks like an elephant.

From the lookout point, I noticed there was a path leading down to the shore.  I decided to have a closer encounter with this amazing rock formation.  I went down alone as the path was quite steep and may be a bit "treacherous" for the kids.

As it was low tide at that time, I was able to walk all the way to the rock and touch it.

From the shore, I looked up to the lookout point where Jerlene and Javier were waving at me.  Only then I realized there was a waterfall right next to them.

It was a completely different view from the shore compared to that from the lookout point above.  It was such a beauty,

The base of the stack has been reinforced with concrete to protect its foundations from the sea.

Hvitserkur, which translates to “white shirt”, derives its name from being covered in Shag and Cormorant guano. It was once the plug of a volcano, but over the years the craters surrounding the rock plug gave way to the pounding Atlantic Ocean leaving only the unusual outcropping Hvítserkur behind.

Icelandic legend has it that the rock was a troll who forgot to retreat from the light and was turned to stone in the sunrise.  I went all around the rock to capture images of this natural wonder from different angles.

When I climbed back up the slope and reached the top, Javier had a huge relief.  Tracy told me that while I was below, he was very concerned the whole time and kept asking her why daddy always do such "dangerous" thing.  :-P

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