This morning we experienced first hand how changeable is the weather in Greenland. The forecast was for another beautiful day but the new day arrived with an 800' overcast. When the airport manager said that it would improve later in the day, the ceiling dropped to 600'. We had no choice but to wait it out because the airport was below departure minimums. After about two hours, however, some blue holes appeared and, by the time we could takeoff, there were barely any clouds remaining. It turned out to be another beautiful day for flying.
The departure from Narsarsuaq is absolutely spectacular! Jagged peaks jutting to over 8,000' fill your view and a combination of low clouds and glaciers complete the voids between them. Beautiful to look at but you would not want to visit by air!
Except for a few showers in the vicinity of Reykjavic, the flight was uneventful. With GPS and a multifunction display showing the way, there is no guesswork in computing location, route of flight, heading, airspeed or groundspeed (is it still called groundspeed when the flight is almost completely over water)?
Iceland is an island of only 280,000 people. It is composed totally of volcanic lava. Furthermore, there is a new eruption about every five years. On the eastern side, there is a gigantic glacier visible from a great distance. Undoubtedly, that is how the island was originally named.
There are many mineral springs emitting hot water and steam. Some of the water is channeled into heating homes and other innovative uses. Some is used for swimming in the Blue Lagoon, the most famous of Iceland's tourist attractions. We just had to check that out.
If one would continue due south from Iceland, you would not encounter any land until reaching Antarctica. In fact, many of the islands part-time residents do just that twice each year. The Arctic Tern migrates over that route, nearly halfway around the world, for a six week journey each way. We will not even do it much faster than that in the Baron.
Iceland is also quite significant geographically. The plates separating the continents originate here. We were taken to a location on the southern part of the island where the plate which forms the the ridge to North America begins. Also, about 4,000' to the left, the Eurasian plate also begins. At that one point, it is said, that you are neither here nor there.
One day is not sufficient to see Iceland. We must return another time.
