[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 24 August 2014]

 

25 January 2014, Saturday

By this time, we were feeling a little sad because our Iceland adventure was coming to an end. It had been a magical journey so far, with all the amazing sights and experiences over the past four days. Today was meant to be a lazy, chillax kind of day, as we slowly make our way back to Reykjavík. However, it didn’t take long for us to be jolted out of our zone and to be reminded once again about the power of Mother Nature.

After checking out of the cosy Vík Hostel, we drove to the nearby Reynisfjara black sand beach to take a walk along the coast and to see the Hálsanefshellir basalt column caves.

After we alighted from our car, we saw the usual signboard that provided the name, photos and description of the place we were about to visit. As usual, we took a cursory glance at it before making our way excitedly to see the real thing itself.

However, in the bottom right corner of the signboard was a portion in yellow with the word “ATTENTION!” written in four languages, and it highlighted the dangers of going close to the sea, which read – “Extreme currents and unpredictable waves. Beware of falling rocks from the cliffs.”

And in the description for Hálsanefshellir, hidden in the last line of the second paragraph, is a warning that probably should have been blown up to 1,362 font size. It read: “Visitors are reminded that the approach to the cave is very difficult and should only be attempted under optimal conditions.” Granted, they underlined this sentence, but come on, just an underline?

These two warnings went unheeded by us, as we joyfully trudged towards the beach to marvel at the beauty of the black sand and the vast ocean. The landscape that greeted us resembled the moon, with rocks scattered around the black sand plains. It was an overcast day with cloudy skies, and the waves were rolling in the deep.

Many a time, we went close to the water’s edge, only to be chased back inland as the speed of the waves was alarmingly fast and almost caught us off-guard a few times. IJ even shot a few videos of us running away from the waves, and we had a few good laughs out of it.

Despite the ominous signs, we continued walking towards the cave at the end of the beach. The cave isn’t so much a cave as a concave in the rock face. But the beauty lies in the basalt columns left exposed from weathering. You can see the tectonic forces at work, pushing and bending the rock strata over millions of years.

At this time, we were all gathered somewhere near the cave, busy taking photographs. Suddenly, without warning, a wave rolled in. We initially thought it was just a normal wave, but it soon became apparent that the speed at which it was coming at us was not like the earlier waves that we could outrun it. Even worse, the volume seemed to be much higher – not those ankle-high waves that at most, would have gotten our shoes and pant sleeves wet. No, this one was much more voluminous and powerful.

As soon as we realised the danger, we literally ran for our lives. However, we were at the end of the beach and there was nowhere to run except a steep slope of a cliff. At that moment, my only thought was to get to higher ground and to protect my DSLR camera. So I sprinted towards the slope and held my DSLR high up in my right hand. But alas, the angry wave caught up with me in no time, and it swallowed me whole.

I was submerged underwater for a good few seconds as I was dragged by the backflow. My head came above water for an instant and I gasped for air, before being submerged again. Luckily the water subsided quickly and I was left sprawling on the sand. I felt some pain in my right shin and my left palm, but my immediate thought was my DSLR – it was soaked and I knew that it was gone. My next thought turned to my friends – were they ok? Or gasp, were they alive?

I picked myself up and looked around, and to my huge relief, I saw YS and IJ also slowly trying to stand up. They were quite near me. But wait, where was SY? After about five seconds of panic, I then saw SY’s figure rising from the ground, about 30m or more away from me. I don’t remember him being so far away from me before the wave struck. We immediately shouted to let each other know that we were ok, on the surface at least, and we quickly made our way out of that danger zone.

I held on to my worthless DSLR and half-ran towards the others, checking my pockets as I went. SY was trying to find his glasses, and luckily he managed to locate it a distance away. I was afraid that another mega wave would roll in to engulf us once more, but everything went back to normal. The ocean seemed to have released its pent up frustration in that one mega wave, and was quite content with producing the normal, non-threatening ones. At least for a while.

We weren’t in the mood to linger there any longer. As we retreated to safety, we noticed a few people in the distance looking at us. They were in the safe zone and just stood there with their big cameras. They didn’t seem too concerned about us. As soon as they saw that we were alive, they sat back down on their stools and continued shooting their pictures. I thought they should at least have warned us about the danger on our way in, seeing that they probably were there for some time and should have seen a few mega waves already. Oh well, my priority was not to debate about their lack of concern towards us, but to get us out of our wet clothes and to plan our next course of action.

Back at our car, we had a proper look at each other. Besides the obvious fact that we were all soaked, it was clear that everyone was in shock over what had just happened. I remember feeling very alive at that moment, and it had nothing to do with being drenched and cold. It was a jolt to the system and I was experiencing a huge adrenaline rush.

We then took stock of our injuries. I rolled up my leg sleeves and saw that my right shin was bleeding. I also removed my left glove and realised I had scraped the skin on the fleshy part of my left palm and it was also bleeding. Luckily the thick pants and gloves provided some protection.

YS, SY and IJ also all suffered some cuts on their palms and legs and bruises. Our injuries arose from hitting the rocks on the beach as the wave dragged us back towards the sea. We were supremely fortunate not to have sustained any blows to the head, which could have been fatal. Thankfully, the beach was also rather flat and the wave didn’t manage to drag us all the way to the sea. Otherwise, we would have drowned for sure, in those choppy waters.

We then checked our belongings more thoroughly. We all had our (now useless) cameras and mobile phones, and most importantly, our car key. We would have been in serious sh*t if we had lost our car key. I pulled out my iPhone from my pocket, and amazingly, it still showed signs of life, even though it was covered in sand and it was all wet. All the other guys’ mobile phones and cameras were dead – only my iPhone survived the ordeal. I then checked my passport, which was wrapped in a ziplock bag and kept inside my moneybelt. I didn’t seal the ziplock bag fully so the edges of some of the passport pages were a little wet, but it was still largely dry. I then realised that I had lost my beanie cap, but that was nothing.

As we stood there shivering and trying to squeeze the water out of our down jackets and pants, we decided that the best course of action was to head back to Vík Hostel to seek refuge and to take a shower and change into dry clothes. So we headed back to the hostel, where we had just departed from less than an hour ago. But before that, we stopped by the supermarket and grabbed three 2kg packets of uncooked rice.

Back at Vík Hostel, we explained our predicament to the female staff member there. Seeing our forlorn state, she immediately offered us dry towels and gave us the go-ahead to use the shower, even though we had already checked out of the hostel. One by one, we took our showers, and by the end of it, we had caused quite a mess to the place – the lobby area was wet and the bathroom was sandy. But the staff at Vík Hostel didn’t complain at all, so a big thank you to them for the kind hospitality.

While waiting for my turn to shower, I poured the three bags of rice grains into a big ziplock bag and placed all our water-damaged electronic devices inside, in a bid to try to revive them. I had heard from friends that this method works wonders, so in our desperation, we were willing to try everything. SY was still reeling from the incident, so he borrowed my still-working iPhone to call his wife to report peace.

Finally, after getting showered and dressed in dry clothes, we said goodbye to Vík Hostel for good and made our way towards Reykjavík, as planned. There was nothing we could do about our wet footwear though. In our original itinerary, we were supposed to stop at Selfoss, but we were not in the mood to see any Foss anymore. Along the way, we recounted the experience but it was mostly a somber car ride back. I think all of us were still feeling the aftershocks.

If there is one lesson to be learnt from this experience, it is – don’t tempt fate. Before that fateful mega wave, the ocean had already given us a few warnings with some moderate waves and we still ran away, laughing, as we managed to outrun those. We should have known better. If there is one more lesson to be learnt, it is – always read the signs. And the fine print! They could save your life.

Having said that, I am not trying to paint Reynisfjara beach and Hálsanefshellir cave as a ‘death trap’ or anything like that, or to lay blame that the signboards and warnings were not prominent enough. It is safe as long as you exercise common sense (like not going there alone), and read the signs (both the physical signboard and the conditions like the weather and assessing the strength of the waves).

Back at Reykjavík, we checked in to Hlemmur Square once again. We deposited our stuff and headed out soon after to the only shopping centre in downtown Reykjavík – Kringlan Shopping Mall. Top of my agenda was getting new shoes. I tried to find some cheap ones but as with everything in Iceland, nothing is cheap. I just bought the cheapest pair of casual sneakers I could find.

IJ wanted to buy a new mobile phone because he still had quite a long way to go in the trip, going with me to Manchester and Scotland. But SY and YS were heading back to Singapore soon so they didn’t want to buy a new phone. However, the phones in Iceland were pricey, so IJ decided a better bet would be to buy it at the airport duty free, or when we went to Manchester, where there would be more options available.

We walked around the shopping mall listlessly and got some dinner at the food court before heading back to Hlemmur Square. I then paid a visit to Lucky Records, Iceland’s biggest record store. It was conveniently located just around the corner of our hostel. It was very big and spacious, and the records were all neatly arranged. It was very comfortable to shop in, unlike many of the other record shops, which are often dark and dusty. I didn’t manage to unearth any rare MJ records, but I did find a somewhat rare Janet CD single.

After that, we went back to the hostel for an early rest. Besides recovering from the shock, IJ and SY were experiencing withdrawal symptoms from not having the use of their mobile phones anymore. YS seemed to be coping well. My iPhone was the only one that survived, so it proves that Apple iPhone is better than Samsung or the other brands! But my losses were the heaviest as my Canon DSLR was totally dead. I would have to buy a new one in Manchester.

Jokes aside, we were all feeling down that night. IJ was particularly sad that all the photos and videos in London and Iceland that he had taken with his camera and mobile phone were all gone, just like that. He had posted some of his pics on Instagram before that so he had some shots for keepsake, but the rest were gone.

It was a gloomy way to end what would otherwise have been a splendid trip to Iceland, but the bottom line was, we were still alive. And that was the most important of all.