Daily Archives: May 30, 2024

A drive up to Dryholaey wildlife park

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A drive up to Dryholaey wildlife park

Saturday, 11-May-2024


From the black sand beach, I noticed another beautiful rock formation by the sea. I didn’t have any detailed plans for the day, and had more than enough spare time to do a bit of exploring… so I saddled back up onto my trusty van-steed, put the drone batteries on the charger, and charged off myself.

The first thing I noticed when driving into Dryholaey wildlife park was the signs, very clearly stating that drones were NOT, in any way shape or form, allowed in the park boundaries.

That’s fine. I’m not sad. You’re sad. Shut up.


I pressed onward, though. I wasn’t going to miss out on getting to experience something pretty, just because I couldn’t let my small orange buddy take to the skies… I mean, I’d prefer to be able to share pretty pictures when I can, and sea stacks are definitely best views from the air… but hey. This trip is mainly an opportunity for me to stretch back out into my own soul, after being compressed down by jobs and life and Oregon, so…

Yeah, philosophy aside I pressed onward.


Even without Droney flying around, it was staggeringly beautiful. A huge window through a sea cliff soared below me, and countless birds cried and wheeled above – Looking around, I could tell why drones aren’t allowed in Dryholaey. It’s a bird sanctuary, with thousands nesting in the cliffs below where I was parked.

I wandered, explored… and moseyed onward.

I did, I admit, fly the drone a little bit after I left the bounds of the park. I didn’t even consider flying back toward the nesting grounds, obviously, but I did get some beautiful pictures of an abandoned farmhouse nearby!

A walk on Reynisflara Black Sand Beach

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A walk on Reynisflara Black Sand Beach

Saturday, 11-May-2024

After staying the evening at Vik, and having a lovely breakfast at the nearby “Skool beans” schoolbus / coffee shop, I noticed something. A few pillars, offshore.

A quick look at Google Maps found what I was looking at, and a quick review of the drive found it to be… surprisingly short!

Hey, what’s the point of doing a van roadtrip if I can’t just randomly see a thing and then drive to see it, right? So, unsurprisingly, I drove over to see what the fuss was about!

When I arrived, I arrived to tour busses. Just… so many tour busses. Which is fine – means I picked a popular spot to sightsee, right? Well… sort of. It was popular, no doubt, but to be frank… the beach itself wasn’t particularly exciting. I think I must have arrived around mid-tide, because there wasn’t really much to see.

I flew my drone, got a simply amazing picture of the sea stacks, and then noticed another interesting ocean formation nearby. Hmm. Maybe I’ll go visit that one next…