Incredible Northern Lights in Vogar

So, you might have read my last post, where I told the tale of the incredible evening we had in the southern tip of Suðurnes. This was Friday, yesterday, on Saturday then, I was drafted for yet another tour. Considering how strong the Northern Lights had been on the night before I was a bit afraid we would get to see much less, as it is often the case after a strong surge in solar activity.

We nevertheless drove out of the city, heading, as often, towards the tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula. The weather was sensibly worse than the night before and we did not stop until we had left Hafnarfjörðu . At this point, not far from the town of Vogar, we stopped the bus: The Northern Lights were starting:

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Again, these were not really strong and the cloud covering hindered us quite a bit. We stopped for a little while though and took some pictures. As the Aurora seemed to get weaker, we went back on the bus, drove 500 meters and they came back. This strange game continued for a little while and we got to see The Northern Lights in various surroundings:

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At this point, we had almost reached Keflavik and started heading south, towards Grindavik. Then, as we approached the Blue Lagoon, we reached the edge of the clouds and the Northern Lights appeared much clearer:

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Then again, the Northern Lights all but died out and we were all ready to drive to Grindavik in order to get something warm to drink or such when the Northern Lights started out for real.

What we saw was impossible to predict, we got a direct hit of a corona, Lights dancing and shimmering in the sky in mighty strong volutes. Everyone laid down on the ground to enjoy the overhead display. This was truly incredible:

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The best thing in this was that we got this incredible surge just as the clouds were closing in. Had they come just a couple minutes earlier, we would have seen none of that. But we did! And as the visibility started to decrease we drove out and got back to Reykjavik.

Now I would say that the tour was a real success and I can voucher that everyone was real great time but as our guests left the bus to get back to their hotel on the other side of the street our friend Rachel got hit by a car! That was actually quite scary but the police and ambulance came in quickly and took good care of her. Let us all hope then that Rachel will get better soon.