Dyrhólaey (aka black sands beach) is a remote beach near Vik, on the very bottom of Iceland about where east meets west; halfway between Reykjavik and Vatnajoekull National Park. It is quite picturesque and full of what, at first glance, seems to be black sand but in reality is millions of small dark gray pebbles spread out along the beach. Not a particularly nice place to set out a towel and sunbathe but majestic in its own right.
I thought that was a good enough reason to stop and take a peek around on my road trip further east to Jökulsárlón, Glacier Lagoon, if only the weather behaved. Alas, spring was not yet on the horizon and my little car troupe battled snow, rain, small pellets of hail, and even gale-like winds (ok, maybe not quite that bad) on the journey.
Trying to find this beach was not the easiest thing to do and we completely missed it on our way across Iceland so we were pretty determined to stop on the drive back to Reykjavik, snow be darned! After passing Vik for the second time we kept our eyes peeled for the Dyrhólavegur turn off to get to Dyrhólaey beach. Finally spotting it, we turned down the long windy road and meandered across what felt like a little path of dirt and road just large enough for the car to circumvent the ocean until we were eventually deposited into a parking lot. At this point the rain was pelting down and the car was almost being rocked back and forth by the wind picking up. Needless to say we all still piled out of the car, ran forward up the pathway to take in the amazing, if sodden, view below. The ocean was creeping up almost angrily against rocks and pebbles down below on both sides with that strange rock-like structure in the middle. I almost felt like I was back in the Grotto on the Great Ocean Road in southern Australia from Melbourne to Portland again, but in winter.
Carefully making our way back down the pathway we turned an about face and headed further into the cove towards the beach stumbling on slick pebbles and stones larger than our fists as we went forward. The ocean waves were crashing around angrily in front of us and spraying even more water forward but as we were all drenched anyway at that point it didn’t seem to matter much. Photos taken, we headed back to the car, stripped off our wet jackets, and cranked up the heat. Mission accomplished. Back to the car for another good number of hours before Reykjavik started to appear.
All in all I thought it was a nice stop and a great way to break up the monotony of a long car ride across Iceland. I’m not sure it’d be a great place for beach-y activities but still a very lovely view, nonetheless.
Up next: Jökulsárlón, Glacier Lagoon!
