Iceland

I was stationed in Keflavik, Iceland as a corpsman in the United States Navy. The naval hospital of the base was in Keflavik as was the airport. I enjoyed the rugged scenery of mountains, rivers, glaciers, waterfalls, and even the island of Surtsey, formed by a volcano. I was blessed because one physician was a pilot that wanted to gain hours in the air to obtain his commercial pilot’s license. Because of that, when a few of us would have the money, we would rent the plane and the doctor would fly the plane for free. I was able to visit many cities and to see much of the rugged beauty.

There a few reasons for me walking down this path of memories. The first was the postcard that I shared Sunday morning on Facebook. It was a night view of the church and parsonage at Pingvellir; the “P’ is pronounced like the English “th.” The postcard was one that I collected in 1971. I often visited the Icelandic capital city, Reykjavik after riding the bus into town. The position of the bus station and the large church, Hallgrimskirkja in the center of the city made it easy not to get loss.

Plane trips to other areas of Iceland included Hofn at the southwest of the island. I caught a ride on a supply transport to a radar station near the town. Because of its location close to mountains, the landing took a skilled pilot. Another trip with the doctor flying, we landed on Surtsey, a volcano created island on the southern coast. The landing strip had a rise in the middle. The windsock was the only safety device. When a pilot took off, he had to pray no one was landing at the same time; the hump blinded him until his plane crossed the middle rise.

A flight to Akureyri at the northern edge of Island had a special purpose. Being so far north, we wanted to get our “Blue Nose” certificate by crossing the Arctic Circle. We managed to fly across, but the return flight was a bit sketchy. Fog set in and thickened. The instruments on the rented plane weren’t the best, so several times our doctor flew low to follow roadways below. We managed to direct him home with a road map.

Recently, I have been seeing tourism advertisements for ship cruises of the “Golden Circle” of Iceland. The luxurious cruise circumvented the island, with a possible visit to Greenland. I’ve always wanted to revisit the island, but I have better things to do with three thousand dollars.