White Water Rafting – Iceland!!

Today was the day Brandon has been waiting for our whole trip. The only thing he
really wanted to do was go white water rafting. We made it out of the AirBnB by
7:10 and was on the road for the hour and a half ride to Viking River rafting.

When we got there we found that there would be just one other couple joining us. I
was happy to hear as it makes the whole experience more personal. we were soon
given our equipment for the day to include a dry suit, helmet, and life vest. They
only had two helmets with GoPro holders one of which was a small and one a large, so
Brandon got one and I took the other one. Tom was originally going to wear it, but
since it was a small, I got it by default. Brandon took video while our GoPro took
time lapse photos.

It was another 45 minute drive up to the place where we would start our rafting. We received a safety briefing, and then it was time to go. They briefed (and we had fully anticipated) that we would end up in the river at some point. It was a little nerve racking to think about, but knew we would be safe. Early on our guide Philip actually had us fall-in on purpose so we could experience what it would be like inthe event we did later.

The dry suit kept us . . . dry. We had on several layers of clothes underneath with long johns, pants, and three different shirts. Although the water itself was cold, falling in really did not feel as shocking as I expected it too. The mittens we were wearing were not waterproof, but they kept our hands surprisingly warm.

The river was absolutely beautiful. It was flowing with very clear, blue, glacier water between high canyon walls. I did tip out a couple of times, but was no big deal. In fact the second time I tipped out, I was able to grab Philip’s arm almost immediately.

The other couple on the raft with us were engaged police officers from Germany. Tom enjoyed talking to him (Bastian) on the bus about politics and seemed like a fun couple to join us. Tom and Bastian were in the front of the raft and the first person to tip out was Bastian. It seemed as if he may have fallen out because Tom had pushed him when we were told to get down. Tom hadn’t really pushed him, but we joked that he did. Much later in the trip Bastian out of nowhere came up and said “Oh yeah I almost forgot” and shoved Tom out of the raft. We were all confused at first, but realized that he was joking and “paying him back” for when Tom pushed him out. It was funny until we realized that we couldn’t get Tom back in the raft before we hit the next rapid. Tom was fine and enjoyed his swim down the river. Bastian felt bad though because he only did it because he though we were at the end of the trip and didn’t realize we were coming upon more rapids. Luckily nobody was hurt and we all enjoyed a laugh.

I think we rafted for about 3 hours. We did have a break along the way where we had
some hot chocolate and waffles with rhubarb jam and cream. It was super yummy. We
also stopped at a spot where we could jump off a rock into the river. I was
definitely up for doing it, but when I got up to the jumping spot I couldn’t believe
how high it was. It probably wasn’t as high as it looked from up top, but it
actually really did freak me out. I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it,
but Tom said pretend it was the Amazing Race and it was for a million dollars. That
and with the chants “Do it, Do it” from the people watching got me to go.

When we got to the end of the rafting I was thrilled that we did it and enjoyed it, but was ready to get out. Even though I was dry, I still felt cold. We headed back to the reception where we warmed up, enjoyed a beer, and a lunch. What a great experience.

On the drive back to our BnB we decided to stop at the grocery store and once again make dinner so we would just have time to relax. We were able to pick up all the necessary ingredients for tacos. It was another nice evening relaxing, enjoying the hot tub, and having a home cooked
meal. Kristin and I even started a 1000 piece puzzle to finish off the night.