The blue bubble
A second before eruption — the photo moment.
Gerd Eichmann — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Alexander Grebenkov — CC BY 3.0 · Jakub Hałun — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jakub Hałun — CC BY-SA 4.0
Very rarely: it fell dormant after twentieth-century earthquakes and wakes occasionally after tremors; Strokkur is the one you will see erupt.
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The word that gave the world its name: every "geyser" in every language descends from this valley — the Great Geysir in Haukadalur, first described in the thirteenth century, whose name became the term for every hot-water fountain on Earth. Geysir itself is dormant today but for rare bursts, and its neighbour Strokkur more than compensates: it erupts every five to ten minutes, throwing a column of boiling water twenty metres up, and a second before it blows its vent swells into a gleaming blue bubble — the moment every photographer waits for. The whole valley boils: bubbling mud pools, turquoise springs named Blesi and Vatnshellir, and hot ground steaming. Boardwalks are marked and ropes protect from burns (the water is 100 degrees — staying on the path is essential). Across the road are a visitor centre, restaurant and shop — the Golden Circle's middle stop.
A second before eruption — the photo moment.
Boiling and popping in the steaming ground.
Haukadalur, Iceland