I made my 2nd trip to Iceland this past summer. In the year 2000 when I first made it to Iceland, there was no WHS in Iceland, but the tour of the Golden Circle I took from Reykjavik covered the future WHS of the Thingvellir National Park (inscribed in 2004). But this time I decided to go back for snorkeling at the Silfra Rift at the Thingvellir National Park and also to tick off the Vatnajökull National Park (inscribed in 2019) in addition to Surtsey (inscribed in 2008).

Upon my attempt to "visit" Surtsey, the first thing I had to do was to make sure that I can see it in the proper lighting condition, so after originally scheduling this trip in November last year, I decided to move it to June this year, the month with the longest daylight.

The second thing I had to do was, as I was trying to see Surtsey from an airplane, to make sure that I have a window seat and also not a seat over a wing, as a wing could wholly or partially obstruct my view of the island below.

The third thing I had to do was to make sure I bring my monocular with me in the plane. 

On June 19, as the plane approached Surtsey, I was able to see exactly where the plane was on the Google Map, indicated by the little blue dot moving. I could see that we were on the right course.

But then some 20 min. before landing, the plane started to veer off course. Oh, no! At the closest point to Surtsey, the plane was at least 30 km away from Surtsey (the screenshot of the Google Map above). So, my attempt to see Surtsey from the Wizzair plane from Vienna to Reykjavik miserably failed.

I stayed in Iceland for 7 days, even though I did not circle around Iceland (which is possible to do even just with public buses). So during the 7 days, if I had wanted it, it was probably possible to make an arrangement to take a boat tour to Surtsey. But then I had another chance of seeing Surtsey when I fly out of Reykjavik to Oslo, Norway,  one week later. So I decided to take a chance and decided not to take the boat tour.

On my second attempt to see Surtsey from above, I was also following the blue dot on the Google Map, and the plane was flying from west to east, in the north of Surtsey. It was quite clear as soon as the plane took off from the Reykjavik Airport that I was going to miss it again. I was right.

However, I can report at least one positivity from this misadventure. When I took 3 buses to travel from Reykjavik to Hofn and back in order to visit the Vatnajökull National Park, I tried to make sure that I look at and take photos of Mt. Hvannadalshnúkur, the highest peak in Iceland at 2,106 m., located within the national park and right by the bus route on Highway 1. But the top of the mountain was covered by clouds, and I could not see it from the bus. From the plane I took from Reykjavik to Oslo on SAS, however, I was able to see it and took a nice photo, as the plane was flying above the clouds of course. I was following the blue dot on the Google Map, so it is 100 % certain that the photo I took was that of the mountain peak, which you can see at my Flickr photo site linked below.

Three days after I left Iceland, I climbed Mt. Galdhøpiggen in the Jotunheimen National Park in Norway, the highest peak in the whole Scandinavia at 2,469 m.