Today was really nice, relaxing, and informative. I decided to spend my day at the Blue Lagoon. The bus fare + entry fee was a fantastic deal and made things much cheaper for me- cheap is good!! When I arrived, it was to my surprise the isolation of the place. It is right in the middle of a lava field with nothing around it except for the geothermal power plant. I was pleasantly surprised by the architecture. It blends right in and actually becomes part of the landscape. It is beautifully done and received an award in 2007.
When I got to the reception to hand them my ticket and receive a bracelet (everything is computerized using a white chip on the bracelet- entry, locker, you can even charge food and drink on it and pay later!), I had asked if there was someone I could speak with regarding the spa and how it all emerged and operates now. They were happy to get in touch with their director of public relations, Magnea Gudmundsdottir. She was busy at the time, but agreed to meet at 1 PM. This meant I had about 2 hours of play time and exploration in the lagoon, which of course was very fun and nice. It is not at all as bad as I was expecting. In a way, I had anticipated a public swimming pool crossed with Disney World or something highly commercial and tourist oriented. This actually was not the case. It is a giant spa, of course heavily reliant on tourism (3/4 of their revenue is from tourism), but is absolutely an experience worth having. The power plant is right in the distance and they have special ties with it, but I learned in my meeting that this has changed. I will get to that later.
The locker room is EXTREMELY nice. Large lockers, stone heated floors, areas to dry your hair, frosted glass for each stall of shower, etc. The public swimming pools have these amenities as well, but not to this extreme and not so clearly defined as separate programmatic areas. Very luxurious. Leaving the locker room, you walk through an indoor pool area as the threshold to the outside lagoon. I am always so cold after the shower and before going into the pool that I just run right outside and get into the nice warm water as soon as possible. I did this, but it was actually kind of difficult to find my way in. The water has a beautiful baby blue color (I learned that this is a result of the special algae that lives in it and then dies when the water temperature cools), but you can not see through it at all. There was a railing to bring yourself into the pool, but there were 'invisible' stairs to go with it. It took me a while to orient my footing- figure out how wide the steps were, how many, etc. Once inside, though, it was very nice. I walked around, thinking up of my questions to ask Magnea. The bottom of the lagoon is as it was when it formed- rocky and with black sand. It was really cool to experience the touch of lava rock and sand under my feet. However, I did experience major temperature fluctuations in the water. I was somewhat expecting this, but in a way, it was extreme and there was no real gradual gradient. Hot and cold spots scattered throughout. There were arched bridges that are clustered close to the edge of the building connecting across areas of the lagoon. After further observation, I found that the bridges were also being used to span the pipelines to various areas through the complex, tucked away underneath. They also had a waterfall, which looked softly beautiful, but if you sit underneath, it is surprisingly one intense massage. There were 2 (I think) steam rooms to choose from. My favorite is the one that is like a cave-igloo. It is an arched piling of volcanic stones. Inside the cave is a continuous bench making almost the full circle. Behind the bench is soft steam coming from the rocks while every now and then, intense steam would rise from the ground. After the steam event, you could hear the pitter-patter of water moving around and trying to recover back to stillness. I had a problem with the height of the door. It was very dark inside that cave, and so going in, I was aware of the height and would duck below the header. Every time I left, I hit my head! This must have happened at least 3 times haha.
A little after noon, I had my shower and enjoyed a little sandwich. I was expecting prices to be outrageous, but it was just as much as any other place I had visited, so this was a nice surprise. I walked around taking photos and wrote down my questions for the meeting. A bit after 1, Magnea came down to meet me.
We walked over to the restaurant, "LAVA" (haha), where she invited me to have a cappuccino and eat some traditional Icelandic desserts. She seemed very eager and interested in my project, and so I explained to her the premise of my being there. She then explained to me the evolution of the Lagoon, its history, and how it has become a spa today. I learned a lot in a little bit of time. As Gudni from NEA had explained to be upon my arrival, this was first considered to be an environmental disaster. This was my first question for her. She explained to me how in the late 70s, when the power plant began operating, they were dumping their effluent back out into the landscape. The mineral and salinity content of this water is extremely high, and so after a while, the minerals clogged all the porosity of the bedrock, forming the lagoon. People began bathing in it, and one man with psoriasis noticed it was healing after a few weeks. Thus began this medicinal spa. He started experiments in the late 80s and by late 90s, the spa opened up. Today, though, they do not use the effluent from the power plant- they have their own boreholes! About 10 of them, and they renew the water every 40 hours. There are many bacteria thriving in this special environment, some of which scientists have never seen before. They are not harmful to us, but they eliminate the need to use chlorine since they kill off any bacteria we may have. She also explained to me how it is a closed loop system, as they recharge the ground water with every cycle. It just occurred to me that I forgot to ask if they have had any problems with the clogging of the bedrock in order to recharge the ground water. She gave me her card for me to ask any other questions, so that is a great option I will exercise. After we spoke about the operations of the Lagoon, its origins and evolution, she began asking me questions about my project. The more I told her, the more interested she became, which was really nice to see. After not speaking with a 'professional' the last few days, you kind of forget what you are doing/have done, and the importance and interest it carries, especially with everyone that I have met related to geothermal energy and use. So, she wants me to email her updates about the project, etc., which was great to hear and see such interest! I also told her things she wasn't even aware of within the geothermal life cycle, such as the conditions of the abandoned wells. It was a really amazing experience to be able to pass some of my new-found knowledge on.
After, she brought me to the roof terrace to see the whole lagoon from a bird's eye angle. It was great because I was able to get a real sense and understanding of the overall architectural scheme and to see the top of the building align with the top of a lava field 'mountains', as well as the operations and how people are using the facility all at once. There we discussed the emergence of the beauty products line. Their clinical research and development building is close by, as she was able to point it out from up there. She explained to me that they have a kind of heat exchange process that extracts the minerals, silica, and algae. Then, they are able to use various quantities of each ingredient to create various products- like cooking. This was really interesting to learn about.
What my troubling thoughts are now about the operation, though, is how it has evolved away from using the effluent and is now its own, separate entity utilizing its own boreholes creating its own effluent in addition to the plant's. This will be one of my biggest questions for Thorgrimur from HS Orka tomorrow. Has the effluent quantity grown? Probably, but I am more interested in how it sits on the surface, and if this surface area has grown. Also wondering if there have been problems with clogging and the need to 'dump' else where.
Overall, a surprisingly excellent day. The Blue Lagoon was not as bad as I had thought it was going to be. Excited for tomorrow to see my final two geothermal power plants.
Image 1: Blue Lagoon- Arrival, Svartsengi Power Plant
Image 2: Blue Lagoon- Lunchtime, walking around
Image 3: Blue Lagoon- From roof top terrace
Image 4: Blue Lagoon- Inside
Image 5: Blue Lagoon- Hike around, perhaps effluent?
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