Departures (2008–…): Season 2, Episode 8 - Iceland - full transcript

- [Scott] Coming through
Europe on our way to Reykjavik,

we ended up with a stopover
in the Faroe islands.

We're gonna spend a couple of days here

before heading on to Iceland
and seeing the brute forces

that nature has on these
North Atlantic islands.

- [Justin] Iceland to
me is kind of a mystery

but, I know there's beautiful women there.

I know there's Vikings there.

I'm gonna check it out
and see what's going on.

- [Scott] After traveling
the world for a year,

Justin and I were charged
with a whole new energy.



- [Justin] As I got further
away from my old life,

I started to realize that
this is where I need to be.

This is now my lifestyle.

One day, I hope to say that
I've seen the world but,

that day's not here.

(upbeat music)

- [Scott] We left the
Gobi desert in Mongolia

with the decision to find

more peace and quiet and open space,

but in a completely
different part of the world.

In Iceland, in the North Atlantic ocean.

- Stop it Scott, see what I deal with.

It's all becoming routine
with Mr.Wilson, ey?

On camera, he's a straight
nice guy then off camera,



little goof ball.

- After we got from Mongolia into Europe

we realized that we could
catch a pretty cheap flight

to the Faroe Islands first.

Justin and I are never one to

go without fully exploring a region.

But, we're in the North Atlantic,

it's only an hour and a half flight,

we might as well do it.

- Apparently, it's Friday
night here in the Faroe Islands

and, it's supposed to get pretty crazy so,

we're gonna have ourselves a night out.

- We're in touche ban,
we're in the Faroe Islands.

- The people here are crazy, dude.

- Hi, I will tell you

the most exciting thing in
the Faroe Islands right now,

right now.

Now, you have to follow the green light.

There's the green light, just follow it.

That's how exciting it gets in
the Faroe Islands, you know.

Seriously, seriously.

- The night is not over yet.

We've been invited a bit of a house party.

- It's like four in the morning right now.

Oh, it's like 4:30 in the morning, jeez.

And the night's just starting.

(upbeat music)

Well, we're probably with the
best of them, Faroe Islands.

- We haven't even seen the
Faroe Islands yet, like I mean,

since we've been here, we've
just had our ears licked.

- I'm having a good time so far.

- We're leaving the main island
behind and we're heading to

a much smaller island called
Koltur, which is West of here.

We can only get to with a private boat.

- We have a pretty big swell right now.

Waves are rough, it's
a bumpy ride, hold on.

- I mean, as far as the
North Atlantic go this is

pretty calm water.

Reality sets in of exactly where you are

and what kind of place this is

has really fired me up
for going on to Iceland

and being able to see this
harsh area of the world.

- Those guys can stay alive, wow.

(soft upbeat music)

- This is about as

remote in the Faroe's
I think as you can get.

There's one guy who lives here
with his wife and that's it.

- Here, this one.

This one is the dried sheep,
that is only slaughtered

and dried in a shed, I
shall show you later on.

And this one is from the cattle beef.

- And this is all from the island?

- Yeah.
- This is all yours?

- Yeah, yeah.
- Okay.

- And this is a sausage from lamb.

Local eggs from the hen outside.

- You guys are pretty
self-sufficient here.

You can live off of
pretty much what you have.

- Yeah, more or less, yeah.

More or less yeah.
- That's impressive.

All right, well, I've gotta try.

The dried sheep has a really,

- [Justin] Bitter.

- Yeah.
- sheep taste to it.

- Yeah, yeah, it's definitely like a.

- It's very sharp.
- Yeah.

(soft music)

And now we're fed, we're
just getting settled.

- As soon as we arrived to the islands

the people here have been really friendly.

You know, they've given us food,

and given us shelter and,

we offered our services as
far as anything that they need

done around the island.

(upbeat music)

- [Scott] This is one of the
oldest parts of Koltur and,

there's a whole bunch of buildings here.

Bjorn is in the process
of rebuilding them.

- Today's project consists
of putting up a new door.

And you're gonna help, aren't yah?

You're gonna help everybody do,

make this place all brand new.

- What's the plan?

Do you plan to restore
all of these buildings?

- Yeah, I have a plan
to restore all of this.

Part of Koltur we call Humey Husar.

This is the oldest part
where the first people

came to the island.

(upbeat music)

- Just give me one sec.

Can't see anything in
my peripheral vision.

(funky music)

- Oh, it's looking good.

Look at this, he's done a good job

building these doors cause
the flash was everything.

- I am some experience.

That was the big moment.

Very quick.

- Yeah, this is a Faroe's special brew.

- Oh, thank you.
- It's okay.

You like that beer.

(upbeat music)

- [Scott] Since arriving
in the Faroe islands,

we've already experienced

two totally different styles of life.

There's a very old
well-kept traditional side

to the Faroe's.

And then there's the younger population

and this drive to try to modernize.

- Do the people now
realize how lucky you are?

I imagine before they
thought you were crazy

for coming out here and going
to the island by yourself

and now that you've made it successful,

are they envious of you?

- Well, there's a
lifestyle, you like or not.

And I like it, it is better
life here, I like it.

- Sometimes when the fog rolls
and you can't see anything,

does it feel like you're in the middle of

the Atlantic Ocean by yourself?

- Yeah, sometimes and
it's a very good feeling.

Sometimes you need to be for yourself.

(soft music)

- He brought the sheep off
from the mountain down here

with the help of his dog.

And now, we've got them
in this kind of pen

where he's gonna take some
stool samples and then

send it off to a veterinarian to

just make sure they have no
bacteria or any diseases.

- Anybody who owns a dog
knows what this is all about.

Bring it back.
- I got him.

Scott, you're scarring them this way, man.

- Before you go, I have
a favor to ask you.

If you can handle this
back to the veterinarian

in Faroe Island
- Sure.

- when you go with the helicopter today.

- Yeah, we're flying there anyway.

Gladly take your.

- No, it's your souvenir,
dude, it's all you.

- No, all right.

All right, no problem.

I've got the stool sample.

It was a hell of a souvenir.

And we're also taking
back the mail from Koltur.

You don't wanna get these two mixed up.

It's like, did nana
send me a birthday card?

No, no birthday card.

Mail, from Koltur.
- Yes.

- We're leaving the Faroe islands.

And we're going to Reykjavik, Iceland.

It's only about an hour and
a half flight from here.

This is the biggest plane

that flies in and out of this place.

But, this is the same thing
that's gonna take us to Iceland.

- Faroe Islands was a short
stop but, well worth it.

(soft music)

- [Air hostess] Ladies and
gentlemen, welcome to Iceland.

The local time is half past six.

(soft guitar music)

- [Scott] With a country
whose population is only

300,000 people, it's
pretty easy to get away

and then find your own place.

For us, we just wanna come
here and experience the land.

As we found out through
a lot of travels now that

if you can meet the people
and experience the land

you're getting a good impression
of what the country is.

- [Justin] We just spent
the last couple hours

driving up the coast and getting
our first taste of Iceland.

(soft music)

- Ready? One, two, three.

(soft music)

- [Scott] Beautiful as it
is, weather is a bit sketchy.

- Weather permitting, weather permitting.

- That's gonna be the
saying of our whole trip.

Weather permitting.

- We do know that the weather
here is unpredictable.

Every five minutes it's changing.

So, this time around, we have
everything underneath the sun

when it comes to gear.

- We'll get you used to this
cold, buddy, don't you worry.

Couple of days in, we'll
have you right as rain.

- I don't know.

- There's a lot of talk about
superstitions and folklore

and how seriously the
Icelandic take all of this.

And the Snaefellsnes
Peninsula is well known

as the energy center of the whole island.

We went out there to meet Goutra

because she's one of the few locals

who will openly talk about all of this.

- It's one of the two major energy lines

that runs through here.

And the meeting point's in the glacier,

in the lowest Pacific Glacier
so, it's just recharging.

- Regardless of who you are,

the landscape here is
pretty inspirational.

- This is definitely my favorite place.

So, when I want to get
some peace and quiet

or recharge my batteries or
something, I come out here.

- Any words of wisdom for

helping the meditation process go by?

- Well, my suggestion
would be that you sit down

and that you kind of close your eyes

and ask that you be connected
with the energies that

rule here, and that they

help and support you in
the best way possible.

- All right.
- Okay.

- Just wandering around here and,

it's been suggested that it's nice

to just sort of find a place of your own.

No matter where your head space
is or what your beliefs are

I think this kind of landscape
with this kind of weather

combines to just be a really

inspirational kind of place, regardless.

(soft music)

How does this connect also to

a lot of what is described as folklore?

- In Iceland, the term elf, we
also call them hidden people.

Spirits resided in rocks to protect

the people who lived here
against invasion from the sea

or from evil spirits.

(soft upbeat music)

- What I was reading into is that

my life has cut to this point
and my new life has started.

- It's definitely connecting here.

And so, I would believe
that that would be the case.

Have you had an accident?

- Life-threatening?
- Yeah.

- All the time.
- All the time.

So, something's going to
change which is going to

affect the way in which you look at life.

- [Justin] So, right now I might be

in a transition right here?

- It could be.

(soft music)

- Thank you so much, we really enjoyed.

- So much fun to play with you guys.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.

- [Justin] It's been a great trip.

- You take care, relax,
that's the other thing.

And make sure to see the shark man,

before you leave Snaefellsnes.

- So, this shark man, is
he half man, half shark?

Is this a.
- No.

No, I think you'll just have
to go experience it, you know.

Go see him, bye bye.
- Thank you very much.

(soft music)

- Shark man, that could
mean almost anything.

Could be a mutant.

- Neither of us really know
what that means exactly.

Except that we keep following
signs of sharks like this one.

Look at this right here.

So, we keep following them and
I know we're getting close.

- Yeah, I mean, this could
be an easy as a trap.

Like, if someone said,

oh, you're swimming along in
the water and you're like,

oh, there's a whole bunch
of sharks over there.

Would you swim towards that? No.

We don't know what the
shark man does, what he is.

Is he half man? Is he half shark?

- Hopefully, I think he knows we're here.

- He could smell the fear.

- That's a weird fish smell.

- Shark heads.

- Hello?

- Hello.

We might be walking into a trap here.

(tense music)

(soft music)

- We've stumbled on to the
property here and found out that

the shark man is really
a living human being

and quite normal, quite a nice fella.

- How do you like it?

- That's strong.

- Very, wow, very strong.

And you're sure that
this stuff is only toxic

when you first get it?

- And then it will be
ready in a couple of weeks.

We only have two type of sharks here,

and this is the most common one,

the Greenland shark.

- Well, it's my first time
seeing a Greenland shark.

Although, this is not the
way to see a Greenland shark

in five-month-old chunks
hanging from a barn ceiling.

I've got to try it, if
you've got some to share.

- Maybe I'd give you a little
snaffs to make it easier.

Brennivin, black death, it's a--

- [Justin] Black death?

- It was used to call the black death.

- It doesn't sound very inviting.

You know, I'm gonna eat
five-month-old fermented shark and

black death to wash it down,
you know what, awesome.

- This is the drink.
- Black death?

- We actually we call it Brennivin.

- Doesn't look so sinister.

- It's called the black death.

- Yeah, there's gotta be a reason for it.

This is the shark here.
- This is the shark.

- Yeah, it's like,

- Like rubbing alcohol.

- it's like a chemical.
- Yeah.

- I never tried to put it on my car.

- All right, so, let's do it.

- Okay, one piece put it in the glass.

- Cheers.
- Okay.

- And then, take the piece,
- Yes.

- put in the mouth, chew in it a little

and then, small sip with it.

- Interesting.

- It's the black death.

- It gets better and better, every time.

(soft music)

- [Scott] We left Reykjavik behind.

And we're about halfway down
the South coast of Iceland.

We're on our way to Vatnajokull glacier,

which is the largest
glacier in all of Europe.

Not too far off the highway we get to see

a bit of a gathering over
here, a lot of people.

It turns out to be kind
of a fall fair almost.

- So, we thought we'd stop
by and check it out and

now we're on horses.

(soft music)

- Every fall at the end of the summer,

everyone goes into the hills

to collect their sheep
and round them all up.

- We're just kind of
lending a hand and you know,

a couple extra bodies
on horses helps out, so.

Oh, I know, he wants to go.

You wanna sing something for
the cattle? You wanna see.

Oh, you shy, you shy now.

- We're losing our group.

We've gotta try to chase down
and keep these sheep in order.

And that's what we're doing.

- These horses are getting ready.

Why I always get these
horses that are crazy?

- Hey, hey, hey, hey.

(soft music)

- Want scotch?
- Wow.

- That is something special, it's for you.

- Okay.
- Yeah.

- That's good.

- Is that?
- It's good, that's Jager.

- [Man] Yeah.

- I know this stuff.
- Yeah, it's Jager.

Cheers, you got a superpower juice?

- Oh yes, I think so.

More Jagermeister.

- [Scott] So far, it's been
an incredibly relaxing ride

and we've got some pretty open skies

as far as Iceland's concerned.

And just riding across the plains.

These horses are so
strong and they're just

overpowering all of these sheep.

- This here is,
- Jagermeister.

- Jagermeister, oh.

- The official drink of
bringing in the sheep.

- And I got some 12 year
old whiskey, if you want.

- This does keep you warm.
- Yeah, it does.

- Cheers, thank you.

What happens now?

- Now, it's meat soup.
- Meat soup?

- Yeah, meat soup out of
Icelandic sheep, of course.

- This is a big ceremony for you guys.

Just to come back and relax and.

- Yeah.
- over a hard day.

- Actually, I haven't
gone up to the mountains,

I've just been, just
came here from drinking.

- You've just been drinking.
- I've just been drinking.

- I like this guy.

- But, I help the other
one's drinking and relaxing.

- Cheers to that.

- Cheers to that.

- Cheers.
- Cheers.

- So, so far my favorite
part of this whole tradition,

sitting down having some hot soup,

it's a meat soup, actually
sheep they put in the soup.

That's really good.

- It's tender.
- It's really good.

- It's so good it didn't
last long with me.

- You've done with that in no time.

- I just went like this and then went.

- You're lucky you weren't here,

six months later when we would be eating,

sheep pores.

- You choose to eat this.

This isn't like a punishment
for stealing or something?

- And we try to drink
the flavor over here.

- [Justin] It tastes that good?

(all laugh)

(all sing)

- We're singing about the rain,
we like the rain, la la la.

(soft guitar music)

- The weather here is pretty brutal.

Like there's these huge pockets
of sunlight that come by

and then right behind it again
it's swamped in with cloud.

- It's touch and go.

- Yeah.

- This place is very mystical.

It's all covered in this green moss.

There's all these little
caves everywhere and,

I can totally understand why

the people here would kind of think that

there's little people
run around here because

as I'm walking around, I was
almost getting freaked out.

How crazy would it be right now

if I actually saw one of
these little elves, you know?

Go for it.

- Nope.

By studying the tracks, let's see, yeah.

One enormous freaking
truck came through here.

It looks pretty deep and pretty raging.

- I don't mind taking the cross.

If you want, I'll drive it across.

- Yeah you can drive it
across, I don't care about you,

I care about the car
and all the gear in it.

We were traveling along Highway One,

like a main highway here and instead,

we came off here, at some river crossings

and things like that.

But, we're not gonna get past this.

So, now we'll just double
back to the highway.

Not a big deal, but a
bit of a disappointment.

- Like we thought we
got this land cruiser.

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We got a land cruiser,
it will be good enough

to roll through any
conditions, not the case.

(soft music)

- Getting our first
glimpse at a Vatnajokull.

This particular piece almost
comes right out to Highway One.

So, we just jetted off a little
bit to get a better view.

Weather is still spotty
and typically Icelandic.

Gonna take this kind of

opportunity to get a
view and a few photos.

This is pretty cool, this lagoon here has

all these chunks of the glacier
face that have fallen off.

- There's this stuff everywhere,
frozen ice, see that.

- From the highway,

you get this amazing view of the glaciers

where it breaks away and
flows out to the ocean.

But, the best views of all
are to get in the zodiac

and get right out on the water.

This is our first thrill
look at Vatnajokull up close.

And this is where all these
icebergs are coming from.

Breaking away and floating
out to the North Atlantic.

Now, I just wanna get on it now.

I just wanna play on the ice,

climb around, you know, explore it.

- It does look scary
though, when you look at it,

it's just like.

- This glacier is moving, it's changing,

it's breaking apart.

Like most aspects of nature,
gotta give it the respect.

- What the hell was that?

- That was something going.

- You see it underneath?

Did you hear that?
- Yeah, I heard that.

First time I've heard anything like that.

- Yeah.

- I just had a chill down
my spine I'm like, whoa,

something's happening.

- It sounds like two transport trucks

colliding in slow motion.

- It's only just one big piece
and it starts to flip over

you'll feel so small, just can't imagine.

- Anytime they can just?

- How old is this ice, roughly?

- Yeah, roughly 1000 to 1500 years old.

- [Justin] Oh, wow, look at that,

that doesn't even look real.

(soft upbeat music)

- We've reached the glacier.

We're going to explore this thing.

I think the only way I'm gonna

convince Justin to do it right now

is by means of motor sports.

We're gonna take some
snowmobiles out onto the glacier

and hopefully, get our first
real up close and personal

encounters with it.

But Justin, he's a little cold
so, we'll move things along

we'll get him going.

- Aren't you getting cold?

- I'm not cold, are you?

- Almost cold.

- Time to conquer this
glacier by horseless sleigh.

- [Justin] It's nice to be on the ice.

It's kind of scary 'cause ices
can get really, really deep.

Definitely can swallow a
snowmobile up pretty easily.

You had to be really careful
when you're out there.

- [Scott] Just like the
rain keeps coming and going

so does the cloud cover.

We've been driving along this
path that doesn't seem to end.

It just keeps going and going and going

in every single direction.

- Right in the rain,
where'd the rain come from?

- Yeah.

- It's not lucky, is it not?

- Typical Iceland as
we've experienced so far.

But, it kind of doesn't matter.

I don't care anymore about the rain.

I'm not worried about it.

I'm blasting across

Europe's biggest glacier on a snowmobile.

- These snowmobiles are
getting worked right now?

I'm doing work to these things.

- [Scott] Yeah.

- This things better blow up, seriously.

What's the lifeline saying?

It says keep riding hard.

Today is not my day to die, I don't think.

It's a good sign.

I stole Scott's snowmobile.

He has no idea what's wrong
with his, because I broke mine.

- Not sure what's going on,
it sounds a little pingy.

I'm just noticing something,

I didn't have a broken tail light either.

- Well, you broke a tail light too?

- Seriously, what did you do to that thing

Do you have any idea?

- I was just beating shit out of it.

Due to my reckless driving,

we're gonna have to leave this one here

and going back with Scott.

(soft music)

Me and Scott really don't
know much about ice climbing.

And this is kind of our first time so,

we got ourself a local expert here, Thor

and he's gonna help us out.

- Now, we have our crampons on,

and there are a few things
we have to think about.

Never put the front points
in or put them on side,

like this, walking uphill,
just put them flat in.

And then, there's the ice ax,

we hold it by the hat like this.

And, that's the easiest
way to use it for support.

Okay, on your way over there,

and also it looks really good on photos.

(Justin laughs)

(soft music)

- Yeah, Icelandic weather
is kicking in hard.

Mother Nature's pissed.

- I think you've been bad
talking the elves too much.

- You're not turning back, are you Andre?

- No.
- Will you film

this whole thing?

- [Andre] I deserve a camera break.

- Okay, yeah, which won't
be long at this point

so, let's get hiking.

What's the first mission here?

- The hole over there.

- Okay.
- Yeah, I'm up for this.

(soft music)

Hiking and stopping, hiking and stopping

and he's got spots where he's fast five.

- This is not a friendly
environment, you know what I mean?

You have to come out being like, you know,

I'm gonna beat yah, you know.

- This is frozen hell.

I think I can climb my way out of hell.

(soft rock music)

- [Thor] Could you kindly come over here.

- All right, first attempt here,

let's see if I can get this.

I don't know how my technique
is but, this is pretty sweet.

- Sure as hell is a work out.

- I'm almost feeling it's
a little bit, too easy.

You got something really
challenging for us?

- Yeah, definitely.

- Oh, like it would scare one Italian,

where would you rank that?

- Maybe three.
- Oh, really?

- Yeah, so can you give us
like a seven or an eight?

- You can do it.
- I think I can do it.

- Let's do it.
- Yeah.

- Kidding me, this scrub is just rubbing.

I really don't like this.

- [Thor] Okay, do you wanna go deeper?

- No.

- [Thor] Remember, put your feet in first.

- God, dude, this is crazy.

(soft music)

(Justin groans)

Can you pull me up?

- Yeah, I can.
- One arm gripping off.

- Going in?
- Yeah.

No, no, no, it's up, up.

Much of a better climb are yah?

- Right on.

(soft music)

I'm out of breath already.

The ice was in such a hard condition.

You can kick with all your might,

you can swing the ax with all your might,

and it just won't go into the ice.

And when it does,

what happens is it goes in
and it just breaks away.

You know, I thought I
could do it and I couldn't.

Well, Mother Nature is
beating down on me hard.

I just can't quit, that's
all I keep doing, shit.

(somber music)

- I haven't done that bad
since I wrote my last Math

or English test, that's
bad, I did horrible.

Mother Nature one, Justin and Scott zero.

(slow tempo music)

- As of yesterday, the remanence of a

hurricane was ripping
through the island here.

- We're coping, we're still alive.

- And to be honest for me
it just adds to the whole,

you know, power of this island.

It's a tough island to deal with

if you don't know what
you're doing, you know.

With the glaciers, with the
highways, with the rivers,

with the ocean, the weather,
everything, with the elves,

everything.
- Hey,

let's not get into the elves, all right.

We don't want anymore cursing.

We don't want anymore curses on us,

we don't want any of that.

- So, what we're gonna try to do is head

inland and higher up into the mountains.

The roads are a little bit sketchier

but hopefully, they'll have been

at least somewhat preserved.

(soft music)

On a whim, as you're
driving into the interior

and seeing how open and vast and rugged

the interior can get.

We decided the best thing we could do

would be to try our hand at scaling Hekla.

The most famous or active
volcano in all of Iceland.

- Never gets old, does it.

As long as the windshield
wiper stay up to per,

jeez, look at this, I hope the
car's getting cleaner dirty

but, either way I'm having a blast.

Oh, another puddle.

- We're supposed to be
going up Hekla today.

The wind is saying don't come

because it's just ripping along.

The only way we can get to the
top is not with our vehicle,

but with a super truck.

So, we're going up in a super truck.

But even the super truck won't start.

- In the medieval times,

this volcano represented
the gateway to hell.

And everybody thought that
if you wanted to go to hell,

this is where you'd go.

- [Scott] When is Hekla
due to erupt again?

- It is very likely that she will erupt

within the next three years.

- [Scott] So, anytime between
now and two years from now?

- Approximately yes.

- I'm looking at my lifeline

and I don't think today's the day.

- I'm reducing the pressure of the tires.

Gives us better grip.

I'm taking it down to
approximately five pounds.

One pound in the tires,
that's approximately

the pressure you can put in your mouth.

- Snow is starting to accumulate here.

The further you go,
the road obviously gets

more and more difficult.

Can't quite see the peak through the fog.

- All right, shall we do it?

- Since the weather's so nice.

- We are going to the gateway of hell.

- [Scott] You're ready?

- As ready as we're gonna be.

- It's really unstable,
so take slow, light steps.

- How's the weather looking?

- Not too good actually.
- No?

- Looks pretty windy up there.

- I don't know how to describe this.

I'm on a volcano right now.

A volcano which is due to erupt

any time between now and the
next year and a half or so.

(upbeat music)

- When I think of volcanoes,
I think of hot, climates

like Hawaii, where I'm used to living.

I don't think about icy
conditions like this.

Snow, wind, the hail is been painful.

It feels like a shotgun blast.

- So Onar, this is one of the big craters

from the early seventies.

- Some of the craters that have erupted

in past eruptions.
- Wow.

- And that's to say, this one's from 71.

- I'm actually here at one
of the gateways to hell.

Here is one of the pits to hell.

Satan, your home? Satan, hello.

He's probably not coming to the door

'cause he probably thinks
it's about Jehovah witnesses.

- We're also facing some
of the worst weather

we can face on this mountain.

Between the camera gear, the wind,

the amount of daylight left today,

we just think it's best
to turn around here.

- It's better to be safe than sorry.

- If there's one lesson I
learned from before as well

is you don't screw with Mother Nature,

she's always gonna win.

(soft music)

- We decided to get out of the rain

and we thought we could do it by exploring

into the grounds of Iceland.

- They're gonna take us to find

a relatively secret underground lava tube.

- Don't say nothing, secret.

- A bit of a chore to try to find it.

And then once we do, we're gonna have to

force our way into it.

It's apparently quite a
small opening in the earth.

Finding this lava tube
is a little bit like

finding a needle in a haystack

and the guys are just talking it over.

Having a look at a GPS as well.

We're just gonna have to
wing it at some point, so.

- It's quite the struggle
just getting up to it.

This van is not off-road capable at all.

- Once we find it,

at least we'll finally
be doing an activity

that we don't have to worry
about the weather for.

'Cause under the ground, the
weather is always the same.

These guys are going by some rumors,

internet postings and stuff.

Nobody's actually said
exactly where this place is.

- It's a bit of a process
but, we'll make it.

(funky music)

- It looks like this is the case

and inside there's a
narrow entrance that leads

into the rest of the lava tube.

It looks the rumors paid off.

- It's nice to be in the shelter, jeez.

That rain was coming down hard.

Can you see my jeans?

- Well, we see, you look nice.

- I actually did not learn
my lesson, from Jiltuko,

climbing a mountain in jeans.

Now, my jeans are completely socked.

- Fashion is pain.
- Yes.

- Fashion is pain, do it
in style, do it in jeans.

- Hey guys, we're just
figuring out if in fact

this is the hole that will
lead into the lava tube.

- I don't know, man.

(Man speaks foreign)

- I'm starting to freak out here, dude.

- There's a number of
possibilities in his cave

that could be the entrance.

The one that the guys already went in

now they kind of think
that's the only option.

It's not a very big cave,

but we're having some
trouble finding the entrance.

- Okay, if I fit in here,
you all fit in here.

- This is absolutely crazy, dude.

I'm kind of freaking out a bit.

You Iceland guys are crazy, jeez.

- And there's a step down there.

- Is there a ladder?
- Nope.

Though we will be here
to catch you if you fall.

- Into the abyss.

- Just use your hands
to support your weight

as you slide in.

- We just dropped down
through the narrow opening

and it's a huge, huge lava tube.

- So, another through it, down here guys

just be really careful.

There is a lot of loose rocks here.

- The temperature's the same as outside

and there's already ice.

- Pull the torch.
- You okay?

- Yeah.

- [Scott] We're only
couple of hundred meters

inside the cave right now.

Clearly this is just the path of the lava.

Sometimes when the lava is flowing

it doesn't break the surface

and it just cuts its way through
the earth, under the crust.

And that's what we're
experiencing right now.

So, this is another section where

the lava tube just becomes
really, really narrow.

- When living in Hawaii,
I'd seen lava caves.

I've been in like mainly
20 or 30 feet into it.

But, I've never been a kilometer deep

into a lava cave and really
see it as it transforms

from gravel to actual lava
flow and the hardened magma.

It looks like frozen slime.

I've never been this deep
into a cave, it's cool.

It's the way the texture is everywhere.

It's just a really weird, weird feeling.

- [Scott] Awesome, this looks wild.

Just perfect tunnel, never seen
a cave like this in my life.

- The cave comes to an end.

- Sort of
- Sort of.

But, there's a trick to
it, it drops down now.

We can't say we've reached the
end until we get down there.

- How do we get back up?

- That's an old mystery.

- It hurts the ass.

- [Guide] Keep going to
hurt that beautiful face.

- Oh shit.

Another day at the office ey Scott?

- Just another day at the office.

We've officially reached
the end of this lava tube.

Congratulations, sir.
- Congratulations.

- Very few people have come down here and

I'm just glad to say
that we're one of them.

- [Thor] It'd be very easy
in cold wet conditions

in a country like Iceland
to just wanna stay in doors

or to stay in the car.

- So, Thor is gonna go first.

I'll be in the back and make
sure we don't lose anybody.

And let's try to find the surface again.

- Our time here, you know,

even though rain was horrible,

we really made the best of it.

Freedom.

This place is really, really,
really special, you know.

With the elves and stuff
like that, like I didn't,

I didn't see any elves.

But, I know as sure as
shit I pissed them off

because they were nothing but,

little bastards to us the
whole time we were here.

- [Scott] Past few days, I
felt like I've had some defeats

and in some ways I guess they are.

But in other ways, it's
a new way to learn.

- We're finally at a
place, the Blue Lagoon,

where we can enjoy the elements

and enjoy part of Iceland's nature

without any worry of the weather.

It doesn't matter when you're in here.

Last few days, we've been
beaten down, turned back,

turned away by the weather, Mother Nature,

all these elements of the land around us

that we've been trying to conquer.

Iceland and Mother Nature
are working together to

test our limits and test our will and

show us this incredible
power that nature has

and the respect that it deserves.

You can push yourself,
but you can't push nature.

And I think that was the
important lesson here.

In the end,

we're leaving with a great
impression of Iceland,

despite the weather.

- Iceland was a tough country.

And not every countries come
out with rainbows and sunshine.

But our time here is up
and we're heading to Africa

and a whole new adventure.

- [Scott] This land is gonna
seem like another world

when we're staring face to
face with the pride alliance

at the other end of the earth in Zambia.

(soft music)