At long last! The wind died down just enough for us to scrape our way along the southern coast to Vik, a tiny town on a stretch of black sand beach.

If you do a web search for pictures of Vik, you’ll see serenely pastoral views of a picturesque village nestled among green fields beside a peaceful cove. Ha! Our experience was more like a vortex of turbulence—the roughest seas I’ve ever seen, winds so strong they nearly bowled me over multiple time, and enough flying black sand to exfoliate your cheeks into next week.

But oh, so picturesque! Ignore the cold and the sting, and you get a moody landscape the Romantics would have swooned over.