jökulsárlón

Jökulsárlón was the stop I was looking forward to since we'd confirmed our flight. After driving a couple hours from Skaftafell we were expecting to get closer to the sea; we were headed toward the icebergs! I thought they'd be on my right, near the ocean water but after seeing some cars stopping and people wandering, through some black sand hills we spotted them...

Along with the waterfalls the actual size of these are hard to illustrate via picture. Some were small, some were enormous! The icebergs break off of the glacier, Vatnajökull, float into the lagoon and spend up to 1000 years breaking down before they are carried out to sea.

After walking around a little bit and grabbing some seafood soup for lunch at the 8 table café, we decided it was worth taking an amphibious boat tour through the lagoon. The boats aren't allowed to get super up close and personal on the icebergs or glacier because of their enormous size and their ability to flip at any minute. We didn't see any flip, but we did see some small chucks breaking off as a few collided. You only see 1/10 of iceberg above water. It is almost impossible to imagine the amount that is underwater.

Stylish life jackets were required on the tour. Safety first! They passed around a small piece of iceberg that was crystal clear; I mean crystal! And then the guide chipped away at it so we could say we ate 1000 year old ice. The lagoon is unable to completely freeze naturally despite the frigid temps in the winter because it is 50% salt water. But, for a pretty penny it can manually be done; like for the film James Bond - Die Another Day.

Above shows a few smaller icebergs traveling through the canal, headed to open waters. After making their way through the canal they are beached for a  while and finally broken down to be carried out to sea. The black sand beaches made the crystal clear ice look like diamonds.

It's not dirt on the icebergs; it's the black volcanic sand. Most of it is embedded within but will be washed away as they break down. We spotted a few seals during our adventure but they were hard to catch by camera. Unfortunately, none of them decided to "beach" up on the icebergs for an afternoon nap - probably because the sun wasn't out!

 Jökulsárlón is a place I'm glad I witnessed and will never forget.