How many shades of blue did you see today? We saw this many….

Iceland Blues.

As if one day of glorious sunshine wasn’t enough, Iceland gave us another day like that today too! We couldn’t waste it so we decided to take a trip to the Jökulsárlón, one of Iceland’s largest glacial lagoons. Jökulsárlón is on the far south-eastern coast of Iceland, about 5 hours’ drive from Reykjavik. It’s a long way for a day trip but after the glimpses of glaciers we got to see yesterday, we wanted more! The drive took us past the farmlands and waterfalls we saw yesterday, and through the village of Vik. The other side of Vik the landscape changed from farmlands to lava fields. Great expanses of crumbly, ragged lava; some of it so new it hasn’t even been covered by moss yet*.

*Iceland’s Laki volcano began erupting on June 8, 1783, and continued doing so for months, causing a major environmental disaster. The volcano spewed out ash and toxic fumes that spread over northern latitudes, causing widespread losses of human and animal life. The ash cloud from the volcano caused a summer heat wave, widespread famines, crop failures and livestock losses – it’s even speculated that the volcano-induced crisis might have hastened the French Revolution. The following winter, record cold was seen around the Northern hemisphere. In Iceland the volcanic eruption caused a toxic mist to settle over the land for months, producing such devastation that 80% of their livestock and 25% of the human population died. The Icelanders call this time the Móðuharðindin (translation = The Misty Hard Times). The lava flow from the Laki explosion was the largest ever recorded and is so recent that it is mostly still barren, with just a light covering of moss over it. 

Today we drove up over the hills around Reykjavik and through the South Coast, towards the Vatnajökull glacier and Jökulsárlón lagoon.

Once we passed the farmlands of the South Coast the landscape became quite barren and desolate.

We crossed numerous rivers that carry glacial melt waters (and snow melt in the spring) to the ocean.

After about 4 hours Vatnajökull began to appear in the distance. This massive glacier is Europe’s largest – it covers a surface area of 8,100km² and is 500-1,000m thick. The glacier conceals a number of mountains, valleys, plateaus and volcanos, reaching a maximum height of 2,000m above sea level and a low point of 300m below sea level. This thing is HUGE! 

Our first glimpses of Vatnajökull glacier.

The glacier gradually got bigger and bigger….

…until it filled our entire field of vision.

We were able to get really close to the edge of the glacier which was amazing; to see something of such magnitude and force sure does leave you feeling insignificant and small. This glacier was grinding its way past mountains, creating valleys and flattening hills long before humans even existed; no doubt it will still be there shaping the landscape long after we are gone.

A quick photo stop as we approach the glacier, just to prove we were really here!

We were able to get close to the glacier’s edge…

…so close we could almost touch the 1,000 year old ice at its edge.

Jökulsárlón lagoon sits on the southern edge of Vatnajökull. The lake connects directly to the ocean and waters flowing off the glacier flow through the lake on their way out to sea. The lake is filled with fish (e.g. herring, trout, salmon) and seals gather in large numbers at the mouth of the lake to catch fish during the winter (in summer the seals are out at sea eating and having babies). It’s a big lake – over 284m deep and covering an area of 18km²; it wasn’t always that big however, the size of the lake has increased four-fold since the 1970s. This is believed to be due to Global Warming, though no one knows for sure (all over Iceland glaciers are retreating and thinning though so something is going on). With the waters a deep aquamarine blue and numerous icebergs bobbing around in the frigid waters, Jökulsárlón looked like something off a postcard – it just didn’t look real (felt VERY real when we stuck a hand in the water however – the water hovers around 2-3C in summer and often freezes over in winter).

Allow me to introduce to you Jökulsárlón lagoon.

Walking around Jökulsárlón lagoon, marvelling at all the various shades of blue.

Iceland’s best blue.

Jökulsárlón Lagoon, Iceland, with Vatnajökull glacier in the background.

We spent as much time as we could walking around the lake and were even able to cruise around the lake on a boat, getting close enough to some of the icebergs to touch them. It was absolutely stunning.

Check me out – cruising on a glacial lagoon in my cool orange life jacket. Oh yeah… (Who are they kidding with that life jacket? With water that cold you wouldn’t survive a minute. The jacket’s probably just so they fish your body out of the water easily.) 

Cruising Jökulsárlón lagoon was awesome. Totally awesome.

Some of the icebergs were crystalline and white. These are apparently the ones currently melting

Others were quite glassy and almost transparent. These are apparently icebergs that have flipped over and exposed their underbellies, which are usually more of a vivid blue and transparent.

This iceberg was in the process of flipping, as you can see.

As we sailed past the icebergs, in a moment of absolute silence, you could hear the ice cracking and the icebergs breaking up.  The cracks were so incredibly loud – like gunshots across the water.

The icebergs with black striations through them are chunks of glacial ice that formed in years when there were volcanic eruptions. The ash from the eruptions settled on the ice and just became part of the structure of the glacier.

After a couple of hours of admiring the lagoon it was unfortunately time to head home. Today was our last big outing in Iceland and WOW, what a day trip it was. If you’re ever in this part of the world and are trying to decide whether to make the effort to go all the way Jökulsárlón – DO IT! Today was definitely a highlight for us, something we will remember forever.

We’ll definitely remember this day forever!