Icebergs & Beaches

Today we drove a great distance right when we woke; to see the icebergs of Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. It’s along the southeast coast of Iceland. It was a gorgeous drive, at times it felt like going back in time and driving in the Mesozoic Era. We were driving through valleys of lava rock, black sand and fields that spread all the way to the ocean. The mountains surrounding us varied from being bare, covered in green growth or capped with snow and glaciers. The enormity of everything was magnificent to experience.

We stopped to make breakfast and enjoy this view.

Once we got to Jökulsárlón, I was happy to see so many icebergs! I’ll be honest, I wondered how much there actually would be. I remember visiting Montana Glacier National Park as a kid and seeing all these amazing Glacier’s, they aren’t there anymore, or are significantly reduced. Glaciers are a dying sight and I feel lucky to behold them. The water was so blue too! We quickly discovered a herd of seals playing amoungst the icebergs in the lagoon. Watching them was such a joy, they are such playful creatures.

We ventured along the trails around the lagoon and took many photos, here are some of our favorites.

We then started off to our next location, a beautiful beach called Reynisfjara, near the town Vik, which if I ever move to Iceland, is where I would live. It’s so beautiful and the ocean is at its doorstep. This beach has such soft black sand, since Iceland itself is mostly volcanic rock, the ocean wears down the lava rock, causing the sand to be black.

We played in the water a little too, but we’re ultimately drawn to the pillar formed rocks along a cliff side. You could easily step up them and sit up high to take in the amazing view of the beach and waves crashing below.

We even did a little Acro, which gathered quite the crowd and many snapping camera shutters.

It was so warm on the black sand with the sun beating down, I was able to walk around in a tank top, a first in Iceland for me. The high has consistently been 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

We moved along to see Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, another place that made me yearn to visit Iceland, one more to check off my bucket list! It’s a gorgeous waterfall that allows you to walk behind it’s spraying falls, but be warned – wear rain shells – you will get soaked. Especially if there is a good wind. In which case there was today, but it make it that much more worth it when you go later afternoon and the sun hits the spray off just right and you get a picture perfect rainbow.

Next we walked all the way out to see the infamous airplane wreck. It’s quite a walk too, make about 30 or more minutes and you feel like your making no progress since it’s flat, rocky pasture all the way to the beach. It’s worth it when you see this beaten up plane abandoned on the beach with ocean, mountains and hills as a back drop. We had loads of fun climbing in and around it; exploring it in full.

We noticed the sun was going down and we really wanted to be at Dyrhólaey peninsula for it, which was about 22 minute drive away. Problem was we didn’t anticipate the walk from car to beach to be a thirty plus minute walk. Zaq and I realized we spent longer than we meant to, getting lost in the fun, so we decided it was time for some cardio, ha ha ha…we jogged the whole way back. It was honestly amazing, I loved getting a steady pace and taking in the amazing scene, it’s not often I get to workout in such a place. Would have been great to be wearing actually workout clothes though. Not my insulating, cold weather gear. It got all kinds of sweaty in those 15 minutes it took to jog back. But no regrets.

Here is the view we got while we made dinner. Which was again, you guessed it! Ham and cheese quesadillas, but this time with sliced bell pepper on the side.

With our bellies full, we hit the road to drive to a campsite closer to our next day adventure. We were driving toward the residual light of the setting sun, which caused such an amazing contrast on all the mountains around us.