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Traveling Iceland’s South Coast: Jökulsárlón

Only a trip back to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon would get me up at an ungodly hour without any complaints. And after breakfast, we must have arrived at the beach just before 8am. The black sand beach and luminous milky white and blue-tinted icebergs felt mysterious and otherworldly this early in the morning. Littering the beach are the remnants of the icy giants. Definitely a different flavour than viewing the lagoon during the golden hour. Both times are beautiful beyond belief and truly worth seeing at least once.

Some fun facts:

Jökulsárgljúfur Canyon, now subsumed into the Vatnajökull National Park, is perhaps one of the best known canyons in Iceland.
Huge icebergs calve off the Vatnajökull Glacier and drift along the lagoon, which is about 18 sq km.
The lagoon started to form in 1934 when the glacier started to retreat and is getting larger ever year.
The ice is approximately 800-1000 years old.
The combo of salt water from the sea prevents the lagoon from freezing over, while the temperature prevents the icebergs from melting too quickly
There’s a second glacier lagoon nearby called Fjallsarlón. Though without access to the ocean, the glacier flower there is suppose to be even more dramatic (note for next time I’m there!)

We had the option of going on a boat tour of the lagoon either by amphibian boats (or what I call land yachts on water) or zodiac boats. And given the choice, there was no chance that I wouldn’t go via zodiac. although it’s around $40CDN more, it’s WORTH IT. You cover more of the lagoon and get as close as safely possible to the glacier wall and icy giants.

Plus if your guide is a speed demon, you can go insanely fast. Like so fast, I got a windburn on my cheek by the end of the day. Iceland slapped me across my right cheek and I couldn’t have been happier.

We got close enough to hear the glacier wall cracking and falling into the water and we saw a couple of seals on icebergs. The icebergs can and do flip in the water, but we didn’t see any of that action. Our guide showed us an iceberg that flipped over because the day before it hadn’t looked like that.

Although you could explore Jokulsarlon in half a day, I ask (incredulously) WHY!? I would be as happy as a clam, spending the entire day here. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay that long because we had our next adventure lined up – glacier hiking!