We were supposed to take a boat ride in a glacial lagoon this morning, but unfortunately, it got canceled due to the insane winds today. As always, Iceland is unpredictable. We thought we could instead chill and use the hot tubs at the hotel, but then those also got closed due to the insane winds. We’ve been doing a lot for the last 4 days, so decided to spend the first part of today just relaxing and watching Netflix to take a break.
This afternoon though, we had an ice cave tour. After a short walk on the glacier, we entered this giant ice cave. These caves naturally form inside the glacier during the winter, and then melt and are gone by summertime. The cave is pure ice except for some parts of the floor, and it’s something like 12 feet high and the length of several houses next to each other. The inside is so incredibly stunning. Again, this is a “photos don’t do it justice” thing. The colors of the ice are different in different parts of the cave, varying from black, to clear, to this shimmering teal color depending on how much light is passing through the ice from the outside. The wind carves these half circle pockets in the ice walls that make them look almost like fish scales. This was truly unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.
After the the ice cave, we drove to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. This is a large lagoon that a glacier empties into. Chunks of the glacier end up falling off and forming icebergs that float around the lagoon. Some of these icebergs were massive, and this was a really beautiful sight to behold. But it was also still crazy windy… like brutally windy where you can barely stand upright, so we had to go hide in the car after a bit.
Next stop was Diamond Beach which is nearby. The icebergs in the lagoon slowly end up washing out to the coast. There, they get pummeled by waves which break up the ice into chunks, and the glittering ice chunks wash up on shore, looking like giant diamonds. It was so surreal to sea these giant chunks of ice in the ocean water amid the crashing waves. Just totally unreal. Something in my brain just doesn’t imagine ice and waves going together. It was still insanely windy, so sadly, any ice that washed fully on shore was instantly covered in sand, so we didnt get to see the full “diamonds on the beach” effect, but it was still super cool.
For the last stop of the day, we went to the smaller glacier lagoon, Fjallsárlón (this is where we were supposed to do our boat tour that got canceled). This area was protected a little bit by some snowy hills, so it wasn’t very windy. And wow. The scenery was so gorgeous. This was probably my favorite spot of the whole trip. We were more or less the only people there, so it was just totally serene. Light powder blue water with all these jagged ice hunks floating around in it, some of them flat and clear, and others large ice bergs. In the distance, you could see the glacier itself over the water. The sun was slowly starting to set, and it was just so peaceful and magical. I felt like i could have stayed there forever.
After the lagoon, we went back to the hotel and finally got to use the hot tub. It was so nice to soak in the hot water after our long day in the freezing wind. And, the views from the hotel deck were amazing. This was a really nice way to top of our already incredible day!
