Vatnajokull, Europe's largest icecap, covers 8% of Iceland's total land. It is located in the southeast corner of the country. As we continued clockwise on the Ring Road, we noticed that the glacier fields were beginning to appear to us on the distant mountains.
DIAMOND BEACH
Icebergs wash up on the shore of this black sand beach and appear to sparkle like diamonds.
JOKULSARLON GLACIER
Glacial lagoons are formed by melting ice. The first lagoon we encountered, at the foot of Jokulsarlon Glacier, was very busy with tour boat operators and souvenir shops. We tried to book a RIB boat tour through this operator, but lucky for us, they were booked solid for the entire summer.
Both RIB and duck boat tours were offered at this glacial lagoon.
We stopped for various views of the glacier and lagoon.
FJALLSARLON GLACIER BOAT TOURS
The second glacial lagoon, just west of Jokulsarlon, was formed in the last 20 years and consequently the lagoon is smaller and the boat ride to the glacier was shorter, that resulted in a longer visit at the ice.
The boat vendor provided warm jackets and life vests.
Suited up and ready to go.
Our RIB was the last to load and had only us and a family of four from Spain.
This iceberg had just rolled over, so it displayed its blue underside for about 30 minutes before exposure to the air changed it to white.
We stopped in a flock of ice cubes. Where is the margarita mixin's.
This young harbor seal was taking a break on one of the icebergs.
Normally seals are not in the lagoon, because there are not many fish, but maybe he came in here to rest and visit with the tourists.
Sitting on the bow of the rubber inflatable boat (RIB).
We were glad that the other lagoon operators were booked solid, or we would have never found this quieter, better run concession.
Leaving the lagoon, we looked at many glacial crevices, that look like vanilla ice cream running down the valleys from this massive ice cap.
We had to slow down for sheep crossing the road or deal with ground lamb.
More great scenery.
Followed by another single lane bridge.
Skeioara Bridge Monument is mangled girders left when a 1996 volcano eruption quickly melted glacial ice creating a fast-moving flood which peaked at a 10-million-gallon flow per second.
We liked this Mazda 2 and put over 1400 miles on it during our twelve-day tour around Iceland.
This ridge is the dividing line between the ice cap area and a desolate volcanic desert that took about two hours to cross to reach the town of Vik. Wind/sandstorms are quite common here. We were fortunate not to have much wind during our crossing.
Halsanefshellir Cave on Black Beach near Vik, Iceland
SKOGAFOSS
There is a 500-step stairway that takes you to the top of the falls.
Skógafoss is one of Iceland's biggest and most beautiful waterfalls with a width of 82 feet and a drop of 197 feet. The sun came out to give us a rainbow in the mist.
RAUDUSKRIDUR FARMS - THE GREEN CABIN
The Green Cabin, which is on a working farm, will be our home for two nights. It is located very close to the Westman Island Ferry for which we had reservations the following morning and return that evening.
This was our smallest accommodations of the trip. Kurt knew we were in trouble when Virginia came out and said, "just leave the suitcases in the car for now".
3 comments:
That looks COLD! Beautiful, but cold.
I love the color of blue ice. When we were in Alaska most of the pictures I took were of blue ice. Each one is so unique.
Yes it was cold, but we did have adequate clothing. When the sun came out, with 60 degrees, it felt soooo good.
I guess that there are Tiny Houses, and Teeny Tiny Houses!!
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