We started early today, after cleansing sulphur assisted showers, we figured we were ready for anything! Seriously, the water here at our hotel has a strong sulphur aroma to it. Something to do with the volcanic ground water here at our hotel!
We set out at 8am and went to Reynisfjara, famously known for its black sandy/pebbly beach, all thanks to the rich basalt deposits all through the area. And yes the beach was black, not a lot of sand but millions of small black pebbles. There was also an area of the cliff face that was made up from near perfect hexagonal columns of basalt. An adjacent cave showed a cross-section through the basalt columns and showed their preferred crystallographic shape near perfectly. Just off the beach there were large flocks of birds swimming in the water, on closer look it turned out that most of them were Puffins! Hundreds of them, they were nesting in the cliffs above us! To cap it off looking south down the coast we could see the 120m high promontory of Dyrholaey with its spectacular rock arch.
All of this and it wasn’t 9.30am yet!
From there we drove around to Vik, a small seaside village and went and had a look at its church. A wooden Lutheran Church built in 1929, a stark white building with a bright red roof. Most of the churches in the country side look like this one. They make excellent photo subjects.
Our drive today took in a few long stretches where there wasn’t a lot of variation in the scenery. On the seaward side were vast as far as the eye could see lava plains. Rough black irregular rocks often covered in moss were everywhere! Inland were sheer cliffs covered in green vegetation. The faces were frequently scared by landslides, casting long triangular grey intrusions into the scenery. The cliff faces were dotted with frequent small to medium waterfalls cascading down from great heights.
Our next stop was the Fjadrargljufur Nature Conservation Area. The canyon here was formed at the end of the last Ice Age, when a retreating glacier slowly carved the canyon we see today out of the 2 million year old palegonite bedrock. The resultant canyon is over 1km long and 100m deep. We took a walk up along the top of the canyon and could see a few spectacular small waterfalls and the very ragged canyon floor through which a river ran.
We have seen many glaciers today, pushing their way down from high in the “mountains”, we aren’t really sure how high these ranges are, so we aren’t sure if they should be called mountains or not. We have, almost, become blasé about them.
Back on the road and our next stop was Skaftafell, a part of the Vatnajokull National Park. We did an 80 min walk up to the top of one of the hills (mounts) to have a look at a waterfall. We actually got to see two waterfalls, a smallish one halfway up and then a larger one at the top. This top waterfall fell over a cliff face of basalt columns, from a distance the columns reminded me of the pipes for some of the large church organs we have seen.
We had an unexpected stop, as we were driving along we came to a turn off to the face of one of the glaciers we had seen earlier in the day. The Vatnajokulsthjodgardur, after a very slow 2km drive down a very ordinary road we came to a carpark and walked along the side of the glacial lake formed at the bottom of the glacier and up to a point where we could see the terminal face. As with all the glaciers here, this one was retreating and its face and lower stretches were deeply crevaced. All the glaciers here carry many layers of volcanic ash, often thick black layers through the otherwise clean ice.
Next stop, and last for the day was the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon. It had been raining on and off since about 11:30am today, and as we got closer to the lagoon, the heavier it got. We arrived on time and were suited up in “survival suits” and life jackets ( in case we fall into the water ?) in no time ready for our 1hr zodiac cruise on the Glacial lagoon. We headed out in steady freezing cold rain, the rain continued for the first 30 mins of the ride. We saw some amazing sights. All the “Icebergs” in the lagoon are large pieces of the glacier that have carved off. We saw one iceberg that had flipped over 4 hours before, revealing that unforgettable “Glacial blue” colouring in the ice. We saw ice that had carved off today, many that were shaped by the water sun and rain into amazing sculptures. We saw some ice icebergs’ that we crystal clear, so bright they looked almost metallic. The glacier here is about 250 years old, it is 6km long and up to 300m deep. Currently it is adding about 100m per year, but sadly it is loosing 600m per year, a net loss of 500m annually!
After the zodiac cruise we had another hour drive to our hotel, arriving around 6:30pm. Tonight we have glacier views from our room. ?
