Black Sand Beaches and Glaciers

Our gamble with the weather on Saturday paid off, and we had a jam-packed busy day. We woke up early in hopes that the rain had stopped. Thankfully it had for the most part and the fog had cleared out while we slept. So, we backtracked to Dyrholaey, a spot that we skipped Friday. Dyrholaey is a rocky plateau and huge stone sea arch with black sand beaches and a lighthouse on one end. While we were there, the weather couldn’t make up its mind on what to do. The sun would come out for a bit and then the clouds would roll back in and start spitting out rain. One thing that never changed while we were there was the wind.

 

We spent a good amount of time at Dyrholaey wandering around, reading the signposts, and trying to get a glimpse of puffins as they flew out to the sea. We even took a 3km round-trip hike up to the lighthouse. This provided some phenomenal views of the sea arches, black sand beaches, and panoramic views of the mountains behind us.

Sea Stacks

Scott's NatGeo worthy photo of a puffin.

Afterwards, we headed back into Vik to see the second spot we had skipped yesterday and to get a closer look at the sea stacks called Reynisdrangur. Legend has it that trolls were stealing a ship when they got caught in the sun and that is how Reynisdrangur came to be. Just like Dyrholaey, our gamble paid off, and we got some great views of the sea stacks and even better views of the puffins. I was having a hard time getting zoomed in shots of the puffins, so Scott took over. His patience won out because he got some truly wonderful shots of the puffins.

Once we finished up at the black sand beaches, we stopped for second breakfast and hit the road again heading for Vatnajokull National Park. Along the way, we passed waterfall after waterfall. We never actually kept track of them, but it seemed every few minutes we were pointing them out to one another. With the coast to our right and mountains to our left, it was a beautiful drive. Eventually we came to the point where we could see the edge of Vatnajokull. This is a huge area made up of rivers, glaciers, and volcanoes. It covers 14% of Iceland and in the past day and a half it seems that all we’ve driven past has been glaciers and run off from those glaciers.

We stopped at a region of Vatnajokull known as Skaftafell. Here you are able to get right up nose to nose with a glacier and go on a couple of short but fantastic hikes. Upon arriving, we did head out to see the glacier. It is an incredible experience to get up that close to something so powerful in nature. The 1km walk out to the sandy hills in front of the glacier was protected and lulled you into thinking that the temperature was going to be nice while you were looking and exploring Skaftafellsjokull. However, as soon as you leave the trail, the wind picks up and whips across the river and ice and leaves you chilled to your core in no time at all. It turned into a game of layers on, layers off while we were visiting the park.

Skaftafellsjokull

Svartifoss

Skaftafellsjokull was full of people doing ice-climbing tours. We did not join them. Instead, we went on as hike to Svartifoss, otherwise known as Black Falls, after exploring the glacier. It was a 1.8km hike up there and definitely worth it. This waterfall is unlike any of the others we’ve seen so far on our trip. The rock surrounding it is made up of black basalt columns. Unlike the waterfalls from the other day, we did not get close enough to get sprayed. Instead, we continued on to a path that led to Sjonarsker, a viewing disc that provides exceptional views of the surrounding glaciers, mountains, lowlands, and even the coast if you look hard enough. The wind up here turned wicked again as there was nothing in the way to block it.

 

As you can imagine, we didn’t stay up here for very long. Just long enough to admire the scenery, get a couple photos, and share some water. Along the trail back down to the visitor center, we did pass some traditional turf houses. One of them was open and filled with relics from the past. Because, they were afraid of fire burning their homes down, these turf houses have no fireplaces. Instead, the barn is underneath the house so that the animal’s body heat would rise and warm the home. I cannot even imagine how cold it would have been here in the wintertime before modern conveniences!

 

Our final stop of the day was at Jokulsarlon. This is still a part of Vatnajokull National Park. Jokulsarlon is a glacier lagoon with icebergs drifting through it and out to sea. Our first time there, we just made a quick stop to see what it was before continuing on to our guesthouse. We were right down the road from it, so we checked in, had a very bland meal, and decided to head back to the lagoon since the sun had finally chased the clouds away for good. Around 8pm, we headed back to Jokulsarlon. Some of the icebergs are covered in dirt and ash, others are white, and my favorite ones were a clear crystal blue color. The icebergs come from the glacier Breidamerkurjoull and can spend years in the lagoon getting small enough to float out to sea. The lagoon is 260m deep and only 80 years old. (The glacier is retreating up the mountainside and has been since about 1930.)

There is a bridge spanning Jokulsa, the river leading from the lagoon to the ocean. We explored both sides of it.  My favorite part was watching the icebergs get swept out to sea. The current traps some of them and spits them back up on the shore.  We didn’t spend a long time at the lagoon because as with the rest of the day, the wind was biting, and both of us were worn out. It was an amazing day full of beautiful sights and great experiences.