Today we docked at Djúpivogur to drive alongside the Vatnajökull ice cap (third largest in the world) to Jökulsárlón for a glacier lagoon boat tour. It is about a two-hour drive, so we made a comfort stop and had an early lunch at Hotel Smyrlabjörg. The temperature was noticeably different at our comfort stop in Höfn due to the proximity to the icecap.
The Glacier Lagoon was another whole new world to take in. I'm not a cold weather fan, but the beauty of the floating icebergs and the ice cap was breathtaking. What I learned was alarming. The ice cap is melting at an alarming rate. After the boat tour, we went sea-side to Diamond Beach, a black sand beach, where chunks of ice wash up on shore.
Our comfort stop was in Höfn and gave us a nice view of the ice cap, Vatnajökull.
The grounds at Hotel Smyrlabjörg.
The blue color is caused by the compression of the snow crystals and the air bubbles being squeezed out.
The black stripes are from dirt and debris.
Lisa Farrand, GTF, with polar ice!
Grosvenor Girls or Glacier Girls?
Ice on Diamond Beach
Lisa and I opted to get off the bus "in town" to walk back to the ship to take in the Eggin-i-Gledivik display of bird eggs sculpted from stone.
Driftwood sculpture
