Day 5 Glaciers & icebergs

Today we started our day with buffet breakfast at the hotel. Bacon & eggs? Hell yeah! We packed and got easy to go. First stop was the Jokulsarlon lagoon. It was foggy which was a shame but it did lift slightly during our visit. The lagoon is 250m deep and is home to a colony of seals. It has many floating icebergs and plenty of ice. It was stunning! Some of the seals swam around and watched us while the rest lay on the ice. It was just gorgeous.

Next we went across the bridge to the Black Diamond beach. This is another black basalt sand beach but due to the lagoon meeting the ocean, all the icebergs are pushed into the beach. They look like diamonds against the black sand. It was gorgeous. Some of the icebergs were taller then me. Some were smooth while others were ripply. Some were clear, others blue & others black. It was just amazing to see.

After lunch we headed to the glacer hike meeting point. We got fitted for crampons, given helmets, harnesses & walking axes and put on a 4x4 truck bus. This glacier, like all in Iceland, is retreating but also shrinking in height. This glacier is also the one covering the volcano that has woken up. There haven't been any earthquakes in the last few days so we were safe to go on it. We walked to the edge of the glacier & onto the ice. Boy walking in crampons is hard work! You are constantly stamping your feet to get grip, especially when it is icy like today. The glacier was just amazing! It is a mixture of colours due to the thickness of ice & ash from past eruptions. As the light faded it changed from whitish grey to more blue with the black streaks. Just beautiful! We had an hour to explore the glacier. We even got to smash the ice with our axes and eat some. It was good!

Then it was time to begin the long journey back to Reykjavik. Unfortunately it was rainy heavily, the fog was thick, the roads extremely icy & the wind was strong so it took us 5hrs. Ohh, I did see my first snow plow though! 2 actually!

Now I'm chilling in my pod at my hostel getting ready for sleep. Tomorrow I am being extra crazy and doing a wetsuit dive in the silfra fissure! Freezing but amazing photos apparently. Let's see how the GoPro handles it!