Jökulsárlón, Diamond Beach, Kirkjugolf

Today is a little different.   I have been showing you churches and waterfalls.  Today is a little waterfall and a little church.  But today is really about glaciers and icebergs.

First, we have to do a waterfall.  I do not know the name.  I saw it from the road and stopped.  Sorry that I can't get closer.  The walking path from the parking area is closed.  So we will make do with these telephotos.  You have your choice between the 1/50 second exposure time and the 10 second exposure time.  Which do you like better?

From my hotel in Kirkjubaejarklaustur, today we go an hour and a half farther east and away from Reykjavik in search of ice.  This is Iceland, right?  One of my checkmarks for this trip is to visit the iceberg lagoon at Jokulsarlon.  A foot of Iceland's largest glacier ends in a very deep lagoon.  Ice calving from the glacier populate this lagoon before traveling through a very short river to the ocean.

Here is the lagoon.

This is a foot of the glacier.  It is 10 Km from here to the glacier.  The foot is 80 feet high.

The icebergs may remain in the lagoon for a few weeks or several months before they pass to the ocean through this very short river.  

In the early 1900s, the glacier came down to near where the bridge is located today.  That is a retreat of 10 Km.

But the real fun is a ride on a zodiac rubber raft powered by a 150hp outboard motor.  This is a highlight for me.  I have literally hundreds of photos.  I will spare you most.

Blue ice means not much air.  Deep ice.  Dark bands mean volcanic ash.

This is the foot.  Remember, this is 80 feet high.  We were lucky, or unlucky, to see a small section calve.  The noise is amazing.  It literally sounds like thunder that keeps going.

The harbor seals were sunning.

This is a very small iceberg that we brought on board to hold and taste.  It is cold!

And to prove that I was there, wearing survival gear.  They say that you have five minutes before you lose consciousness.

The next stop is literally right across the road to diamond beach to look for icebergs that have floated out to the ocean and washed back up on the beach.

Real photographers get here by sunrise to get the sun shining through the ice.  Sunrise right now is around 3:30am.  I am not a real photographer.

Arriving back in Kirkjubaejarklaustur and figuring out to get petrol in the car (it is far harder for me than it should be), we find Kirkjugolf almost right across the street.

I like the windows arranged to that you can see straight through the church and

I like the texture.

That's it.  A little waterfall.  A little church.  And a lot of ice.

I have to hustle back to Reykjavik tomorrow because I have scheduled my mandatory COVID test to allow my entry back into the US for 2pm in time to "guarantee" the result before my plane departs on Wednesday morning.