Iceland Part III: Diamond Beaches and more waterfalls

Matt and I always try to incorporate at least one activity that neither of us has ever tried before into each of our trips. Iceland provided more than one opportunity and on this day we experienced our first: Kayaking among icebergs in a Glacial Lagoon: Jökulsárlón (thankfully an easier to pronounce Icelandic word!)

We were already so excited as we drove to our meet up point because we could spot little glimpses of the turquoise water and giant chunks of ice on our left as we approached from the west. We immediately started goofing off as we donned our waterproof pants/jacket combo outfits and stuffed our feet into rubber boots. Our guide, Nick, was Bulgarian and quite funny and well traveled. Like yesterday, he commented on our luck with weather, explaining that the last tour of the day the night before involved 8 clients from Germany who ALL capsized into the freezing water despite Nick's warnings that the wind was just too strong to take beginner kayaks out onto the lagoon. He told us only one couple were strong enough to climb back into their own kayak, and he was forced to pull the other six freezing and scared tourists out himself along with needing to tow them all in to shore with a rope because they were too cold to paddle for themselves. I empathized with him and shook my head, knowing just how insistent tourists can be when they've "traveled from the other side of the world" to experience such a place, but who fail to recognize when mother nature is warning of dangers.

Matt and I in our kayaks loving the brilliant sunshine

The story made me even more grateful for our group and guide, Nick, who kindly allowed Matt and I to take our own single kayaks while everyone else was put into doubles. (Personally, I think single kayaks are relationship-savers ;-) The lagoon was stunning and we listened carefully as Nick explained the dangers of getting too close to the base of the larger icebergs. He reminded everyone that the iceberg below the surface is much larger than what we see above. As the sun hits the ice, it can cause the icebergs to break up and "roll" in the water. If you're too close, you can get hit by several tons of ice and that wouldn't be wise. Several times while paddling on the lagoon, Nick would lean over and say to me with his strong Bulgarian accent: "Ummm.... Anita your husband is paddling too close to that iceberg. Would you mind please telling him as I just hate to shout?"

We had a blast paddling around the ice, taking photos and picking up small "diamonds" of ice floating by. It was truly an otherworldly place and just visually stunning. After the tour, we drove across from the lagoon to Diamond Beach and enjoyed a sandwich lunch with our picnic chairs in the lovely sun. It was crazy to see so many icebergs floating down the river from the lagoon and entering the ocean here. Surreal. If it weren't for the crowds of people, we might have hung out longer. We did enjoy a quick yoga session (Matt was having some serious exacerbation of his TOS issues since the UK) in the black sand before heading out to our next activity of the day - a hike to Múlagljúfur Canyon.

Diamond Beach

I hadn't realized that as we climbed up into the canyon we would have a view out into the distance of the lagoon we had kayaked that morning. The canyon featured two enormous waterfalls: Hangandifoss and Múlafoss. The whole route is only just over 4.5 miles but it felt longer/harder somehow. I had made the stupid decision to do this "walk" which really turned into being a "hike" in my tennis shoes rather than my hiking boots. Much of the path was loose scree/gravel and I hit the deck pretty hard on the descent giving myself a nasty road rash on my left arm. Thankfully it wasn't bleeding too hard so we just poured some drinking water over it and I bandaged it once back to the van.

Gorgeous Múlagljúfur Canyon

My road rash...taken a few days later

With our southern coast itinerary, this was as far East as we had planned to travel on this trip and so our evening drive took us back across familiar road that we'd passed the night before. And yet, somehow, the scenery felt as if we were viewing it for the first time, free of the mist we'd had driving the opposite direction the day before. We stopped at a few "must see" (according to the rexby.com guide that I had purchased before this trip) stops before we ended up back in Vik around 1am for a very needed night of sleep.

Hofskirkja - a traditional "Turf" church

Random beauty from the highway

Fossálar Waterfall