This is part two of a three part recap of a trip to South Iceland I took in mid October 2021. In the first South Coast of Iceland highlight, I focused on Southwest Coast and waterfalls and an iconic black sand beach. For this post, I am going to continue on to the Southeast Coast and share the beauty of Glaciers and Diamond Beach, specifically at Jökulsárlón. In the next post, I will go into more detail as you can follow along with me on a Glacier Hike and Ice Cave tour. It’s possible to visit Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach without a tour, but for us, to save myself the effort of multi hours long drive, we opted for a 2 day tour with Troll Expeditions. They did the driving while we enjoyed charging plugs for our phones and wireless internet and the views and yes sometimes napping.
I knew when I was planning my trip to Iceland that seeing the Glaciers and Diamond Beach was among my top priorities. Glaciers are shrinking every year – so seeing them now is a chance to enjoy them at the current state which will not return again. Iceland, Alaska, the Alps, and Himalayas are particularly suffering the effects of melting at an accelerated pace. I would encourage anyone to check out the glaciers – climate change is science and real – to catch them as they retreat and will become smaller and over time less accessible for us to view. It will look different every year.
In particular, for me viewing the icebergs in the glacier lagoon and then the glittering ice of Diamond Beach that I will cover in this post is both melancholy and mesmerizing. Uniquely beautiful, but also understanding this is the consequences of the melting and slowly dying glaciers and the last the thousands of years of frozen water will be this sliver of glacier identity before mixing and disappearing into the rising ocean. It’s both appreciation and a little sorrow.
As you travel towards the southeast coast, you will likely already be catching several glimpses of glaciers of Vatnajökull National Park all along the way. Vatnajökull is Europe’s largest glacier, covering 10% of Iceland, and has around 30 outlet glaciers. I took these photos out the tour van window on Route 1/Ring Road, up to our first glimpse of Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Jökull means ice or glacier, and sárlón translates to lagoon in Icelandic.
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
In the southeast coast of Iceland you can find the famous Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Glacial lakes form from troughs eroded by glaciers. Jökulsárlón is the largest glacial lake in Iceland and is 200-300 meter deep and 25 km long, formed in a trough likely formed during the Ice Age but the ever-growing lagoon only formed around 1934. Before that, the glacier used to reach the highway. The glacier lagoon is filled with the meltwater from Breiðamerkurjökull, a tongue of Vatnajökull. There are also icebergs from ice blocks that have broken off/calved from Breiðamerkurjökull in the lagoon, eventuallymaking their way to the Atlantic ocean. As the glaciers recede up the valley, Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is visibly growing in size and some may think will become a fjord over time. In the photos, you can see the icebergs floating from right to left towards the ocean guided by currents, winds, and tides.
