June 19, 2019 - Steiner to near Höfn, Iceland

We are being amazed everyday with the beauty in Iceland. We keep saying that “today is even better than yesterday” and wonder if that will continue throughout the rest of this trip!

We actually overslept in our crazy shared room last night. We could hear birds squawking and finally woke up about 8:30 am! After breakfast we were on the road again.

Our first stop was Dyrhólaey. Dyrhólaey was formerly known by seamen as Cape Portland. It is a small promontory located on the south coast of Iceland, not far from the village Vík. Our goal here – spot puffins – and we did! It was so fun to watch them come in for a landing on the cliffs. It isn’t too easy to get pictures of them, but we did our best! There were 100s of them in the water, too.

 
 
We could have spent hours there, but had miles to go! This area of South Island is pretty desolate as we skirted the national park to the north of us. There are few towns and not many places for accommodations.

  Around lunchtime we arrived at Foss á Síðu which is a one of the waterfalls in south Iceland. The river Fossá drops down about 90 feet over a basalt cliff before it continues its way to the Atlantic ocean. It also has a very unusual feature: because its stream is not very strong, sometimes, during very strong winds that come from the sea, it starts flowing uphill! Maybe it isn’t the biggest waterfall in Iceland, but it was certainly beautiful.

Less than one kilometer from the falls and just across the road is Dverghamrar (Dwarf Rocks). They are peculiar and beautiful basalt columns. On top of the columns there is cube-jointed basalt. The landscape is thought to have been molded at the end of the Ice Age. The sea level was higher at that time and it is believed that the waves caused the peculiar look of the rocks. It is believed that dwarves used to live here. Try as we might, we couldn’t find any!

After our  picnic lunch we were on to Skaftafell. Skaftafell is a wilderness area in Iceland's Vatnajökull National Park. Its huge glaciers include Skaftafellsjökull and Svínafellsjökull. Trails lead to Kristínartindar Mountain and to the Svartifoss waterfall, which tumbles over black basalt columns.  We had planned to hike here, but the rain came in torrents as we approached!

We went to the visitor’s center and watched their movie before opting to skip the hike. We did take a very rough 2km road to Svinafell glacier and lagoon. It was cool to see and we could hear the ice groaning.

SO …. on to Fjallsárlón Glacier where we walked down to look at the lagoon. It is a small iceberg lagoon at the south end of the Glacier Vatnajokull. We could see icebergs floating in the water.

As cool as that was to see, we were heading to Jökulsárlón Lagoon where we had a zodiac boat tour booked. Jökulsárlón  borders Vatnajökull National Park. Its still, blue waters are dotted with icebergs from the surrounding Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier, part of larger Vatnajökull Glacier. The Glacier Lagoon flows through a short waterway into the Atlantic Ocean, leaving chunks of ice on a black sand beach. In winter, the fish-filled lagoon hosts hundreds of seals.

We suited up and headed to our zodiac boat with guide, Simondur, who took us on a 1-1/2 hour adventure. We were amazed by the beauty of the lagoon and the expanse of the glacier.

We saw a few seals in the water and basking on some of the icebergs.

This huge iceberg calved this morning – he told us it was only about two hours old!

We made a quick stop at Diamond Beach, just across the road from the lagoon. There were chunks of ice from the lagoon that flow out to sea and wash up on shore.

We headed on to our guesthouse for the night, checked in, then drove 30 minutes into Höfn for dinner. We spotted a couple reindeer on our way! There are supposed to be 3000 or more on the east side of Iceland and we actually spotted a couple!

Tobey and I shared a lobster pizza which was yummy and Wendy had the lobster soup – also delicious! Another 30 minute drive back to the guesthouse. It is a late night – almost 10 pm, but we do have beautiful views of the glaciers from our cabin!