Hofn to Kirkjubaejarklaustur, September 8, 2019

We’ve decided that breakfast at 7:30 will give us plenty of time to leave by nine.  And that will give us and hour and a half to get to our amphibian boat (duck boat!) tour of Jokulsarlen Glacier on the Glacier Lagoon’s Jokull.  

We traveled a long way for Florida orange juice!

These little stone people show up everywhere!

It’s supposed to be an hour’s drive and we are plenty early, just the way we like it!  What we aren’t so thrilled about is the low visibility;  but at least it’s not raining!  We’re wearing our rain suits and lots of layers and we’re ready for anything.

Note the charging station for electric cars!

The dark stuff is ash from the volcanos!

You can take pictures of the little icebergs floating on the  lagoon before the ride, and it is fun to do while we’re waiting for our departure time.  Presently we board the boat and don our life vests.  Our tour guide is a very personable young woman and she makes the trip fun and educational, even though we don’t get those “Kodak Moment” shots through the mist.  

She explains that the ice below the water line is perfectly clear and only becomes cloudy and snow like when the salty sea water melts the ice below the water line, causing the iceberg to rise.  She lets us taste the thousand-year old ice after everyone who wants to, has a chance to hold it in their bare hands.  If you can hold it for thirty seconds you can be considered a Viking!! (I’m pretty sure I made it!)

We were told that the 2010 eruption saved Iceland's economy.
"We may not have cash;  but we have ash!"

There is a little boat that accompanies us and it turns out it’s a safety feature!  If anyone were to fall overboard, they would be unconscious in five minutes!  In the past twenty years no one has taken the plunge, so our guide says the guys are just to look pretty!

We see a couple of seals and they are always around because of the plentiful fish in the lagoon.  She says we can see more at the foot of the bridge, if we can see the bridge!  There is also one iceberg with seagulls on it!

After our boat ride Marilyn suggests that I check out the WC.  It is unisex;  but here that means that there is one doorway with stalls on one side and urinals on the other and no dividing wall.  Unique!

we cross the bridge and head to the black sand beach called Diamond Beach.  The black sands are littered with small chunks of icebergs that are so clear that they look like diamonds.  And the crashing waves are SO dramatic!  Marilyn finds a small one one tries it on as a ring!  We take each other’s photos, timing the waves so as not to get soaked!  Our rain suits are good;  but maybe not THAT good!

There is another, smaller lagoon down the road, called Fjallsarlon and we get an even better view of the glacier there, as the fog has lifted a bit.  We stop into the cafe but the offerings don’t turn us on and we persevere.   There are other stops along the way, too, for glacier watching.

Rounding up the sheeps (everyone here calls them sheeps!).  They have the right of way,
just like the bison in Yellowstone!

We try to visit the national park at Skaftafell but don’t quite locate the visitors’ center and keep on moving.

We’re ready for dinner and bed, so we start looking for the turn off to our guest house, Dalshofoi.  We find the road and continue on to Kirkjubaejarklaustur since Ricky Ticky says it’s the only civilization for a long time!  We go another twenty kilometers and finally get to town.  There is a vinbudin, and grocery story (which is closed on Sundays), and a cafe.  We stop in and order real food.  I have Icelandic cod with creamy spinach risotto and parmesan cheese, and Marilyn has a hamburger with “bacon jam”, pickled cucumber, salad (lettuce), homemade horseradish sauce, havarti cheese, and French fries.  I ask our waitress if they have any Icelandic liqueurs and she says the only Icelandic spirit they have isn’t very nice!

Back down the twenty kilometers to our guest house and along the we find sheep ranchers who are herding their flock across the road with two four-wheelers and a dog!  Such a fun thing to watch!

These guys haven't been located yet!

We go five and a half kilometers down a gravel road to our guest house and it is in an idyllic setting!  Our room, adjacent to the kitchen and breakfast area, has a sink in it!  And it’s in the old milk house, where they used to keep the cows!  Before that they were housed in the turf houses just next door! (We didn’t need to have driving all over looking for turf houses!). But the best part is that there is a raging river down the hill and it is Golden Hour.  Perfect ending to the day!  Oh, and the beds are grand!