This is part 3 of our tour around Iceland. Go to part one or part two.
Jokulsarlon
Jokulsarlon is a glacial lake dammed by a beach ridge. The lake has icebergs floating in it, and it is a popular tourist stop.
Icebergs
These geese felt right at home here.
Vatnajokull glacier.
We watched icebergs drift out of the lake’s outlet and into the sea. This gave us the idea of exploring the adjacent beach a bit. I’m glad we did! It ended up being a highlight of our trip.
Checking out the ice.
As we walked down the beach, the grey pebbles gave way to coarse, jet-black sand. Some of the ice chunks we found were crystal clear. Usually glacial ice is cloudy due to air bubbles, but this ice was perfectly transparent.
Glacier views from the ringroad. We had wonderful weather for this stretch of the trip.
Vik
We camped at Vik, on Iceland’s south coast. It is a picturesque spot.
Horses by a waterfall.
Skogafoss.
Reynisfjara Beach.
At the end of Reynisfjara Beach is a spectacular columnar basalt outcrop.
About 5 km west of Vik (19 km by car) is a headland called Dhyrholaey. A short hike leads to a lighthouse.
There are views up and down the coast from here.
Seabirds nesting.
This peninsula had several arches, and an island offshore had some as well.
I crept up to the edge of the cliffs, and what do I see? Puffins! I had hoped to spot some, but this location exceeded all expectations. I was able to get quite close.
As a still photograph, they almost look like a plastic stuffed toy. But they are not!
Despite their penguin-like body shape, puffins are actually strong fliers.
I had a lot of fun photographing these birds. What a way to finish this awesome trip!
