Skaftafell to Djúpivogur, 15 Aug 2026
Even though we’ve caught glimpses of glaciers, today we went right up to one in a boat and saw the icebergs that have calved from it. Some of those icebergs were on a nearby beach. We then went to another beach to wander around the tide pools.
Another early breakfast, and since large groups had already shown up, we ended up sitting by ourselves. We then got into the vans and headed out.
We did a quick stop to take a peek at the Hofskirkja Turf Church, the last church built in the traditional Icelandic style, timber-framed with stone side walls and a turf roof.
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
After getting back into the vans, we went to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. There were a lot of cars there, but we didn’t have too hard a time finding parking. The first thing we did was take a look at small glaciers going down the Jökulsá River to the Atlantic Ocean.
Most of us had signed up for a boat tour of the lagoon. Melody still wasn’t feeling completely well, but fortunately another of our group could use her ticket. We checked in, and they told us when to return.
At the appointed time, we went into the trailer and put on floatation suits which would both keep us warm and help us if we somehow ended up in the water. We were also given life jackets.
We then boarded a bus to the boat launch and got onto the Zodiac boat. Our guide sped up and we started making good time, and he gave us little tidbits about the glacier and icebergs on the way.
When we got to the glacier, we had already seen a lot of icebergs, but there were several near the glacier. We did see a few pieces calve and make a loud sound going into the water.
Several of the icebergs and parts of the glacier were a bright blue, which is because there is so much pressure that the air gets squeezed out of the ice, causing it to absorb all colors except blue. When the ice is exposed to the sun, it turns white. Since it was an overcast day, we saw a lot of blue.
After spending a generous amount of time at the glacier, we made our way back to the boat launch, returned our floatation suits, and met up with the others. Melody and I went to one of the food trucks to get something to eat, then walked down to Fellsfjara, or Diamond Beach. It has black sand and you can see several icebergs sitting on the sand. Melody and the others had gone down while we were on the boat, and she said that some of the glaciers were more on land than when they first took a look.
Stokksnes Beach
After driving a bit more, we stopped at a Viking Village, but didn’t go in because it seemed pretty much geared towards tourists. Instead, we went to the Stokksnes Beach and walked along the tidepools. We saw some kelp, bird feathers, jellies, and even some whale bones. The rocks were pretty slick, so we didn’t climb on those.
Done with the beach, we went to our hotel in Djúpivogur. We were hoping there would be laundry facilities in most of the rooms, but it ended up that only one room had them. The rest of us would need to wait one more day to do laundry.
We joined the group for dinner and had pizza with langoustine (a thin crustacean akin to a small lobster) on it. We didn’t stay long so we could call it an early night.
