Jökulsarlon is a glacier lagoon that is full of icebergs that have been broken off of the glacier. This lagoon is a part of the Vatnajökull national park which is Europe's largest ice cap. The glacier that feeds the lake is also the largest and widest in Europe, name is Breidamerkurjökull.
The last time we were in Iceland we just visited the lake's shore. This time we booked a tour with a small boat that took us close to the glacier and its many icebergs.
Since the weather was gray and clouds were very low I don't have pictures overlooking the glacier itself, so here is a photo from 2018 when I visited this place.
This is also one of the fastest melting glaciers in the world. During the 3 years between my travels, the glacier has retreated about 100 meters, crazy.
The tour guide told us that every they have to drive the boat considerably longer to reach the glacier itself.
It took us about 10 minutes to cross the lagoon. Here you can see the glacier close-up.
We didn't go right next to it due to safety reasons. Big chunks fall off regularly and you don't want to be under there when it happens.
To see these huge icebergs close up is definitely something else. By the way, you can only see 10% of the iceberg, the remaining 90% is underwater.
I got so many awesome shots of these. I need to choose some.
By the way, the glacier lagoon is incredibly deep, in places up to 300 meters.
It is said that the Breidamerkurjökull glacier will be entirely gone in 200 years and this is inevitable. They just want to record the history that the glacier holds. It holds thousands of years of Icelandic geological history and it is getting destroyed fast.
The black land is also a glacier in the background but it's black due to old volcanic ash.
Do you know why some Icebergs or parts of glaciers are very bright blue sometimes? Let me explain to you.
The blue ice is basically ice that has been locked away from oxygen and sunlight for hundreds or even thousands of years.
If a new chunk falls off from the glacier, blue ice comes visible because it has never been exposed to the sunlight before.
Below you can see a couple of photos of very blue icebergs. They had rolled over in the past half an hour, exposing the part that has been underwater and this part is bright blue.
With air and sunlight, the bright blue gets white within a couple of hours. We were lucky to witness an iceberg rotate itself..
I am definitely looking forward to going back there whenever I travel back to Iceland. This place changes so much within a couple of years that it's always different each visit.
Here is bonus content for you. I spotted a seal in this lagoon. This is a great habitat for them, there are no predators and its plenty of food for them in there. More and more seals come to make this place their home as the years go by.
