Dyrhólaey Cliffs, Glaciers, and Floating Ice

Our Farmstay in Hvolsvöllur

Our first night we stayed in a guest cottage on a local farm in Hvolsvöllur along the South Coast.  Our hosts raise sheep, grow hay, and have several horses.  It was such a peaceful setting with views of the nearby snow-capped mountains.  Given the excitement and late night yesterday, we slept in and didn't leave until almost 11:00 am.

Dyrhólaey Cliffs

Our first stop of the day was at Dyrhólaey Cliffs.  They have recently paved the road so that you can now easily drive up to the top without having to navigate a rutted road in a four-wheel drive. You can see for miles, and in both directions along the coast are black sand beaches.  We did see one elusive puffin nesting along the cliffs, but were not able to get a picture.  However, there were a tremendous number of terns flying in and out of the cliffs. We ate a picnic lunch while we admired the views.

The grand finale to our day was to visit the glacial lakes of Fjallsárlón and Jökulsárlón and see chunks of floating ice that have broken off of Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Iceland and second largest in all of Europe.  The glacier covers almost 10% of the land area of Iceland.   Seeing this area was at the top of our list of things we wanted to do on this trip and it did not disappoint.  It was an incredible sight to see, but at the same time worrisome to know that the glaciers are receding due to global warming.

We finished our sightseeing across the Ring Road from Jökulsárlón at Diamond Beach. The beach gets its name from the fact that the melting chunks of ice wash up on the black sand and resemble diamonds glistening in the sunlight.  They soon disappear into the waves of the North Atlantic to be replaced by newer chunks floating down from the glacier.  Today's melted iceberg becomes next year's snow to add back to the glacier....or so we hope.