Day 5 - Wed 16 April

Vik - Hofn - Vik

Today was a driving day, we wanted to get around to Jokulsarlon Lagoon, which is meant to be pretty spectacular, and we were also hoping to do a snowmobiling tour - I'd finally found one that took young kids.

Not a great start to the day, it was raining and snowing and generally pretty horrible when we left Vik.  The snow on the ground made it a bit hard to see anything - it's all just flat and white, but the further we drove the better it got.  We drove through the Sandur regions - great big sandy areas where the sand has been washed out from underneath the glaciers to make what seem like endless plains, then the road started to follow the edge of the mountains, fantastic cliffs with waterfalls and little farms tucked in here and there.

 

 

Then came the glaciers, some wide enough to fill the entire windscreen, some smaller, but so many of them all together

And finally the lagoon.

Located at the edge of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, the edge of the glacier calves into the lagoon creating beautiful icebergs. The lagoon was jam packed with them, so much so that some were even touching the shore and we were able to walk out onto one of the bergs.

We also had our first real wildlife sighting - a seal - there was a seal in the lagoon.

We didn't linger too long as we wanted to get on the 2pm snowmobiling tour, unfortunately when we got there it was already full.  They offered to put us on the 4.30pm tour, but since it was a three hour tour, and we still had to get back to Vik for the night which was 3.5 hours away we decided we had better skip it.  Oh well!

Instead we headed further around the coast to Hofn.  We stopped on the way at a little farm that made their own ice cream for a conciliatory treat, then had a late lunch in Hofn.  A little café/drive through at the edge of the harbor serving the local delicacy - they call it lobster but they're actually Langoustines, whatever you call then they were yummy.



Hofn Harbour

Lunch Cafe

Then we started the long drive home.  Another stop and the lagoon, this time on the shore side to watch the icebergs that have washed out to sea, then back up onto the beach.

The sun came out as we were driving home giving us some beautiful views of the glaciers.

It also melted all the snow from this morning allowing us to see the lava formations which had been hidden under the blanket of white this morning.

Unfortunately by the time we arrived back in Vik the snow had set in yet again...Oh well!  Dinner at the café next door. Lamb and fish yum.