The Amazing Jökulsárlón Iceberg Lagoon

From Höfn, it was just a short drive to the famous Jökulsárlón iceberg lagoon. It was just as spectacular as expected - icebergs floating in the lagoon with the huge glacier behind it. The glacier itself is an outlet glacier of the vast Vatnajökull glacier which is the largest icecap in Europe and has 30 outlet glaciers, many of which we could see as we drove around the peninsula covered by the Vatnajökull glacier. We also saw a few reindeers grazing at the foot of one of the glacier outlets - what a stroke of luck!

At the lagoon, we were herded into amphibious boats, then driven into the lagoon for a half hour tour to see the icebergs close up. The icebergs are beautiful although the cloudy day didn't provide too much light to show them off. It made it easier for photography though since they won't get blown out in harsh sunlight. The sun peeped out of the clouds for a few minutes and it was amazing how the icebergs were instantly transformed.

The more interesting part of the visit for me was the nesting area of the Arctic terns, which were right beside the lagoon. There must have been hundreds of terns in that area and they were all very aggressive because of the nests. Anyone walking within 20 feet of the nests would be attacked and screamed at. It felt like a reenactment of the Hitchcock movie "The Birds" at some point when all the terns descended on one person who walked too close. I myself was pecked a couple of times on the head - a good thing I had a cap on and I was more than 20 feet away from anything. But they have a line that you cannot see and you cannot cross without the sirens going off. That was quite an experience.

Practical tips: 
- Don't worry about where you sit on the boat cruise, once the boat is in the lagoon, almost everybody got up to take photos and no one went back to their seats. It was okay for everyone to be standing in the boat, it was quite stable.
- When taking photos of the icebergs, it is better to underexpose than overexpose at the risk of blowing out some of the whites.

The sun came out just to show off this one which looked like a Lauren Harris painting!

The glacier going into the lagoon

This emerald coloured piece is one of the prettiest

The Arctic tern nesting area beside the lagoon

Nesting terns

This one was standing guard at his post; don't come any closer than 20 feet, even if you're behind the fence, you will be attacked!

In attack mode

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Bringing home the food

Reindeers at the foot of the glacier - how perfect a scene can you get, except this was taken from the bus and could be sharper!  According to the guide they are not normally seen at this time of the year around here.

Another outlet of the glacier

Icebergs left on the black beach beside the iceberg lagoon

Diamonds on the beach!