Exploring glacier lagoons in South Iceland (Day 8)

This was going to be one last day filled with activities that we love doing, before it was time for us to fly back home in the afternoon the next day. Once again we packed up our stuff and checked out of Fosshotel in order to meet up at 9am for a kayaking trip in the Heinabergslón glacier lagoon. Kayaking is S’s absolute favorite outdoor activity and she was thrilled to be doing it among the iceberg filled lagoon. We met the guide and the other parties at Arctic Adventures basecamp, located right next to Hotel Smyrlabjörg.

After getting outfitted with a drysuit and safety vest, we were driven to the launch area where we were given our paddles. Soon, we set off on our kayaks (tandem SIT ones for two people) among the pristine white icebergs that floated in the lagoon. It felt simply marvelous to be there! We paddled for about 3 hours stopping at various points getting as safely close as possible to the glaciers and caves ; we even got a chance to get off and walk on an iceberg and take a short walk, overlooking the lagoon and surrounding area. Heinabergslón is “out of the beaten path”.

At about 2 pm, we got back to the parking lot by the basecamp and drove to the Jökulsárlón glacier parking lot - since we were very hungry and there were many food vendors there, we had fish and chips while enjoying views of the gorgeous lagoon.

We were scheduled to go on another boat ride - this time a zodiac boat tour at 3.30pm on the Jökulsárlón lagoon and since we had never been on a zodiac boat previously, we were extremely enthusiastic and looking forward to the trip. This was the shortest trip out of all activities that we had done so far - lasting only about 75 minutes. We had reserved it with Ice Lagoon Adventure tours and were supposed to meet them at the Ice Lagoon truck 10 minutes before the time shown on our ticket, in the same Jökulsárlón  parking lot.

The face of the glacier is about 8 km away from the starting point, therefore, 75 minutes was much needed to truly explore the vast nature of the glacier lagoon. It was an adventure  among sculpture-like icebergs and  we sailed up to the very secluded glacier wall of Jökulsárlón, where at times we witnessed complete serenity and could have, at times the captivating view of a glacier calving right in front of us. 

This time we did not wait for the sunset, but soon made our very long over 3 hour drive to get to Bru guesthouse in Hvolsvöllur. Moreover it was very cloudy, and since both of us were extremely tired from the last two active days, we just drove straight to the hotel. Since we already had food with us, we quickly freshened up, had dinner and fell asleep in no time.. reminiscing about the last 8 days which passed by so quickly and that our time in Iceland was almost coming to an end!