We got an early start as the wind was up and we knew we’d be driving slower and we had to get to the tour office for our scheduled glacier hike. We managed to make it just a little early. Good thing we left when we did. I had booked a small group tour that has a maximum of 8. But because of the weather it ended up being just the 3 of us. The group was a family of 5 with a couple of younger kids. The company advised them not to go because of the conditions.
The glacier walk on the Falljökull Glacier was different than what we were expecting and the weather got a little crazy at times. We went from wind, rain, sun, and quite a number of rainbows. It was a great tour and not something that you get to do everyday.
Our next stop was down the street from our tour office, the Skaftafell National Park. We went there to check out the Svartifoss (Black Falls). This is a waterfall that flows over black basalt columns. The easiest trail to reach the waterfall is about a 1 mile hike from the visitor center, most all of which is uphill. I think we were all more tired from the glacier hike than we realized. Will and I hiked up for the overview, but didn’t hike down closer to the falls themselves. Dan wasn’t feeling it at all and bowed out of seeing this waterfall.
Got back to Fifi and realized the winds were up again. So, we had a lunch break and hung out in the parking lot until Will decided it was time to move. It was slow going for a good part of the way with some tense driving moments. But we pushed through and we eventually got to what’s known as diamond beach. It’s a black sand beach where the icebergs broken off from the nearby glacier wash up on the shore. And after having been pounded by the waves they resemble diamonds. It being August the ice chunks weren’t that big, but there were still a few that we got to see.
On the other side of the Jökulsárlón area is a glacier lagoon with the larger icebergs broken off from the Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier. These were really cool. We stayed there a while checking them out and watching a few seals swim around.
We stayed in the town of Höfn to grab a bite to eat. What we didn’t take into account was that it was Saturday night and all the restaurants in town were crowded. Finally found a pizza place that was able to get us in and had gluten-free. We were definitely in much better spirits after that, but decided to stay at the campground right in town rather than driving another 30 minutes. Probably was one of our least favorite campgrounds this trip, but they did have a good dump station for Fifi.