Bucket List Completion: Jokusarlon Glacial Lagoon

Jokusarlon was every bit of amazing and more. After mom and I had finished our glacier walk, we headed to our hotel and ended up passing it on our way. It was unexpected and the moment the lagoon came into view I squealed with excitement and demanded we pull over.



We didn't stay long, but long enough for me to take in the wonder of it. Huge and small icebergs float throughout this huge lagoon. It's 8 km from the shore to head of Breidamerkurjokull and it doesn't even look that far.



The lagoon was created once the glacier began receding, much like other lakes and such that are formed in front of glaciers. The lagoon is only about a mile from the ocean and covers almost 7 square miles! While you are at the lagoon, you're visiting the lowest and highest point of Iceland. The lake is around 814 feet deep and the peak right near it is the highest point.



Getting up the next morning and knowing that we would get to take a boat ride around the lake had us leaving our beautiful guesthouse at 6:30 am. I wanted to make sure we were finished with our Svartifoss hike by the time the rides started at 10 am. Since our hike finished up way early, we got to the lake right at 10.



They had us on a car boat thing which was weird and at first I though they were just going to drive us around on a car that looked like a boat, but no, they drive the boat to the edge of the lagoon and then turn the motors on and everything.



The 30 minute ride around the outside of the lake was incredible. We saw icebergs covered in ashes and dirt and ones that were completely white or blue. The icebergs that appear white are the ones that have been on the surface the longest. I'm not going to get all scientificky because I don't really understand it but the "blue" icebergs are not really blue. It's just an illusion. A pretty illusion but an illusion none the less. If the icebergs do appear blue, those are the ones that have more recently flipped over and out of the water. 90% of an iceberg is hidden under water, so you can never fully see all of it.



Once the guide finished giving us our lesson about the lake, he grabbed an iceburg out of the water and cut little pieces of ice off for everyone to try. I got to eat a 1000 year old piece of ice!! How freaking awesome is that? And then... I got to hold the iceburg, which was heavy and extremely extremely cold.



So if you're visiting Iceland and don't know if you should take the boat tour, you really don't have to. When you're on the ring road (road 1), you'll see it right from there. There is a parking area and a path around the lake you can walk. The boat goes about three km into the lake and no further because of how many iceburgs there are but the different view points you get are worth it and the fact that they let you have a piece of iceberg to eat!