Iceland - June 20 - July 2, 2017
Page Four
The second day of the guided hiking tour, we drove east along the Ring Road
to Dyrholaey, a small peninsula on the south coast. It is a nesting site for seabirds.
Then we continued east to Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon.
At Dyrholaey, we saw a rock arch similar to what we saw
at the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and nesting seabirds, including a few
puffins. Here's one with a fish in its mouth. Atlantic puffins
spend most of their lives at sea but return to land to form breeding
colonies during spring and summer.
Puffins are distinct in their ability to hold several (sometimes over a dozen)
small fish at a time, crosswise in their bill.
Another waterfall along the Ring Road that goes around Iceland.
Dverghamrar, a protected natural monument due to
the geologic formation of balsamic columns formed
by the contracting and cooling of lava.
View from our van while driving to a glacial lagoon.
The south of Iceland has the highest concentration
of known sub-glacial (underneath glaciers) volcanoes in the
world. Since the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in April 2010
(which lasted until October in Iceland), scientists have been
focused on larger sibling Katla, a nearby sub-glacial volcano
under the Myrdalsjokull ice cap. Katla
is long overdue to erupt. It has erupted 5 times at 34 to 78
year intervals since 1721, but has not erupted since 1918.
Hiking toward Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon, a lake full of
icebergs broken off from Breidamerkurjokull glacier, an
outlet of the larger Vatnajokull glacier.
It developed as a lake after the glacier started receding
from the Atlantic Ocean.
Note the glacial moraine in the center
Part of our group hiking alongside the lagoon
Pat standing above the lagoon
Jeff and Pat
Icebergs that made their way to the ocean from the lagoon.
We walked along a black sand beach near the lagoon
while waiting for our boat ride on the lagoon.
We took a boat tour past large icebergs deposited by the
Breidamerkurjokull Glacier. Here we are holding a piece of an iceberg.
The typical cloud cover that we experienced much of the time on the trip
had settled back in after we were lucky to see the glacier and lagoon
under blue skies and sun.
As we were driving away from the lagoon area, we had blue skies again.
Link to Page Five - Iceland Hiking
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