Day 3 - Volcano Visitor Center and Glacier Lgoon

We begin the day with a hearty breakfast  of cereal, meat, cheese, bread, juice and coffee. Many of us get some exercise by walking around the property and stretching our legs before boarding the van.

Before we departed, Thor used two different types of maps to explain what we would be seeing and why such sites as rivers, waterfalls and glaciers are prominent; a typical physical map showing city/towns/roads/rivers and glaciers and a topographic map that showed the physical features of Iceland especially the size of the various glaciers.

  

Our 1st stop was the "Eyjafjallajokull Volcano Lava Center" which was located a few miles from our hotel. The center is an educational icon on volcanic information,  providing amazing pictures of volcanic eruptions, magma flow, identifying Icelandic volcanic hot spots and how this island nation was formed. 

 

Next we drove to a large water fall that you could walk behind....I didn’t, both boys did....their clothing is spending the night in the hotel’s heating room...hopefully it will be dry for tomorrow morning’s glacier hike.

Stopped at a local grocery store for lunch items...potatoes chips, sandwiches, drinks, and yogurt. Distributed the jerky to fellow travelers.

Traveled along the southern coast where most of the glaciers  and volcanic activity exist. Amazing scenery, huge swaths of black sand generated by volcanic dust and rock fields containing “volcanic bombs”...rocks of various sizes that were thrown by volcanic eruptions.

Last stop was a “duck boat” trip on  Glacier Lagoon, Jokulsarlon. The lagoon sits at the end of Iceland’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull  ....large chunks of ice break off from the glacier and are deposited in the lagoon before they are carried out by the tide to the Atlantic. As the iceberg floats in the lagoon, the largest portion, which is submerged, melts and when the top becomes heavier than the submerged portion, the iceberg rotates 180 degrees and exposes what was submerged. The now clean exposed portion of the iceberg is a blue gem that maintains its blue hue for about 45 minutes before turning pure white. 

 

Hotel ok....dinner very expensive but no choice.