These late sunrises were definitely good for my sleep. Plus this morning there was no decent sunrise forecast, so getting up was all about making sure I got to the breakfast buffet in time. There was a good selection (not the best I've ever had) and I managed to eat my fair share, before heading back to my room and enjoying it until I had to check out at 12pm. It's nice to be lazy, once in a while. I hadn't really got my
phojo back yet, and as I knew I had plenty of time to visit Jökulsárlón on this trip (another night now and 2 nights a few days later) I didn't feel in a massive rush. I took a few shots out of the window - the light was actually getting rather nice, with some sun appearing after a brief snow-shower.
I finally left - tearing myself away from the amazing Tom Dixon lights! - and stopped to take a couple of shots of the impressive, sympathetic structure, at the edge of the entrance road and a little further along the road at another pull-out.
It was a freezing day, but with little wind, which made it bearable. The cloud was clearing and the sun was out as I drove along the section of the road back to the beach. I thought about stopping at Fjallsárlón (again) but just couldn't prioritise it over Jökulsárlón! I drove straight to the east beach as the tide and winds were definitely heading towards the north-east, pushing the icebergs onto that beach. Just as I was locking the car I noticed a car had somehow slid off the little road that leads up to the main road. I put my camera gear back in the car and went over to help - since someone had helped me get unstuck in that same car-park a few years earlier the least I could do was to help someone else out. It was a 4WD with four Chinese girls - somehow the car had slid sideways off the road as they revved to turn left. They were stuck in heavy snow. I helped by digging out snow with my booted feet while other girls helped me. I noted that the big guy in the tour truck didn't bother to come and help, and it was only small females involved! Eventually the driver tried to reverse the car out and back onto the road at the foot of the small hill. After a few attempts, and clearing a bit more snow, she was off! Back safely on the road she then managed to get up the hill and the others thanked me, jumped in the car, and off they went.
Feeling rather sweaty after the unplanned exertion, I headed to the east end of the beach, where there were quite a number of icebergs littered along the shoreline. As it was almost 1pm there were hardly any visitors there - people arrive for sunrise, stay an hour or two, and then come back just before sunset, leaving it nice and empty for people like me who actually like it during the day with sunlight. I know you don't get any of those pink and orange shots then, but I find there's always some decent shadows from chunks of ice at the very least. And besides, the Icelandic weather
changes quickly, so who knows what you'll get.
At the foot of the hill at the eastern end of the beach I found a magnificent iceberg - again it looked animal-like, waiting to take the plunge. It had some incredible patterns, but as it was in the surf and big waves kept crashing against it, I couldn't get close enough to capture the detail. I had to be satisfied to watch it from a safe distance (I've become a little more risk-averse over my years there, more aware of the danger and power of the waves - and also having witnessed some camera "incidents" when people weren't careful).
I found another little iceberg that made a wonderful shadow on the browny-black sand in the afternoon sun; another ice animal waiting for its turn to dive into the surf.
The first iceberg looked far greener when I captured it towards the sun - the colours vary so much depending on the sun and cloud cover. Little bergy bits kept getting washed onto the shore, only to be removed by a wave a few minutes later.
Eventually just the skeleton of some icebergs remain on the beach.
As well as capturing the icebergs (there weren't actually many in the surf as the tide was reasonably far out) I took lots of shots of the waves crashing in the afternoon sun. I'd go through bursts of shooting waves, handheld, then waves on the tripod, then wander along a bit to find a new iceberg, then waves again. Mostly it is quite tricky, as the froth from the breaking waves overblows the scene or produces ugly patterns on the surface of the water, but occasionally the layers of turquoise and white line up for something superb.
The sun kept coming and going, as clouds drifted past out to sea. From time to time massive snow-storm clouds would completely block the sun for a while, and then they'd be gone and the sun would illuminate the bergs and waves once again. A few sun-dogs came out to play. The wide-angle lens made a rare appearance.
At one point in the afternoon it looked as if a family of clouds was stealthily making its way across the horizon.
As the sun began to set I started playing around with longer exposures using the 6-stop ND filter, which gives a rather red cast - I quite like the effect sometimes...
As had happened on the previous night, the sun suddenly went behind some light cloud and became way too bright, making any more sunset shots impossible, which was a shame. It reappeared briefly a little later before disappearing once again - and for good - behind thicker clouds again. The crowds had returned for sunset, I noted. There were none of the beautifully-coloured icebergs visible like the previous night.
There was some reddish light on some of the clouds as the sky began to darken.
The sky darkened quickly, and again there wasn't a great deal of lingering light, so I left fairly quickly after the sun set and the faint colours of the earth's shadow stopped being visible.
By the time I left I realised that I'd been there for just under five hours! I surprise myself sometimes. I was pretty cold, thirsty and hungry by the time I got back into the car, having only munched on a Nature Valley bar since breakfast. I headed off east towards Gerði to check in - I was staying at Reynivellir after all (they'd had a cancellation so I was able to stay there for the night which was a little cheaper than the guesthouse, a little closer to the beach, and had a kitchen, so I didn't have to fork out to eat at Hali!). It was dark by now, so it was handy that I knew which turn-off to take, having stayed there the previous year. I had the same tiny little single room, but it was warm and comfy, and right opposite two bathrooms, so never needed to go far when I needed the loo in the middle of the night!
I hadn't bought much food on my initial shop, so my dinner was a rather pathetic fried onion, pasta and pesto (I didn't even have any tuna or cheese!). At least I had beer...
Another cloudy night was forecast, and the northern lights were definitely nowhere to be seen, so at least I didn't need to spend the evening obsessing about possible aurora. Instead I spoke to the hubby and went through the hundreds of photos I'd taken, a little disappointed that there was only one interesting iceberg on the beach. Hopefully by morning the tide had brought in a few more. I set the alarm reasonably early, forcing myself to get up way before sunrise; given that I was staying so close to the beach I really had no excuse not to get myself down there! Hopefully the morning would be a bit more spectacular than the day I'd had today - it had been nice, but not one of my most memorable Jökulsárlón days.
Click here for
blog from day 2 - My Birthday!
Click here for blog from
day 4 - Jökulsárlón to Hvalnes
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