Relative Something

Two things: I’ve described the intense, stiff wind and mentioned our luck with the weather, which applies pretty much to the entirety of our visit to Iceland. The wind was strong enough when we climbed down out of that giant bus at the location of their floating dock, one of the zodiac boats full of tourists returning from the previous cruise had difficulty landing.

The driver needed to come around for a second attempt. In the moment, it didn’t give me pause about what “too much” wind for such outings might look like.

.

.

.

.

.

.

In an instant, we were on board and speeding away toward the glacier “finger,” bouncing along on the swells the way zodiac boats do.

Suddenly, I realized it was no longer windy. We had been transported to another world that bore little resemblance to our previous vantage point.

I’m uncertain if I remember correctly, but I vaguely recall hearing the distance from the mouth of the lagoon to the edge of the glacier was about 5km. Our guide was quick to provide conversions, so the five could have been miles.

It didn’t matter. It seemed like we must have gone a hundred miles.

Without wind, the blazing sunlight warmed things considerably and rewarded us with sightings of many sunbathing seals. The overly cute aquatic mammals love the lagoon because there is a broad selection of fish to eat and no predators to worry about. Makes for a perfect recipe for photo-happy tourists.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Our guide described the limitations of getting closer to the icebergs since they are larger beneath the surface and can roll over unexpectedly. I asked about his familiarity with the lagoon, and he pointed out it is never the same twice. Icebergs appear and disappear constantly.

While we were idling as the guide took photos of each group, a significant mass calved away and splashed into the water. It is such a bittersweet experience. I never imagined I would witness this massive power of nature firsthand, but it was such an exclamation of how dramatically this glacier –all glaciers– is/are melting.

When the wave from the calving reached the flow in the picture on the right above, the ice broke into many pieces, and the seal slid out of sight into the water like this happens all the time. It was mesmerizing to have this all occur right before our eyes.

Our guide kept moving our boat around to provide additional spectacular views. Suddenly, he stopped and bent over the side of the boat and popped up with a chunk of the glacier for us to see and hold.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

We learned about the coloring of ice and how the different bands (wavelengths) of the rainbow contained in sunlight are absorbed or reflected based on the amount of air in the ice. That chunk has had all the air compressed out of it.

The return leg of the trip back to the dock brought us back to bouncing on high waves and wrenched us out of that dream world. This was only our second day, and we had probably just experienced one of the most fantastic adventures of a lifetime.

Spending that time close to icebergs in that lagoon was truly out of this world for me.

.

.