A few days back, we reserved a tour with Zodiac Boat Tours to see a glacier up close and personal (the glacier in question being Vatnajokull, the largest in Iceland). The tour took place what we estimated to be three and a half hours away from our cabin of the previous night, so we woke up early, ate a quick breakfast, and left around 8:00 for the 12:15 check-in time. Apparently, adding 45 minutes to your travel time in Iceland is not really enough, since we found ourselves running late and only made it there on time via some tremendous speeding and very tight turns. Lesson learned: roads in Iceland are unpredictable; always add more to your travel time than you expect to need.
When we drove up, we were promptly told that they weren’t doing any tours today because of too much ice on the water. Okay…looking at the water, I understand why.
Thankfully, they told us that right nearby there were amphibious tours, so we decided that we might as well get as much of a look at the glaciers as we could. When we went to sign up for an amphibious tour, they told us that they also do Zodiac tours (a.k.a. taking you up to the glacier in a boat), so we immediately signed up for it.
They had us put on the same suits we’d worn for whale-watching (those things are wonderfully warm, by the way), and said we’d need to walk a few hundred meters to the boat. Now I was expecting something about the same size as the oak boat we’d been in to go whale-watching. When we came upon a little motorboat with inflatable sides, I was a bit stunned. I guess it makes sense given the amount of ice all over the water, but I certainly hadn’t been expecting that. The seven of us (plus guide) climbed in and we took off, dodging around chunks of ice in the water.
We also came across a pair of seals swimming along in the water, and then another pair lazily relaxing on an ice block. They seemed mildly annoyed by our presence, but not particularly afraid.
We continued on to the glacier itself, which is mind-blowing in scale. I have a rough understanding of what it means for a piece of ice to be several kilometers across and another 300 meters deep, but seeing it right in front of me was still surprising.
After warming up from racing around an icy lagoon, we drove a little ways further to Skaftafell national park where we took a walk in the direction of another portion of the same glacier. I honestly think the boat tour was much more impressive, but the walk was nice after so much driving. And after all that, my dad proudly clambered up the slope and put his foot on the glacier. Congratulations. I guess not many people can say they’ve done that.
Note: take a look at the “Glacier” gallery for more photos of ice in the water and the glacier itself.
Müssen nur wollen 