my experience going on a zodiac tour of jokulsarlon lagoon in iceland

In September 2022, during our two-week road trip accross Iceland, we had the chance the go on a zodiac tour of Jokulsarlon with Glacier Lagoon. They offer  amphicar tours as well and other companies had kayaking tours, but I think we chose right as the zodiac tour was incredible and seemed to cover more of the lagoon as the others who stayed closer to the shore. 

The first step of our tour was to put on a pretty heavy one-piece yellow winter suit that floats if you fall overboard and keeps you warm while the zodiac zooms accross the lagoon. Then, we walked about 200m to the shore and stepped aboard our boat. There were about 8-10 people per boat so we had plenty of space to sit or move around to get a better view if needed.

Once all of the passengers were on board, our tour guide explained quickly how to stay safe and we were off to the glacier. It's better to stay seated once the zodiac gets on the way as it goes pretty quickly and you really don't want to fall in the icy water. But once we got to the glacier, our guide stopped the boat and we were able to look around at the huge icebergs and the glacier behind them. 

We were pretty lucky during our visit. A huge ice block had fallen off the glacier a few hours before so there were a lot of icebergs and they were a bright blue color. Our guide, Teddy, told us that even the biggest icebergs, once they fall into the lake, will melt in a few days or weeks at most as the lagoon is filled with salt water from the ocean. We also learned that the ice will be a bright blue color when it first falls in the water, but will turn white in about 10-12 hours. They will only get their blue color back if they turn over in the water from loosing chunks of ice.

As we were looking around at the different icebergs and listening to the ice cracking all around us, we had the chance to encounter two little seals. They were so cute and way more curious then they were scared as they let us approach so we could see them up close.

Unfortunately, the glacier is rapidly melting and has retreated as much as 2 km between 1973 and 2004. 

I have to say, this tour was one of the highlights of our whole trip. The view was so beautiful and completely different from everything else we had seen before. It was also fun to get some information and some history of the glacier, lagoon and the animals that live there. I would have stayed longer, to be honest. We were comfortably warm in the suits and I was almost hypnotized by the sound of the ice cracking and the icebergs floating all around us. I absolutely recommend this tour if you are visiting the south of Iceland!

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