Images of Titanic kept coming to mind...(posting from the road)

Even as I sat soaked, shivering in the relentless rain, bopping along in a little zodiac with too really tall dutch women, a guy I met at an ATM and two boisterous Icelanders across a lagoon filled with curious seals and massive icebergs, contemplating which of my fingers was most likely to fall off first...I remember thinking...there is no where I would rather be.

Let me back up a bit. Day three of "adventure Iceland" began with a necessary rental car swap. The poor Citreon had never seemed to recover from that rock, plus I was still frequently getting the message to pull over before the engine overheated. Which I am fairly certain was just a false alarm but considering my luck and automotive knowledge I decided not to tempt fate. So outfitted with a shiny new Mazda, Shawn and I set forth to explore the southern area of this island nation.

Fact 6% of Icelanders believe in elves and an additional 54% will not deny the possibility that they exist. A fact that I find equally disturbing and enduring, but understandable after driving through their enchanting countryside...you could easily picture trolls, elves and gnomes residing in between the moss covered lava rock. Plus there are an extrodinary number of small houses built into the hillsides...not sure if these were made by or for the elves. Initially we stopped for every waterfall, trying to get that perfect shot despite the gloomy day. We then realized that with the frequency that they seemed to be appearing, it would take us to next Monday to reach our destination. Iceland is literally littered with waterfalls.

We did make a stop however to wander up to one of the 'tongues' of the Oraefajokull glacier. It may be cliche to say, but it is humbling to stand next to these massive rivers of ice - you can hear the cracking and calving as they age prematurely thanks to global warming. The shades of blue found in the glaciers are amazing...there really should be a Crayola crayon named 'glacial blue'.

Racing against daylight, despite the pounding rain, we made it to Jokulsarlon lagoon. Originally the Breidamerkurjokull tongue of the Vatnajokull glacier reached the surf of the North Atlantic. In fact in 1930, the lagoon that I enjoyed was not even there. However, salt water combined with global warming ate away at the glacier and the subsequent lagoon was formed. Today the lake/lagoon, which is over 700 feet deep, is home to an uncountable number of massive icebergs and seals (the icebergs are massive, not the seals - they are just regular size).

If the photos seem familiar to you at all, like so many breathtaking areas of the world, it has been featured by Hollywood. Notables include: 'Tomb Raider', 'Batman Begins', 'James Bond: A View to Kill' and most famously 'James Bond: Die Another Day'. The 2002 Bond film shot the car chase between the Jaguar and the Aston Martin on a frozen lagoon...wait, the lagoon isn't frozen...and shouldn't freeze given the constant flow of the salt water...ah...Hollywood at it's finest. It took 5 weeks, but by stopping the ocean from flowing into the lagoon, they were able to force freeze the lagoon and create thick enough ice to withstand the needs of the crew. (side note - 6 Aston Martin Vanquishes were destroyed in the making of this scene).

There was no Hollywood there today and being the off season the place was virtually abandoned. In the summer months, at peak tourist season there are amphibious watercraft that make their way into the lagoon and give tourists and up close look at the icebergs. Through an odd turn of events that I believe was directly related to the attractiveness of the 2 Dutch women, the workers agreed to take us out on the lagoon in a zodiac.

So despite the freezing rain and inappropriate attire we were wearing, Shawn and I readily accepted the invitation and hopped aboard. We zoomed around ice, over ice and into ice. The zodiac was a fantastic way to tour the lagoon as we were able to get right up and touch the icebergs, many were larger than houses. The colours and clarity...some of the icebergs looked like floating gemstones. Others were appeared striped thanks to sediment and volcanic ash.

The photos I took will absolutely not capture how awesome it was, partially because the lens constantly had raindrops on it and partially because my fingers were too frozen to push the shutter. If you really want to see the lagoon...and you should...turn to Hollywood.
(and yes - I did think of Titanic every time we drove over or smashed into an iceberg...but I figured everyone's got to go sometime...maybe they can make a movie of it...I think Julia Roberts should play me...not Kate Winslet...just wanted to put that out there...you know...in case)