Iceland Day 5: Jokulsarlon and Aurora Borealis 

This was it. This was the day when the evening was still clear, for the very first time. Everything was going according to plan: To witness the Northern Lights from Jökulsárlón, the magical glacial lagoon.

It was a short 30 minutes drive from Hof 1 Hotel to the lagoon.



Jokulsarlon is a large glacial lagoon located in the south eastern portion of Vatnajökull National Park. I was already hyped up about this place from the pictures I saw online while researching for the trip. On the first night of my stay in Iceland, the staff at the inn already told me that Jokulsarlon is the most magical place in Iceland. I was also looking forward to catch the glow of the erupting Bárðarbunga volcano from there. To finally be there, just got my adrenaline pumping.

When I got there, I was utterly floored by the sight. All along the way, the scenery had been mostly green and occasionally sandy black due to the Sandurs. But Jokulsarlon totally changed that into a winter wonderland in an instant. It was as though we were transported to the north pole. There were icebergs everywhere in the lagoon. In the backdrop, huge glaciers, snowy peaks and the tip of the ice cap can be seen surrounding the lagoon. Unlike other scenic stops, this one was relatively crowded. There was already quite a number of photographers there taking shots of the sunset. We quickly parked our car and explored the area, making full use of the dwindling daylight. There was a visitor center there, but it was already closed by that time.

From grassy hills to magical winter wonderland. Ice chunks break out from the glacier and slowly flow out to the Atlantic Ocean. Some clouds can be seen hovering above the ice cap, but other than that, the sky was perfectly clear.

The iceberg on the right had the famous pure blue hue. Folks there told us that when it first overturned, exposing the part that had been submerged, people there were just in awe at the pristine blue color.

Me and my friends walked around the shore, and we saw an amazing ice arch that stood out amongst the myriad of ice chunks. The ice arch further amplified the magical feel of Jokulsarlon. We chatted up with another photographer that was photographing the ice arch. He was a British veteran that was also traveling around Iceland, but in a camper van. The camper van is a very popular choice among solo travelers. He mentioned that the previous night was a great night for auroras. The light show was amazing, and he showed me shots from the night before. That made me super stoked for what was to come.

Checking out the amazing ice arch with a Brit that was also traveling around Iceland.

The ice near the shore was much smaller in comparison, but still amazing.

Close-up of the amazing ice arch. The parts that were not exposed to the sun still retained the distinct iceberg blue.

As it got darker and darker after sunset, the wind started to pick up. I was unfortunately under dressed as I had underestimated the chill factor of the ice lagoon. It definitely felt colder near the lagoon and wind chill made it worse. We decided to retreat back to our car and hunker down there till it got dark enough to see the auroras. Other folks had the same idea too. Our car was parked facing towards the lagoon, so we had a pretty good view. We just chilled (literally) in the car and munched on our dinner of cereal bars.

View near the car park.

Waiting in the car till it got dark enough for the auroras to be visible.

As I sat in the car, I started taking 10-20 second exposures of the sky to see if it can pick up any faint auroras. After waiting for around an hour, my camera started to pick some faint light near the horizon.

Why hello there aurora

There it was. The unmistakable faint, green hue of the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights! The show has begun.

We jumped out of the car, grabbed our cameras and tripods, and briskly hiked up a hill right by the car park to have an unobstructed view of the sky.  My eyes started to pick out some green colors as well, but of course, my camera was already well ahead and picked up some purple tinges.

Faint purple hue started to appear.

The show started off slow and gentle. There wasn't much movement or shimmering involved.

Then the activity picked up.

Like a curtain getting swayed by someone, the auroras started to wave around gently, then it got slightly faster. The light also got brighter. At this point, I had no problem watching the auroras in its full glory with my naked eyes. I could also start seeing really faint hues of purple, but it lasted only for a moment. As the aurora intensified, there were occasional sudden rapid movements, as though the aurora had a shock.

The auroras intensified. Tinge of blue started to show up. The vivid band started to move right overhead.

The dancing became more and more rapid.

During peak activity, I tried to set my SLR to video mode to capture the dancing. But unfortunately, it couldn't capture anything. The screen showed up all black. I later found out that in my excitement, I forgot to set the exposure back to auto from manual. So it was most likely underexposed. I decided to stop fiddling around with my camera and just enjoy the moment.

The auroras continued to dance overhead for a good few minutes. I went "ooooo... ahhhh oh wow.... oh man.... wowwww". It was truly orgasmic. I had to look around to see if other folks were starting to get annoyed by my cries.

Seeing the auroras in person has been top in my bucket list since I was in high school. I have seen countless amazing photos and breathtaking time lapses of the auroras. Despite all the aurora porn that I have seen, seeing it in person still completely blew me away.  The anticipation, the light, the illumination, the cold, the dancing and shimmering, the company. It was an entirely different ballgame. And the intensity, and the rapid movements. Everything just far exceeded my expectations.

The aurora band, still going strong, started to shift northwards. This presented me with a different backdrop for the auroras, so I started snapping away again. As expected, when facing north, my camera picked up the orange glow from the eruption of Bárðarbunga. Though I couldn't see the glow with my naked eyes, it looked eerily magical in the pictures. The green glow of the auroras and the orange glow from the volcano reminded me of Minas Morgul and Mordor from Lord of the Rings.

The most intense bands started moving northwards. The orange glow on the horizon to the left is from the erupting volcano, Bardarbunga.

Light from the LCD screen of an SLR amidst the amazing aurora display.

I couldn't help but make a Lord of the Rings reference here.

The vivid colors of green retreated further north. At this point, my euphoria was replaced with a sense of appreciation. I decided to try and capture me and my friends' silhouette with the auroras. It did show up, but unfortunately the shots were no where as impressive as those I saw online. While fooling around, there were occasional shouts coming from below by the shoreline.

"Turn off your flash light!"

Turns out there were some photographers that were light painting. By using a flash light to illuminate the foreground, you get to capture both the otherwise silhouetted foreground of ice bergs and the amazing lights of the background. Of course, by doing this, you will totally screw up the exposure of the other photographers that rely solely on the illumination of the auroras. Those photographers definitely let their frustrations out. I definitely understood their beef with light painting. Light painting produces uber cool night shots. But one has to be considerate, of course.

Feeling ecstatic!

The vivid colors retreated further and further to the north, leaving behind a trail of diffuse glow.

Being at the top of the hill with unobstructed view also meant that we had unobstructed pounding from the wind. As our excitement died down, the cold set in again. We decided to call it a night and head back to our car. But of course, before leaving, we took a couple of more shots around the area. I wanted to take some ground level shots to reveal more of the reflection and illumination of the auroral light on the icebergs, but it was just too dark. The moonless night was perfect for viewing the auroras, but not so good for hiking around hilly terrains with camera gear.

Overhead, the strong vivid band was replaced with a trail of diffuse glow. The auroras decided to take their show and entertain folks further up north. The sky was once again calm. The diffuse green glow exuded a sense of surreal peace.

The faint diffuse glow brought with it its own beauty. A calming one.

How light painting might have looked like. But in this case, it was from a headlight of a car as people started to leave. It was getting late.

The glow lingered above cars and camper vans parked here.

As we drove back, we thought the excitement was over. But boy were we wrong. As I was driving along, I started seeing something weird. Since it was a moonless night, I was relying entirely on my headlights and the reflectors on the highway. I started seeing some of the light coming from the reflectors getting obfuscated.

"Uh oh... something is on the road. "

I slowed down. And sure enough, my headlights finally shone on the object.

SHEEP! In the middle of the highway. A WHOLE FLOCK OF THEM!

The sheep reacted to my car alright. But instead of running to the sides of the road, it started to run straight ahead on the road!

Darn these suicidal sheep. One of the sheep got frozen in fear and just stared at the headlights. I was laughing hysterically. Since I was the driver, I yelled to my friends. "Take a picture! Take a video!". The sight was just too amusing and cute. Those poor clueless sheep, running along on the road, bobbing up and down. Unfortunately we failed to get a good shot of it. Eventually, the sheep smartened up and moved to the sides.

Back at Hof 1 Hotel, I was still not over the auroras. I hung around outside the hotel to take more shots. The diffused green glow was still very much present. However, light drizzle started to come in from the south. And that was when I called it a night.

The diffused glow was still visible. Band of rain clouds can be seen coming in from the south.

But wow. What a night. What an incredible night. Among the many thoughts that raced through my mind that night was, just how incredibly lucky we were. A truly amazing aurora show right on the night we planned to have aurora watching. Furthermore, the night turned out to be the only night that was clear. There was no doubt that there would be auroras in Iceland, but we sure weren't prepared for unfavorable weather 7 out of the 8 nights we were there. To be able to witness this truly sublime spectacle under perfect conditions, I just had to count my blessings.

And that was it. The #1 item from my bucket list crossed off. Gonna be hard to top this night.