After the snow storm that had closed the road the previous day, today we were able to drive on to our hotel close to the Glacier Lagoon. However the weather forecast was not good with further road closures expected due to high wind, so we decided to make an early start to avoid the bad weather. We stopped for a view of Vik Church at sunrise, but after that more snow showers arrived and the rest of the drive was in bad conditions with very poor visibility, so all of the scenery passed us by unseen. When we arrived at the Glacier Lagoon, the weather improved, but we were very surprised to find the lagoon almost completely ice free. We also visited the so called diamond beach where icebergs from the lagoon have washed up onto the black sands. The contrast between the sparkling icebergs and black sand makes for a unique landscape photography location.
The weather forecast for late afternoon and all next day was for very high winds with further road closures expected, so we headed back to our hotel before the weather deteriorated too much. The forecast proved correct and the wind picked up in the late afternoon, gusting to over 100mph during the night. The following day we were due to drive further east to Hofn and spend two nights there, but the strong winds continued all day, and with the risk of drifting snow conditions the road remained closed, so once again we had to re-arrange our plans. We spent the full day indoors at the Ice Lagoon Hotel and delayed our drive to Hofn until the following day, so we would now only have one day at Hofn.
