Iceland, Day 5: Surprises!, Jökulsárlón Lagoon, and Diamond Beach

I have a confession. On the morning of Day 4, I gave up on my commitment to tolerate instant coffee while camping (or camper van'ing) my way across Iceland.  Having found a lovely latte in our remote campsite of the previous night, I felt confident that I could successfully hunt down a latte in the small town of Djupavogi -- our first stop of the day. And so I did.   

While temporarily in a delightful state of contentment induced by warm milk and quality coffee, I toured the town and found, of all things at the end of the road, a rather odd collection of eggs.  34 of them, in fact. All granite. All far more than life-size. Each egg represented the egg of a nesting bird in the area, created by the Icelandic artist by Sigurður Guðmundsson, installed in 2009, and named "The Eggs of Merry Bay." 

Eggs and a Latte were a lovely start to another beautiful sunny day and even better, the temperature had ventured upward to the point that the first digit on the thermometer was actually a four (Fahrenheit).  Departing Djupavogi and heading west, we impulsively turned into a random picnic spot and discovered a Surprise Beach ... which quickly prompted a hike along the water's edge and yes... yet another delay to our "itinerary."  

Unfortunately, by the afternoon, the unthinkable started to surround us. The sunshine we had begun to take for granted over the previous four days began to vanish behind ominous clouds and increasingly strong "breezes".  The threatening weather did not take much away from the impressive Jökulsárlón Lagoon though. Studded with floating glacier "debris" the lagoon looked more like we had landed on the wet side of the moon than remained on land on planet earth.  

Despite the wickedly cold wind, we lingered for quite a while along the lagoon's edge and on nearby Diamond Beach, turning back to the camper van only when I was rudely attacked by an incoming wave that soaked my already cold feet.    

As we headed further to the West along the Ring Road, we faced limited camping options -- in  part because of an ominous weather forecast and in part because we had once again failed to make steady progress along the Ring Road. With all the waterfalls, mountains, and assorted other sights, what's a tourist to do?  Drive?  Make good time?   No. Not possible.  

Late as usual, we landed at Svinafells Campsite for the night -- which is a fine place to camp as long as you have little interest in taking a shower, much less a hot one.