Diamond Beach, Iceland

Sveitarfélagið Hornafjörður⁩, ⁨East Iceland⁩


My 70th Birthday, and a 4 hour drive to the most amazing black sand beach strewn with glacial 'diamonds'.

AND... a two hour undulating Northern Lights show from 10:30- to well past midnight.  I am speechless. The most magical birthday, ever!

The Diamond Beach is a strip of black sand belonging to the greater Breiðamerkursandur glacial plain, located by Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon on the South Coast of Iceland.


Next to the famous Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon you will find a black volcanic sand beach where icebergs from the lagoon drift ashore and create the most magical setting. The blue, black, transparent and white icebergs sit on the beach and slowly melt and you can walk amongst them, see through many of them and play around them. Prepare to be amazed.
The icebergs originate at the glacier, Breidamerkurjokull, an outlet from Europe’s largest ice cap Vatnajokull and therefore is the beach called Breidamerkursandur in Icelandic (sandur means sand). Actually, most Icelanders aren’t familiar with the name the Diamond Beach as it is very recent and solely used in English. The word Demantaströnd as it would translate to in Icelandic is unheard of.
One of the most unique things about the beach is that it never ever looks the same. Even if you just visited the day before the beach will have changed completely and the natural ice sculptures, the icebergs, will have reformed, melted away and new ones appeared.  Many of the icebergs are over 1,000 years old and have made their way through the grand lagoon first as enormous ice blocks and now smaller bergs enjoying their last moments until their join with the Atlantic ocean. The icebergs glisten on the beach giving it the name Diamond Beach. 


The Diamond beach is a very important breeding ground for many of Iceland’s most well-known birds including the Arctic Tern and the Great Skua and is a National conservation area.... Wikipedia

Extra, A glacial ice diamond and our Northern Lights portrait taken by a fellow viewer and sent to us later at home.

For the Record,
This day came in with spectacular weather except for a gale force wind.

All hands gobsmacked!