Jðkulsarlon Warnings
We were taking a walk around Jökulsarlon with our telephoto lenses, when my customers start to question the meaning of the signs dotted along the upper promenade from the car park towards the bridge. There is an obvious steep drop down to a fast flowing current, often filled with glacier ice waiting to overcome the size restrictions like Winnie the Pooh after too much honey. These warning signs are regular and official, but the problems we are having at Jðkulsarlon are not from people wandering off the edge into the current. Most tourists are not stupid, but as more arrive, so the chances of stupidity increase. I am not really challenging the existence of warning signs in this area. I am asking for clearer signs in other areas where tourists are wandering out onto the ice.
The sign above represents “Danger of Drowning”, but how many ways can this be misinterpreted? “Glove Resting Zone”, “Lost glove meeting point”, “Please Wave at the Bridge”.
Idiot on Ice
This guy was happy to be there not knowing that the lagoon is tidal and surges from the sea can raise the level of the lake by up to a meter in a few seconds. So this happy chappy was in danger of being disconnected from the shore on thin ice floating slowly out to sea. There are No Warning Signs in this area. People need to know that the ice can move, dramatically.
Just a week before, local press reported 50 people became stranded as their ice platform disconnected from the shore. GrapeVine.
Update: Proper warning signs were put up around the lagoon shortly after this article was written.
