Djúpalónssandur & Dritvík - the Black Lava Pearl Beach on Snæfellsnes in West-Iceland

Djúpalónssandur or the Black Lava Pearl Beach is a beautiful place to visit, like so many other of the many sights on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. It is like stepping into a lava wonderland.

I have written a travel-guide in chronological order in 5-parts about the Snæfellsnes peninsula. But since Djúpalónssandur is one of the major attractions on the peninsula I thought it deserved a special travel-blog.

Top photo: people entering Djúpalónssandur via Nautastígur path

Gatklettur rock

It is just a short drive from the main road to Djúpalónssandur, and you can leave your car in the parking lot just above Djúpalónssandur. You reach the beach by walking down Nautastígur path - the Path of the Bull. 

The path will take you through a lava field with huge lava formations. To me, this is the most beautiful part of Djúpalónssandur. There is a peculiar rock here with a hole in it, called Gatklettur. Through the hole, you can see  Snæfellsjökull glacier.  

Photo of the rock and Snæfellsjökull on a rainy day

This is a good photo spot, especially on a fine sunny day, like the day I got on one of my many visits to Snæfellsnes peninsula. I have visited Djúpalónssandur beach in almost all types of weather, but my favourite photos are from a sunny day back in 2010, so I also include them here in my travel-blog.

The name of the path, Nautastígur - the Path of the Bulls, derives from bull being led down this path and watered by the lagoon. 

There are two small freshwater lagoons behind Nautastígur, called Djúpulón - the Deep Lagoons, but this beach got its name from these lagoons; Djúpalónssandur - the Deep Lagoon's Sand or Beach. The lower lagoon was said to be abysmal as it was so deep.  

Djúpulón lagoon was measured by the noted Eggert Ólafsson (1726-1768) and turned out not to be abysmal but around 5 meter's deep.

Bishop Guðmundur góði or Guðmundur the Good (1161-1237) is said to have blessed this lagoon in his time, but he blessed many springs including the Maríulind spring at Hellnar and many others around Iceland.  

The other lagoon behind Gatklettur rock is called Svörtulón or the Black Lagoons.  

Some of the springs, which this good bishop blessed so many centuries ago, are said to have healing properties. We Icelanders still hold these springs in high regard and it hurt me so much to see one of these springs up north filled with WC paper :(

Only the surface water in these 2 lagoons is freshwater as they rise and fall with the tide.  Svörtulón contains better water though as a creek runs into it.

Iron pieces from the British trawler the Epine GY7

On the beach, you will notice the iron pieces from the British trawler, The Epine GY7, which was wrecked east of Dritvík cove on the night of 13th March 1948. Fourteen men lost their lives and five were saved by the Icelandic rescue team in the neighbouring villages, which managed, after two long and cold hours, to get a line to the trawler.

There was a blizzard on this cold winter night in March and the fishermen were losing their grip and had started falling into the cold sea. One of them fell overboard and washed up on the beach where the rescue team managed to save him. Three others were already dead and their bodies washed up on the beach. Many of the fishermen were never found :(

Iron pieces from the British trawler the Epine GY7

The skipper, Alfred Loftis, clinging to the ship, shouted to the rescue team: "I do not mind what happens to me as long as the boys are all right. Look after the boys!".  Shortly after he was gone, swept away by a big wave.

It is just heartbreaking thinking about the fate of these English fishermen.

The iron remains, which washed up on the beach, are protected and should not be touched. They are kept here in memory of these brave fishermen from England, so let's respect them and leave them in peace. There have been other shipwrecks in this area.

Djúpalónsperlur - the Pearls of Djúpalón

When you exit the lava field up opens the black Lava pearl beach as the whole beach is made of small black smooth pebbles called Djúpalónsperlur - Pearls of Djúpalón.

The black lava pearls of Djúpalón are protected, but I have seen them used for beautiful jewellery.  My pictures don't even begin to do these pebbles justice as they can be ever so soft and pitch-black like they are polished.

Söngklettur - Singing Rock - the Church of the Elves

Söngklettur - the Singing Rock back in 2010

There is a very distinctive huge lava rock on the beach, Söngklettur - the Singing Rock. The rock is reddish in colour and so majestic looking - it is said to be the Church of the Elves!  It looks amazing and on one occasion, while I was trying out a guided tour of Snæfellsnes peninsula, we had a picnic by Söngklettur.

Just keep in mind to show respect around elf locations and don't climb on them or make a racket. Always ask the elves for permission to visit their habitation or churches and you will be fine. Respect is the keyword here. 

Picnic in the rain by the Elf-church Söngklettur - the Singing Rock

Respect for the elves is deep-seated in the soul of the Icelandic nation and we learn about them in our upbringing, so we always show respect for the elves and fear their wrath if their locations are disrespected. I always ask them for permission to visit their homes or churches.

There are many stories of misfortune happening if this rule is not followed. See my travel-blog: Mt. Pétursey in South-Iceland and the Elves - Icelandic Folklore

I know that our foreign visitors cannot know where all these different elf locations are to be found, a rock might just seem like a rock, that is why I am writing about the elf-locations in Iceland in my travel-blogs.

On a rainy day by Söngklettur - my photos are so dark and gloomy :(

 I found one story about Söngklettur in the book Hulduheimar by Árni Óla:

"On the beach between Einarslón and Djúpalón on Snæfellsnes is a large and massive rock called Söngklettur. The folk belief is that there is an elf-church in the rock. One beautiful Sunday in the summer of 1969 I visited Djúpalónssandur and there were many people who were enjoying the fantastic beauty of nature here.

I met a man who was born and bred at Einarslón. I asked him about Söngklettur and he said: "When I was a teenager I was sent on New Year's Eve to fetch the sheep from the beach. I then heard in this rock loud music and singing. I heard beautiful organ tones and more musical instruments which I didn't recognize. The singing was beautiful and multi-voiced psalmody."

(Translated into English from the book Hulduheimar by Árni Óla, pages 87-88)

Djúpalónssandur - Söngklettur to the right

The man from Einarsón listened to the singing for a long while and then went back home. He asked his grandfather who these people might be. His grandfather answered that they were good people - "huldufólk" - the Hidden People of Iceland.

Many years later the same man heard violin music from Söngklettur and recognized it as one of the musical instruments he had heard when he was a teenager. There are many, many such stories in Icelandic folklore, but there are also more recent accounts

There are more strangely formed lava rocks on Djúpalónssandur, like this one in my photo below.  It is called Kerling or the Troll woman, and where there is a Kerling there is a Karl or the male Troll. 

Kerling - troll woman

These trolls were turned into stone when they saw daylight, as this is what happens to trolls in Iceland, they get petrified when they see daylight, as everybody knows!  Kerling is carrying a bundle of fish on her back, but I read that Karl is located a bit further east and cannot be seen from Djúpalónssandur

I walked up on Höfði cape towards Einarslón further east by the shoreline, but there are so many rock formations there that I didn't know which one of them was Karl. But I have "heard" that Lóndrangur had a thing for Kerling at Djúpalónssandur ;

Kerling - troll

You will find Karl and Kerling troll formations all over Iceland. They are not always together though as at Lóndrangar cliffs the male troll, Lóndrangur, is by the sea, while his fiancée troll, Kerling, is stuck in Kerlingarskarð pass carrying a bundle of trouts on her back.

You can read about their love story in my travel-blog:

Kerlingarskarð Pass in Snæfellsnes in West-Iceland - the Folklore of the Giantess & her Fiancé 

With friends at Djúpalónssandur

I found a dreadful account in Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason. This is a continuation of the account on the hardy fishermen in my next chapter on the lifting stones:

"The hardy fishermen on Djúpalónssandur beach grabbed an old woman and killed her (others say that they took her body from the barrow and others say that they dug her from her fresh grave). The fishermen used the body of this old woman for bait one spring and they fished so much that their boat was laden every day, even though the other fishermen would hardly catch any fish.

All of them used this human flesh for bait, apart from Hálfdrættingur (a man who could lift 54 kilos, see my chapter on the lifting stones below - RHR), who was fishing with them a man called Sigurður.

Visiting Djúpalónssandur with friends

One night he dreamt that the old woman approached him and uttered these words: "Verður á morgun skip skarða, Skeður furðu tilburður; Farðu ei á morgun forvarða, furða ber til, Sigurður". 

Others have told this story and added to it that the woman also uttered: "Ei skaltu í dag róa; nú ætla ég rugla undir beinum mínum". The next morning Sigurður pretended to be ill, but the other fishermen went fishing and all of them drowned on this day, but it is not mentioned how it came about".

(Translated into English from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason).

I am not going to translate what the old woman said, but it is in the form of a rime where she warns Sigurður of sailing with the other fishermen the following day, as she was going to get her revenge on the fishermen for using her body as bait.

Djúpalónssandur beach

The suction of the sea in Djúpalónssandur is very powerful so please don't go too close to the sea. There is a warning sign by the parking lot, but I have seen that many people tend to ignore the warning signs. Do not wade into the sea - it is better to be safe than sorry.  

In the photo above, which I took from the start of the hike to Dritvík cove, people are playing on the shore very close to the sea, but the sea is not always this calm and often there are big waves crashing onto the shore, which can grab people and carry them out to sea. 

Or the dangerous sneaker waves which sneak in, get everybody wet and can carry people out to sea. So let's be extra careful here!

Big waves by Djúpalónssandur

In February 2017 a Slovakian tourist decided on throwing himself in the waves completely naked!

Not the best location to practice sea-swimming in Iceland, so he quickly returned/was washed ashore, and hopefully, he realized that he was actually playing with death here. He was lucky to come out of the sea alive.

In March 2017 tourists put themselves in danger when they were "playing" and running after the waves.  A big wave caught them and fortunately, they were carried towards a sand reef and not out to sea.

A winter visit to Djúpalónssandur in limited daylight

Three or four big waves usually come in a row and the last waves come much further onto the shore than the first ones. They surprise people and can carry them out to sea, so never run after waves in this location, as bigger ones will usually follow.

The photo above is from one of my winter trips to Djúpalónssandur. In the dead of winter, daylight is scarce, that is why my photo is so dark, even though it was taken in the middle of the day.

The people in the photo are two of the employees at Guide to Iceland, so they made sure not to get too close to the sea while they were taking photos of the waves crashing on the shore.

During one of my visits to Djúpalónssandur, there was a vortex-like cloud heading for the glacier

There is another equally dangerous beach in South Iceland, the ever so popular Reynisfjara beach. If you visit it bear in mind that there have been several fatalities there when big, unexpected waves have carried people out to sea, where they have drowned :(

I have written a travel-blog about that beach to warn people about the dangers:

Extremely dangerous Waves by Reynisfjara and Kirkjufjara black Beaches in South-Iceland!

The lifting stones at Djúpalónssandur

One of the travellers on the day tour with Nicetravel trying to lift one of the lifting stones

At Djúpalónssandur beach you will find 4 differently sized stones. They are well-known Aflraunasteinar - Steinatök or lifting-stones. They were used to measure the strength of fishermen in Iceland and you can try your strength on these stones yourself.

This is what Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason has to say about these lifting stones:

"It has been written that some crew members were fishing from Djúpalónssandur beach, but these men were such strong and energetic fishermen that nothing seemed to be impossible to them. They tried their strength on these lifting stones. The lifting stones are still to be found on Djúpalónssandur beach on the way south to Einarslón lagoon, a little above the road.

The lifting stones at Djúpalónssandur

The names of the lifting stones are Fullsterkur, Hálfsterkur, and Hálfdrættingur, and only those who could lift Fullsterkur up on a plinth reaching a man's waist was allowed to fish from Djúpalónssandur beach. Still there exist some men (a long time ago RHR) fishing from Dritvík, who can lift Fullsterkur, many men can lift Hálfsterkur, but almost all of them can lift Hálfdrættingur".

(Translated into English from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason).

The biggest stone is called Fullsterkur - Strong and weighs 154 kg and only the very strong can lift that one. The second one is called Hálfsterkur - Half-Strong and weighs 100 kg.

The sign by the lifting stones at Djúpalónssandur

The third one is called Hálfdrættingur - Half as good and weighs 54 kg, and the fourth one is called Amlóði or Lightweight and weighs 23 kg.  

All these Icelandic names refer to how strong/weak the person is lifting them up on a plinth. If the fishermen could not lift Hálfdrættingur (54 kg) they were not accepted as oarsmen on the fishing boats rowing from Dritvík.

Nowadays stones like these are used in the strong-men contests, which are very popular here in Iceland.

Dritvík cove

Dritvík cove

You can hike from Djúpalónssandur beach to Dritvík cove, which was the largest seasonal fishing station here in Iceland from the 16th century until the mid 19th century, with 40-60 boats and 200-600 seasonal fishermen. The season was only in spring from the beginning of April until mid-May. 

Now both these former vibrant spots are deserted - nowadays they are only visited by tourists and locals alike. 

Dritvík has got a natural harbour encircled by high lava walls. The black lava beach in this cove is called Maríusandur or the Beach of Mary.

Ruins by Dritvík cove

The hike to Dritvík is only 1 km west of Djúpalónssandur, the path is rocky at the very start of the hike though, so wear good hiking shoes if you plan on popping over to see Dritvík.

On the west part of the beach and in the lava along the hike you will see some ruins from that time. The seasonal fisherman stayed in fisherman's huts built out of rock and sand and covered with tents. There are also ruins of old fish drying sheds. 

The trail on Suðurbarði cape is called Vatnsstígur or the Water trail as there was no fresh water to be had in Dritvík and water had to be fetched to Djúpalónssandur beach. The Dritvíkurlón lagoon is mixed with seawater so it is undrinkable. 

Dritvík cove on the Snæfellsnes peninsula

Here I was alone in the cove with my husband thinking about the vibrant past of this now empty cove. It was almost too quiet and I felt very alone all of a sudden thinking about all these men now gone from this earth and how much my country has changed through the centuries.

When you visit Dritvík you will notice the pitch black lava formations which take on all kinds of forms; there is a Tröllakirkja - Troll church, Bárðarskip - the Ship of Bárður and Bárðartrúss - the Baggage of Bárður. Remember Bárður Snæfellsás, the half-troll - half man, who is the Protector of Snæfellsnes peninsula?  You can read his story in one of our Sagas - the Saga of Bárður Snæfellsás.

See also my travel-blog about Bárður:

Bárður Snæfellsás - the Mythical Protector of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in West-Iceland

Dritvík cove on the Snæfellsnes peninsula

Bárður, who was Dumbsson, sailed from Norway with his men in the 9th century and came ashore in Djúpalón and Dritvík cove. He then built his farm at Laugarbrekka further east on Snæfellsnes.

Bárður was the one who gave a name to the Snæfellsnes peninsula when he saw the snow and ice on Snæfellsjökull glacier, which hovers over this part of the peninsula. He called it Snjófellsnes peninsula. Both the words "snær" and "snjór" mean snow in Icelandic. It was later changed to Snæfellsnes.

Right in front of us in the photo above, you will see Bárðarskip or the Ship of Bárður in the sea, and to the right of it on the beach is Bárðartrúss or the Baggage of Bárður, referring to the time when Bárður came ashore on Dritvík cove. Then you will see Víkurklettur rock farthest to the left, inside it is the aquamarine Pollurinn in Maríuhöfn.

Dritvík cove 

In this part of the Snæfellsnes, you will find several locations bearing Bárður's name. Close to Laugarbrekka, where Bárður lived, you will find Bárðarlaug or the Pool of Bárður, where Bárður bathed.

I have written about these locations in other travel-blogs about Snæfellsnes:

The Historical Laugarbrekka on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in West-Iceland 

In the Saga of Bárður, it is written that the settler Bárður and his men worshipped their heathen gods for luck when they came ashore in Djúpalón, but the Troll Church is in Dritvík, so I hope this is the Troll Church in question.

In my photo above you will see Tröllakirkja - the Troll Church in Dritvík. It is the one stretching into the sea.

There is yet another folklore in Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason, which I am going to tell you about. It explains to us why a certain cave west of Dritvík got the name Draugahellir or the Ghost Cave:

"There is a cave west of Dritvík in a location called Suðurbarði and Vesturbarði. The story goes that some men were in the vicinity of the cave (aboard a ship - RHR) and heard some noise coming from the cave, which sounded like verbosity, but the story goes that one or two of these men on the ship were from Helgafell (the same strong and hardy fishermen as in the folklore above - RHR).

Dritvík cove

One of them was on good terms with the daughter of the farmer at Hólahólar called Narfi (others call him Jón).  When they were in the vicinity of the cave they heard a strong man's voice saying a rime:

"Leiðist mér að liggja hér í ljótum helli;

betra er heima á Helgafelli

að hafa þar dans og glímuskelli"

Another man answered with rime and they heard him very clearly:

"Fer ég djúpt í fiskageim

fjarri hringasólum;

þó ég sé dofinn dreg ég mig heim

til dóttur Narfa í Hólum".

The entrance to the cave is from above and it is said that some of the corpses drift into the cave when the surf is high, and it has since been called Draugahellir or Ghost Cave".

(Roughly translated into English from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason).

A sea-monster shaped rock in Dritvík

Now, this was a bit difficult to translate, but I hope you get the meaning of it. The rime is in Icelandic, but it roughly says that the ghost in the cave is tired of being inside an ugly cave and that it would be better to be at home at Helgafell, dancing, and wrestling.

The other ghost is talking about him being deep in the realm of the fish and even though he was numb he drags himself home to the daughter of Narfi at Hólar. This is the story of why this place is said to be hunted.

On the beach, I found a monster-like lava formation, which looked like one of the sea monsters, which have been seen around Iceland, mostly in the Westfjords of Iceland though.

"Somewhere" hidden away between Dritvík and Djúpalónssandur there is an old labyrinth. We don't know how old it really is, but it is believed that the seasonal fishermen built it for fun, while they were on shore. 

It is not easy to find though. I have visited it and found my way through it, but as it is old and fragile, as it were, then I will just add a video of me trying it out here and not give directions to where to find it as too much traffic might ruin it. Don't you agree with me on this?

Below you will find links to my travel-guide of Snæfellsnes in 5-parts, in chronological order, with many side-blogs:

The Magical Snæfellsnes peninsula - part I

The Magical Snæfellsnes peninsula - part II

The Magical Snæfellsnes peninsula - part III

The Magical Snæfellsnes peninsula - part IV

The Magical Snæfellsnes peninsula - part 

This travel-blog is a side-blog to my travel-blog The Magical Snæfellsnes peninsula - part II.

Have a lovely time at Djúpalónssandur and please stay safe on the beach :)