The Blue Lagoon has been closed since November 9th because of numerous earthquakes, followed by an expansion of the area because of an underground magma flow. The expansion has dwindled, and the earthquakes are now a lot smaller and have almost stopped. We are happy to announce that the Blue Lagoon will open again tomorrow.
As the scientists at the Meteorological Department in Iceland have now given green light to opening up the area around Grindavík, the geothermal power plant Svartsengi, and the Blue Lagoon, everything is slowly going back to normal. Well almost. Tomorrow, Sunday, December 17th, the Blue Lagoon will be opened along with the restaurant Lava, but the hotels at the Blue Lagoon won't open until later. It won’t be until the expansion comes to a total stop that people will be allowed to stay the night in the area. This also applies to the people of Grindavik.
The people of Grindavik can now visit their homes during the day but are not allowed to stay during the night. This will most likely change in the coming days because of how things have slowed down. The danger of an eruption in the area is a lot less now than before, but the scientists have predicted a few decades of earthquakes and eruptions on all of the Reykjanes peninsula, like those that took place 800 years ago. This means that living in Grindavik is going to be tough. After the 1973 eruption in Vestmannaeyjar, the Westman Islands, where 5000 people lived, only 2300 moved back after the eruption. Because of this, the mayor of Grindavik Fannar Jónasson, according to MBL, isn’t sure if everyone will move back after the damage to the town. Kids from Grindavik who are now in schools in neighboring towns where their families have been relocated probably want to finish the next semester where they are now. The first ones to move back will probably be those who don’t have kids.