Grandma Peacefully Drifts Off Out To Sea On An Iceberg After Deciding To Take Pics On It
We have all gone to great lengths to get that perfect travel photo, but one grandma may have taken it too far. Twenty-four-year-old English teacher, Catherine Streng recently shared with Twitter that her sweet grandmother had almost got washed out to sea in the unforgiving Icelandic waters, after the iceberg she was posed on got pulled away by a large wave. To the delight of the internet, Streng the entire dramatic tale in a thread, complete with pictures, making us all realize that maybe you don’t always need to flex so hard for the gram – you might just drown.
Steng works in South Korea, but has her family based in Texas. She was alerted of her grandma’s daring ice-capades by her dad, who sent a series of texts and photos from the trip. Frequent travelers, Streng told Buzzfeed the reason they were in Iceland was because her dad’s mother wanted to experience “the nature and beautiful scenery” of the Nordic area – and experience it she did.
The titanic event all went down at the Jökulsárlón Lagoon, located in the southeastern part of Iceland. Streng’s grandmother spotted a large iceberg shaped like a throne and decided this was the perfect photo opportunity. She sat on the ice and had her son take a photo, but things didn’t go according to plan.
In one icy swoop, grandma was off to sea, managing to stay atop the icy chair without falling into the cold Icelandic depths off the sea. “My father described [what happened] in the following way,” Streng told the outlet, and read one of the descriptive texts he had sent her:
“She ascended the throne after a wave had pulled back and left it briefly exposed on the beach. Then a wave washed in and dislodged the ice throne, rocking it from side to side. When the wave retreated, it lifted the dislodged throne throne and carried her out with the tide.”
Streng said her grandmother floated so far out to see that she required a formal rescue, and fortunately, there was someone around who could assist. Licensed boat captain and water rescuer Randy Lacount, from Florida, had witnessed the entire thing and jumped to her rescue. “He just happened to be onshore when the whole thing occurred, so he waded out into the roiling water and pulled her off the iceberg as it drifted out to sea, supporting her until they reached the shore,” said Streng’s dad.
Not to be deterred by a little ice mishap, Streng’s father and grandmother are still on vacation in Iceland. The teacher noted that several other people had successfully posed for iceberg photos without incident, but that grandma was just the “lucky one,” adding, “That’s just so something that would happen to my family.”
Since the story had a happy ending people in the comments found the whole ordeal hilarious
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Share on FacebookAnyone else finds it rather strange to read "lmaoo" all over when in fact this was totally irresponsible, might have killed the grandma, and put the rescuer at risk?
Every year, here in Iceland, tourists loose their lifes because of some dum behavior like this. Sometimes because they don't know how to drive on our roads, sometimes because they think that Iceland is a one big postcard, made for risky, but save pictures. Well it IS risky and it IS NOT save to "play" with the nature in this way.
Actually there are bunch of warning signs and other recomendations since so much stupid stuff has happened to turists in Iceland and the natives are fed up with the situation.
"Do not respect the local guidelines of behaviour" seems to be the motto here. Acting dumb, sharing photos of it, then bragging about it still only amounts to entitled dumb, nothing else.
What a story for generations to come but why would you continue to take pictures? This could have have been a tragedy. If you really wanted to get rid of Grandmother there are other ways.
Let's remove all warning signs and let Darwinsm do the work, not that the signs are working anyway with dumbass tourists!
Jenny, I agree that so many tourists are idiots. However, some of the dangers of Iceland are not so obvious to foreign visitors. I grew up very far from the ocean, and while I try to use good common sense and respect for the danger of nature, I still appreciated the warning signs (such as those about sneaker waves at Reynisfjara)
Load More Replies...Why is everybody goign on about the warnign signs??? The wanring signs just say Don'T swin and don't walk on floating (!) ice. She just posed on a piece of ice that sat on the beach! Like probably almost everyone of us would have done. That it got picked up by a wave is just bad luck.
Bad luck has nothing to do with it. Bad judgement is written all over it.
Load More Replies...This story is not funny. It could've gone terribly wrong for grandma or the rescuer. And why was dad taking pictures and laughing when his mum is drifting out into the ice cold sea?
Sounds like all fun and innocence. But at what cost and near disaster that could have happened. How much did it cost the rescue team to initiate the rescue. Probably thousands of dollars. And put the rescue team members in peril at the same time. Just for a fleeting snapshot. Pretty stupid. Especially when you consider that she is in a position to teach younger people how to use common sense and follow posted warning signs.
More funny peculiar than funny haha - look, i almost got killed and someone risked their life to save me, isn't that hilarious? Needs psych eval stat.
Icy cold and with treacherous undercurrents.
Load More Replies...♫♪ "Grandma got kidnapped by an iceberg"♪♫ ( to the tune of Grandma got run over by a reindeer)
I'm completely baffled by this...so they went vacationing to Iceland, went to a beach and there was clearly a sign telling them NOT to do something. But they did it anyway, and there was nearly a HUGE consequence that no one in the comments, much less the relatives of the grandma, seem to care about. It's just a big joke? And as she was floating out to sea the other dude did nothing but take pictures?
Why didnt she just jump off and get her feet wet instead of risking her life. Oh, and didn't gramma learn how to read? Warning signs etc.
She looks pretty elderly which means she would've been much more susceptible to icy cold waters than someone in their 20's.
Load More Replies...WOW bunch of trolls getting pissy at gramma for not heading a sign. stickler for the Rules huh? bet you guys are LOADS of fun at parties.
Grandma leads a full life! This is an awesome story and it’s good to see its upset so many s****y people. They deserve it!
Have you ever heard of copy cats? Would you find it equally entertaining reading about the next tourist to Iceland that tried to recreate the "I posed on an iceberg and it floated out to see"-selfie and died from the escapade? Have you really not understood how many people are losing their lives for selfies? Maybe what we are witnessing here is the selection of the fittest on speed dial, maybe it is even a good thing in the long run for the human species, but here and now it is a tragedy for their loved ones.
Load More Replies...Anyone else finds it rather strange to read "lmaoo" all over when in fact this was totally irresponsible, might have killed the grandma, and put the rescuer at risk?
Every year, here in Iceland, tourists loose their lifes because of some dum behavior like this. Sometimes because they don't know how to drive on our roads, sometimes because they think that Iceland is a one big postcard, made for risky, but save pictures. Well it IS risky and it IS NOT save to "play" with the nature in this way.
Actually there are bunch of warning signs and other recomendations since so much stupid stuff has happened to turists in Iceland and the natives are fed up with the situation.
"Do not respect the local guidelines of behaviour" seems to be the motto here. Acting dumb, sharing photos of it, then bragging about it still only amounts to entitled dumb, nothing else.
What a story for generations to come but why would you continue to take pictures? This could have have been a tragedy. If you really wanted to get rid of Grandmother there are other ways.
Let's remove all warning signs and let Darwinsm do the work, not that the signs are working anyway with dumbass tourists!
Jenny, I agree that so many tourists are idiots. However, some of the dangers of Iceland are not so obvious to foreign visitors. I grew up very far from the ocean, and while I try to use good common sense and respect for the danger of nature, I still appreciated the warning signs (such as those about sneaker waves at Reynisfjara)
Load More Replies...Why is everybody goign on about the warnign signs??? The wanring signs just say Don'T swin and don't walk on floating (!) ice. She just posed on a piece of ice that sat on the beach! Like probably almost everyone of us would have done. That it got picked up by a wave is just bad luck.
Bad luck has nothing to do with it. Bad judgement is written all over it.
Load More Replies...This story is not funny. It could've gone terribly wrong for grandma or the rescuer. And why was dad taking pictures and laughing when his mum is drifting out into the ice cold sea?
Sounds like all fun and innocence. But at what cost and near disaster that could have happened. How much did it cost the rescue team to initiate the rescue. Probably thousands of dollars. And put the rescue team members in peril at the same time. Just for a fleeting snapshot. Pretty stupid. Especially when you consider that she is in a position to teach younger people how to use common sense and follow posted warning signs.
More funny peculiar than funny haha - look, i almost got killed and someone risked their life to save me, isn't that hilarious? Needs psych eval stat.
Icy cold and with treacherous undercurrents.
Load More Replies...♫♪ "Grandma got kidnapped by an iceberg"♪♫ ( to the tune of Grandma got run over by a reindeer)
I'm completely baffled by this...so they went vacationing to Iceland, went to a beach and there was clearly a sign telling them NOT to do something. But they did it anyway, and there was nearly a HUGE consequence that no one in the comments, much less the relatives of the grandma, seem to care about. It's just a big joke? And as she was floating out to sea the other dude did nothing but take pictures?
Why didnt she just jump off and get her feet wet instead of risking her life. Oh, and didn't gramma learn how to read? Warning signs etc.
She looks pretty elderly which means she would've been much more susceptible to icy cold waters than someone in their 20's.
Load More Replies...WOW bunch of trolls getting pissy at gramma for not heading a sign. stickler for the Rules huh? bet you guys are LOADS of fun at parties.
Grandma leads a full life! This is an awesome story and it’s good to see its upset so many s****y people. They deserve it!
Have you ever heard of copy cats? Would you find it equally entertaining reading about the next tourist to Iceland that tried to recreate the "I posed on an iceberg and it floated out to see"-selfie and died from the escapade? Have you really not understood how many people are losing their lives for selfies? Maybe what we are witnessing here is the selection of the fittest on speed dial, maybe it is even a good thing in the long run for the human species, but here and now it is a tragedy for their loved ones.
Load More Replies...
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