Iceland 8: Vestmannaeyjar 26-28 July

Heimaey - with Eldfell on right: created in the 1973 eruption

Thurs 26 July

We abandoned the Duster and walked onto the 30 minute Eimskip ferry to Heimaey, the largest and only inhabited out of the 15 Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands). 

anti-erosion measures on black-sand beach by ferry terminal

After checking into our hostel, we tackled the interesting Sagnheimar folk museum and then the fascinating Eldheimer museum - which details the 1973 eruption that buried 400 buildings under lava, including one house inside the museum that has been excavated from 50m of pumice.

Ben and I then walked up Eldfell, the 221m high volcanic cone that appeared on 23 January 1973, giving a clear view of the 30 million tonnes of lava which buried one third of the of the town and increased the size of the island by 2.5 km2!! Staggeringly, only one person died as - although there was no warning of the eruption - severe storms the previous day meant that the whole fishing fleet was in the harbour and therefore able to evacuate all of the 5,000 inhabitants.

View of town from Eldfell (created in 1973!) - with lava flow clearly visibly right down to the harbour.

Fri 27

Our weather charm worked again; perfect sunshine for our one day of hiking on the island. We followed the coastal path out to the southern end of the island

Five of the islands

Pirate cove is at the narrow isthmus, and is where Algerian pirates raided in 1627 murdering 36 islanders and kidnapping 242 (75% of the population) as slaves taken back to North Africa.

Isthmus, looking north towards the town,
with Pirate Cove on right (and glacier on horizon)

Then we strode up around the majestic, grass topped cliffs of the Storhofoi peninsula - plunging into the North Atlantic Ocean.  The Vestmannaeyjar islands has the worlds largest puffin colony in the world, and until recently, 60% of the world’s puffins bred in Iceland. Unfortunately there has been a huge decline in the south of the island, probably due to warming ocean temperatures affecting their food source of sand eels.

Sitting on the soft grass of the (worryingly) high cliffs and watching these cute, clumsy and endearingly comic birds with their high speed flapping and seemingly un-aerodynamic shape as they pile into the hillside delivering food to their young hidden in burrows is one of the most entrancing moments I’ve ever experienced.  Trying to photograph them in flight is also an excellent challenge!

Incoming, with a beak full of sand eels!

And also seals, and other birds (Barn?!)

Back to town, and Ben & I popped up Helgafell volcano for fantastic views, completing our 14km hike.

Eldfell (new) viewed from Helgafell (old), with Eyjafjallajokull behind

Time for a relaxing swim in the town pool with usual hot baths, and a cold plunge for the masochists amongst us.  After supper, we headed back out and climbed up from Herjolfsdalur (the site of the annual festival which is next weekend, and home of the first settlers on the islands) hoping to witness the lunar eclipse, but we were prevented by heavy cloud cover. We were however blessed with a stunning sunset

Sat 28

We popped into the tiny Natural History Museum before catching the 11.00 ferry, and stumbled across their rescue puffin wandering around!

We had a quick look at the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, which you can walk behind

Ben in black on the right!!

And then all voted to proceed to our AirBnB flat on the outskirts of Reykjavik and have a chilled evening of laundry, eating and Netflix!! Fatal - as Annie introduced us to Stranger Things and we didn’t get to bed until five episodes later @ 1am!