Daytrip to Heimaey

2019-08-11Finnur's family Standard

[Photos taken on 11 August 2019, posted online 29 March 2020. Iceland has 1020 cases of confirmed Covid-19, and the news offer few bright spots. The weather however may be turning towards spring… ish. ]

Finnur and his siblings decided to give their parents a ‘trip into the unknown’ in 2019 to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, and 2018 yule. It took a while for the planning to start, and in the end not everybody could make it on the designated date, but it was a ‘now-or-never’ situation so off we went!

We managed to fit everybody into two cars, and drove off early in the morning towards the ferry that sails between “the mainland” and the Westman Islands, off of the south coast of Iceland. (85-ish images total)

Sunday 11 August 2019

Adventurous day-trips require early starts, this is at 08:20 in the morning!
We drove along the south coast, and at every single junction Finnur pretended to be about to turn in an attempt to fool his parents as to where we were headed.
At 10 am we’d made it to the line for the ferry, Herjólfur, at Landeyjarhöfn.
Herjólfur is now electrified, i.e. runs off of batteries, although it’s taken a while to get the charging facilities switched from oil-run generators to grid-power. It did make for super smooth sailing, as the ship didn’t shudder and shake like most ships do.
The view from the deck to Eyjafjallajökull. There was a lot of sand blowing from inland to the ocean, and we ended up sailing through it on the way back. Those machines are used continually to keep the dock open, as a nearby river keeps filling it with silt. It’s a rather huge design flaw.
The ferry was quite packed.
The travelers (minus myself).
The Westman Islands are a collection of islands, but only the largest one is populated.
Approaching the largest island, Heimaey. The entry to the dock is to the left of the large rock.
Phones up, as we sail into the harbor area. That side of the entry way is covered by lava from the Heimaey eruption of 1973.
Getting a glimpse of the town.
The scenery is really quite something.
About to dock.
We had planned to go on a sail around the island, but it was too windy, so we just drove around for a bit until it was time for lunch. The places we drove to: Herjólfur -> Stórhöfði -> Golf Club -> Herjólfsdalur -> Slippurinn (restaurant) -> Eldheimar -> Herjólfur. It’s not exactly a large island.
Driving towards Stórhöfði (Big Cape), the southernmost and windiest part of Heimaey.
Reading time.
The honorary guests.
The weather station and antennas up on the hill.
We drove back a bit to where the was a scenic walk and bird-watching point.
Better read the warning sign.
Mehhhhh…
Posing in front of the little stip of land connecting Stórhöfði to the rest of Heimaey.
Walking.
Bird-watching hut up ahead.
Inside the hut.
A puffin in mid-flight.
I was nowhere close to having the right gear to get decent photos of the birds, but the view was really quite something.
Mother with her female offsprings.
Finnur taking up lots of space to make up for his brother who couldn’t join us that day.
Research posters!!!
Like, seriously!
I was the last one out.
Obligatory selfie.
When I found the group again, they were busy photographing sheep!
Finnur surrounded.
Next stop was the Golf Course, mostly to check out the elephant cliff.
The Golf Club House.
Looking over the golf-course into Herjólfsdalur (Herjólf’s Valley) where every year there is a huge festival during the first weekend in August.
The elephant and the time.
Oh, those days when you wish you had a tripod, but you don’t.
Some pretty rock formations.
Back in the actual town, walking to our lunch-time restaurant.
This town is all about fish.
Oooh, swanky!
At our table.
Happy times.
As we were leaving, I roamed around the place a bit, and found this super cosy corner.
The final item on the Heimaey-agenda was to visit the Eldheimar museum.
Getting set up with the audio-tour.
The center piece of the museum is a partially excavated house that got dug under during the eruption of 1973.
Kind of amazing. That was the living room.
The house in the background, as we’d moved on to video displays.
Finnur’s dad was one of the cinematographers who took videos of the eruption.
The house from yet another view.
I don’t think anyone perished in the eruption, as multiple ships and boats were dispatched to get everyone off the island as soon as possible.
On the upper level are displays relating to the Surtsey eruption in 1963.
The view from the upper level.
Black stuff everywhere.
The museum overlooks the town.
We had a little bit of time before needing to get back to the ferry for our ride back, so we ate some refreshments.
Hiding behind the wall was another ex-house.
The wind had shifted direction a bit so the sandy mist from the “mainland” was now covering the island.
We took the long way around to the harbor, driving past the volcanos.
Tourists in our own country.
Waiting in line at the ferry for the 5 pm departure.
I always find it weird to drive inside ships.
Got a sweet parking spot at the very front!!
Chipper siblings.
And off we went…
The volcanic eruption threatened to close the harbor but it was stopped by pumping cold water onto the lava!
It was windy and sandy.
Looking back.
Valiantly taking photos.
Goodbye Heimaey.
Waiting for the door to open.
This was the first long trip we’d taken on the big electric car, and as I was doing the km math, I realized we’d probably be very close to empty by the time we’d get home, so we stopped and gulped a few electrons for 15 minutes.
Happily we could kill some time looking at tourist junk.
Oh look, a very busy antenna tower!
We stopped in Stokkseyri for dinner at Fjöruborðið (At the seaside).
Hilarously, they had the same dinner-ware set that we do at home!!!
Lobster for all!!
Good stuff.
Slowly, but surely, the shells piled up.
Shockingly, we finished all the lobster!
Finnur full and happy!.
Soon it was time to pay up and head out, and drive home after a great day! (And yes, we made it back to town with something like 10-20 km to spare, phew!)