From the Faroes we sailed westward on our transatlantic course. After a sea day we anchored off the coast of Heimaey, Westman Island. I was there in June while on the Ovation for my spring cruise and I also had been there last August. The island is very small (only 5.2 sq. mi.) and the airport and 9-hole golf course and club cover most of the flat land. It is the largest of the Westman islands and the only populated one with a population of about 4500. It may be short on people, but it more than makes up for that in puffins. In the summer months there are approximately 8 million puffins who come here every year to breed and feed.
It’s a volcanic island and when I came last August I toured and wrote about the nearly catastrophic eruption which occurred in January 1973. Just to recap and refresh my memory, in that month the volcano blew and the lava flow destroyed half the town. The island’s inhabitants mainly rely on fishing and as luck would have it there was a gale at sea which had prevented the fishing fleet from going out. Most of the islanders were evacuated on the boats and 300 brave men volunteered to stay behind to try to stop the lava from closing the mouth of the harbor. Had that happened Heimaey would have become uninhabitable because the sole source of making a living (fishing) would be gone. With the help of massive pumps provided by the US Navy, those 300 men used cold sea water, something that apparently had not been tried before, to cool and solidify the leading edge of the fiery flow. Their efforts paid off and the harbor was saved.
Since I’d seen the sights on previous visits I stayed on board and had a nice sea day. We were anchored by some very dramatic cliffs. Actually most of the perimeter of the island is a series of cliffs so I'm uploading some photos from this and my other visits here. Because I think they're so cute I'm adding a couple of photos from last year of pufflings and puffins.
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| Look at all that black lava in the foreground |
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| Hawaii's black sand beaches have stiff competition here except it's too cold to swim |
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| The coast is pretty dramatic! |
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| Baby puffins, pufflings, routinely wind up stranded on land here before they have fledged and can fly. The islanders pick them up, tag them and place them back in the sea which is where they float around until they can fly. That's evidently the normal cycle of a young puffin. |
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| They are pretty cute! |
Today we docked in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. This was the end of the cruise for the majority of my fellow passengers. Only 155 of us stayed on for the next leg which ends in New York. It was a truly miserable day weather wise, cold, windy and raining. Adding to that today was Iceland’s biggest festival day with a marathon, half marathon, 5K run etc. and thus roads were blocked off. I didn’t have a tour booked because I’ve done most of what was offered and after looking outside my friends and I decided to park ourselves in Seabourn Square and have a relaxing day enjoying each other’s company. Around noon the new passengers started boarding for the next segment and we watched them getting acquainted with the ship. One of our group who had not been here before took the all-day tour and came back drenched. She is an eternally optimistic and cheerful person so she made the best of it and was glad she went.
Tonight we celebrated that lovely lady’s birthday. We had a special dinner and cake and did a lot of laughing so it was a good night. I confess that it was a little bittersweet for me because on this date, which was also a Saturday, 56 years ago I married my husband. I’ve been wishing all day that he was here with me.
When we set sail this evening the captain announced that we would be experiencing some rough weather tonight and he was right on the money. We’re doing a considerable amount of rocking and rolling which makes walking lots of fun. We all look like we’ve had way too much to drink. I think the forecast for tomorrow is for more of what we’ve had today so I may have yet another sea day in port. We’ll be in Ísafjöður at the northwest corner of Iceland and I was there in June too and have seen the sights to be seen. I’ll see what the morning brings.
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