Heimaey is the only populated island in the Westman Islands and has stunning scenery with volcanic landscapes and steep grass covered clifftops falling directly into the ocean. But we would be able to see any of that? The answer was yes! After cloudy days ever since we left Greenland and continuing through to our visit to the black sand beaches of Djupivogur, we awoke to the sun streaming into the cabin.
We were due to anchor at 9am and so plenty of time for breakfast and catching the views approaching the island with its two volcanoes, one that erupted violently in 1973 and the whole population had to evacuate on the small fishing boats as the lava rushed towards the harbor. The harbor was in danger of being totally blocked by lava and only endless spraying of seawater over the advancing lava stopped it in its tracks along the water’s edge.
The Westman islands are not too far from the coast of Iceland and, looking back, we could see the snow-capped mountains on the mainland behind one of the small, now uninhabited, islands.
There is a hunting lodge still visible on the central plain, which was built in 1953. But hunting what, I wonder. There are many, many puffins there, but surely, they weren’t the prey!
The harbor is too small to allow the entry of a cruise ship and so we anchored in the deep water in the shadow of this large headland. There is a trail to the top of this, but it starts with a climb up a rope, I believe and I decided that it wasn’t for me!
There were many birds nest in all the nooks and crannies of this rock, which made for fascinating watching later in the day after our tours. We had taken the included tour, Snapshots of Heimaey. There was an interesting “Heimaey on foot and hike the Eldfell Mountain” which as I’ll explain, I’m glad I didn’t sign up and pay for that one.
The included tour was by coach and drove us around the main sights on the island – the scene of an annual concert in the shadow of a large concave cliff and then the famous Elephant head on the headland by the golf course.
This would have been too far to walk and illustrates that the included tour is often quite a good option. We didn’t get off the coach at this location and so I took the photo through the window.
The main destination after the coach tour is the town museum which is new and covers a great deal of history around the volcanic eruption in 1973 which happened at night without any warning. The museum was built around one of the homes that we engulfed by lava, and it still stands inside with the lava settled throughout the rooms of the home. Videos and photographs of the night with flames shooting into the air show just how frightening it must have been to be caught on a small island with a monstrous eruption happening less than a mile away.
We then had a choice – go back into town on the coach, stroll down to the harbor on foot taking in some of the sights – the houses that escaped the lava, mainly – or head up the mountain, which, of course, is the option I chose.
The path is pretty clear and meets a trail from the town that winds up the slopes of that Eldfell volcano. Here is the view back into town as I joined that trail. The volcano museum is just under the flowers on the left, so not too far.
As you can see, the Alaskan Lupines arrived here as well!
The volcano is still ash all the way to the summit with a trail that has been smoothed out and the whole climb took perhaps 30 – 40 minutes.
The view from the top was pretty spectacular and I met the Viking tour group that had paid for a walk up the volcano at the top. That helped a little – they congregated around a rock in the ground, and I noticed that it was warm from the heat of the volcano underneath us – so I learned a little more!
The walk down was on the same trail as before, but I took a more direct route towards the harbor and came across an area of the old town that was completely buried by the lava. The wooden signposts indicate what is buried beneath the ground.
Back in the town, I took the tender boat to the ship – time for afternoon tea, I think! This was the prow of one of the large trawlers docked in the harbor seen through the open door of the tender.
And there was time for more! The ship was leaving around 6:30pm and so we went back into town to see the aquarium and the Beluga whales that are rescued here and allowed to swim out in the bay in an enclosed netted area.
We still had time (and the energy) to stroll back through the town to the church and cemetery that had been at the center of the eruption all those years ago. There is a famous photograph of the gateway to the cemetery with flames shooting high into the air above it. This is the church now with the volcano behind.
And, finally, we walked through the cemetery, down through the town park and the main street back to the harbor and our ship. Unfortunately, this was our final evening on the ship, and, if you recall the first episode of this adventure, we had to be up very early to get an Uber to the airport and catch our re-arranged flight to London Heathrow to continue our vacation in England, with a trip to the Isle of Wight. Perhaps that is going to be the subject of another article soon.
The ship departed on time and there was still an opportunity to gaze back at these islands as we sailed toward Reykjavik and the end of our cruise from New York to Iceland.
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