Our plan for today was to drive to Vik (black sand beach) and then take the ferry to the Westman Islands. I also hoped we'd see interesting things along the way.
Vik: Black sand is a personal favorite feature of volcanic islands. This particular spot was also famous for the huge basalt stacks formed along the coast line. The columnar basalt forms when the lava cools where it meets the ocean, creating contractional joints or fractures. The beach near Vik is on the southern side of Iceland and the surf is very large and noisy. We thought we had experienced a lot of wind, but this location was insane. We took many pictures and it was hard to pick just a few for this blog entry. The overcast day felt appropriate for the bleak nature of the beach.
Vast
Bob in his red/blue jacket shows the scale
I couldn't get over the awesome rocks and sand.
A low stack, easy to jump on for a photo opportunity
It's impossible to get everything in, even in a panorama.
We posted many pictures on Facebook throughout the trip and many people noted our jackets. It was cool there, around mid-50s, especially with the wind and overcast sky. We had generally unseasonably warm weather in town, low-60s, and it was nice. We made good use of our rain jackets, and I always travel with a scarf just in case. It wasn't so much cold as it was windy, but I agree the pictures make it seem wintery. I would have benefitted from a hat or ear covers (at least) at Vik.
We left the beach and headed back the way we came. Our next goal was the ferry to the Westman Island (or Vestmannaeyjar). There is a ferry with regular daily service in the summer (May-September). I prebooked an Eyja Tours Volcano and Puffin tour on the island, so we needed to stay on schedule. Apparently you can also fly, but I liked the ferry because (a) who doesn't like a boat ride?, and (b) the dock is right in town and easy to walk to the tour spot, restaurants, etc.
From the ferry ride over. It was choppy and windy!
I definitely recommend the Puffin and Volcano Tour. The tour guide was a local and he had a ton of good information about the island, what it's like to live there, and the history of the devastating 1973 volcano. I loved driving around, including visiting the "windiest spot in Europe" (seriously how could this day get any windier?). We saw puffins (from afar) and so many fluffy sheep. The views were incredible and the volcano history was interesting.
On the tour, we stopped at a place with good puffin sighting opportunities. The white speck in the middle of this picture is a puffin:
Amazing views!
The next stop included lots of sheep and more wind!
Then we drove to a spot where we could closely inspect lava from the 1973 flow. As the tour guide pointed out, Iceland is built atop a series of active volcanoes - not really a good place to invest in real estate...
This picture, with the "fresh" lava in the foreground, also has a great view of Eyjafjallajökull - the mainland volcano that erupted in 2010, causing cancellations of flights all around Europe due to the ash.
After the tour, we walked up to the Eldheimar Museum. This is fairly new and very well done. It's built around the remains of a home that was covered and destroyed in 1973. It's partially excavated and displayed in a way that you can see the artifacts from a reasonable distance. All around the home, inside the museum, is a display explaining the timeline of what happened.
This little house is outside of the museum:
Lastly we walked back through town in the direction of the ferry.
We stopped for a local beer and snack:
Here's the little harbor. This village makes their living from fishing.
We had a long drive back, so while we enjoyed the scenery as we drove by we didn't do any more stopping. This is a good reminder to write travel blogs right away.. because a year later, I have NO idea what we did that night. Surely it involved dinner and early to bed, to get ready for the next big day of adventure.
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