Just when you thought the day trip to Heimaey which is planned for the 9th August couldn't get any better, it just did!
This is the day we will be taking the internal flight to the Westmann Islands (in seven seater planes!) to explore the island of Heimaey which had to be evacuated in 1973 when the volcano Eldfell erupted. We will be climbing to the top of the volcano and toasting our toes (and bottoms if we sit down) on the still cooling crater rim. We will also explore the lava flows which threatened the island back in 1973 and learn how the islanders fought ...... and won the battle against the encroaching lava.
I have decided to book a boat trip for us that day too. After lunch we will take a trip around the island to see the amazing cliffs and get superb views of the island's two volcanic cones. Heimaey is teeming with bird life and we will see at close quarters the puffin colonies where the baby birds (called pufflings) may be about to take their first flight. Rumour has it that they are literally pushed off the cliffs by the parent birds! If you click on the puffin in the photo you will link to an account of the 'nights of the pufflings'.
If we are very lucky, we may also see orca (killer whales). Hundreds of these whales come to the waters off Heimaey each year during the herring spawning season. They leave during the first two weeks of August. Some years they are there on the 9th, some years they have already left. Fingers crossed.........
