The Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar Archipelago) comprises 18 islands and a number of skerries of which Heimaey (pronounced HAY-MY) is the largest and the only populated one (about 4000 pop.).
A lovely morning - again!
And very picturesque as we sailed into berth near the cliffs of Heimaklettur. Our cabin balcony looked straight out onto it!
We caught an early tender into shore into the town of Vestmannaeyjar and we set off to walk up Mount Eldfell - a 400 m climb through volcanic lava fields; we had it pretty much to ourselves.
Eldfell is a volcanic cone that famously erupted in 1973 without any warning. (* There is more info below - it is quite interesting!)
It was a pretty amazing walk. Great views in 360 degrees.
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Walked back down: a million different paths through the lava fields.
We go looking for the stave church Stafkirkjan. I have been waiting to see a stave church and finally we do. This one holds significant historical value as a gift from Norway to Iceland in 2000. It commemorates the 1000-year anniversary of Iceland's conversion to Christianity in 1000 AD by Olav Tryggvason, the King of Norway at the time.
Nearby, we stopped at a tiny medical museum. There was a serious neonatal tetanus epidemic in the Westman Islands in the 1800s (see below for more **).
Thought about going to the beluga whale aquarium - stepped into reception - hmmm, not so sure, so we decided to pass. But as we were about to leave, a group of young people came in with boxes: inside were baby puffins (‘pufflings’ !!) to be weighed. This may be our only chance to see a puffin!
It’s an annual tradition for children here to form “pysja patrols” to rescue lost and disoriented young puffins (which they call ‘pysjas’) that have wandered from their nests. The kids scoop up the confused birds and bring them home for the night. They then release them back into the wild. The pysja patrols save thousands of adolescent puffins every year.
Stopped for a coffee near the port. They had just run out of coffee beans (!) and rush out to buy more - no matter, we are not in a hurry (so long as the coffee is good). We have a tour booked for after lunch.
After coffee, we walked back to the port for our bus. The wind had come up and the sun had disappeared. It was freeezing. What a wonderful morning we had had!
The bus tour was very good. The island is tiny so it didn’t take long! Our guide was very interesting. Fishing is the big thing here (apart from tourism) as has been the case in all the places we’ve visited in Iceland.
When we finished, we were dropped off at the Eldheimar Volcanic Museum. This was excellent. The museum has been built around the remains of one of the homes buried by the 1973 eruption and is an immersive experience.
We decided to walk back to port and returned to the paths through the lava fields to do so - it was so pleasant as the sun had come out again!
Rainbow stairs!
Back on board, we tried to make out the puffins on the rocks up high on the cliffs near the ship but even through binoculars they are very hard to see. The Westman Islands are home to the world’s largest puffin colony but we are out of luck; we know they are out there but we can’t see them …
But we enjoy sitting on the balcony looking for birds … bathed in warm sunshine (!).
We are able to change our dinner in the only ship’s restaurant we haven’t yet been to: the so-called Chef’s Table. It was booked for tomorrow night but we explain that the time we’ve been allocated maybe difficult to make as our tour may be in later than scheduled. So we’re going tonight!
It was Korean-themed and although I’m not a fan when I find out this is what it is, I end up loving it: 5 courses (fortunately small!) with paired wines (exceptionally hard to do with such food but the matched are perfect). They look after me very well and remove any hot spices. A great way to end the day.
We are off to Reykjavík now for 2 nights - full steam ahead and the ship is rocking and rolling …
Walked 14 kms.
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* THE 1973 ELDFELL ERUPTION
There had been no volcanic activity here for 5000 years. The first signs were underground tremors on 21 January detected by a mainland seismic station. They had reduced by midday on 22nd and ceased by evening. But at 23:00 they restarted and a rift opened at 2 am about 1 km from the town. Within hours, it extended from 300 m long to over two kms and was shooting fountains of lava up to 150 m into the night sky.
Amazingly, less than 6 hours after the fissure opened, almost all of the 5,300 residents were escorted safely off the island, and by the end of the day, were resettled across Iceland. Only one person lost their life as a result of the eruption (due to toxic fumes).
In spite of that, much of the town was destroyed by lava or ash. 400 buildings were lost, the farms were poisoned, and all the livestock had to be slaughtered.
With Icelandic resilience and ingenuity, the heat still within the lava was used for energy and warm water, and thus geothermal heating system attracted worldwide attention at the time. It was used in the rebuilding of homes and the extension of the airport’s runway and in 1978 supplied heating for 90% of all housing.
** NEONATAL TETANUS EPIDEMIC
At the beginning of the 1800s , neonatal tetanus was a major health hazard on the Westman Islands, an archipelago immediately south of Iceland. Up to 60–70% of newborn babies died in the course of their first 2 weeks of life.
In 1847 the young Danish doctor Peter Anton Schleisner (1818-1900) was sent to the islands to investigate the conditions there. He established a maternity hospital, gave advice on hygiene and encouraged breast-feeding and a number of changes in diet. Since there was no known treatment, Schleisner's only option was to resort to preventive measures. He dressed the umbilical stump with balsamum copaivae and tried well-established methods such as opium tincture with saffron and mercurial ointment if there was any sign of infection.
By the time he returned to Denmark after 9 months, mortality had been halved.
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