Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HEIMAEY'S PUFFINS
Pu
ns
-
lundi
in Icelandic - are, without doubt, the most charismatic of Iceland's seabirds,
plump little auks with an upright build and pied plumage, all set off by bright orange feet and
a ridiculous sail-shaped bill striped yellow and red. This comical livery is compounded by an
aeronautic ineptitude: their method of landing seems to consist simply of putting out their
feet and stopping flying - bad enough to watch on water, but painful to see them bounce and
skid on land. Pu
ns also seem to get victimized by just about every other sea-bird species:
when feeding young, they fly back from fishing with their catch carried crosswise in the beak
like a moustache, a clear signal for gulls, skuas and even razorbills to chase them, hoping they'll
drop their chick's meal.
Until very recently, some two million pu
ns bred on Heimaey each year, excavating their
burrows and raising their chicks -
pu
ings
- in huge, dense colonies on the island's grassy
cliffs. Each August, all the adult birds depart Heimaey at the same time, and hunger draws the
pu
ings out for their first flight. Many then become confused by the town's bright lights and
fly, dazzled, into buildings; local cats get fat on this easy prey, but residents round up birds and
release them.
However, since 2005 the
pu
n
population
on Heimaey - in common with all colonies
across Iceland and the rest of Europe - has gone into serious decline, most likely because
warming sea water has driven away the
sand eels
(herring fry) on which they feed. In some
years adults have abandoned the young too early, while in others they haven't even hatched
their eggs. For the time being you can still see plenty of pu
ns on Heimaey, but unless the
situation changes it's likely that they might have almost vanished from Iceland within the
next decade.
2
of the lava, though it's hard to imagine this huge mass of sharp-sided, weirdly shaped
rubble moving at all, let alone flowing. Signs map out the original street plan 16m
underfoot, while engraved headstones and collections of little stones painted with
windows and doors mark where somebody's home lies buried.
Standalone House
Helgafellsbraut
Of the south end of Helgafellsbraut, there's an ongoing
archeological excavation
which is slowly uncovering some of the houses which were buried under ash during the
1973 eruption. Progress is slow, as it's a painful and emotive issue for many locals who
lived through the event, but at the time of writing one of the buildings had been
largely revealed and there was talk of an eventual on-site museum incorporating it, to
be known as the “
Standalone House
”.
Landakirkja
Kirkjuvegur
For a final idea of just what Heimaey's population went through in 1973, follow
Kirkjuvegur south from the harbour to black-roofed
Landakirkja
, the island's main
church. Enter the cemetery opposite through its arched, wrought-iron gates and on
the left you'll find the grave of Theódóra Jónsdóttir, whose 2m-high memorial is
topped by a statuette of an angel, missing a hand. Ash buried this to the angel's
thighs; it took Heimaey's residents over a year after the eruption to dig their town
out of the black drifts.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
HEIMAEY
By plane
The airport is a couple of kilometres south of
town; a bus or taxi meets all flights.
Destinations
Reykjavík (several daily; 30min).
By ferry
The ferry terminal is at the north end of
Heiðravegur. Ferries theoretically run daily to Landeyjahöfn
8.30am-8.30pm; though in winter, they might instead go
just twice daily to Þórlakshöfn.
Destinations
Landeyjahöfn (5 daily; 40min), Þórlakshöfn
(possibly 2 daily; 2hr 45min).
