A bit of history lesson might be in order now. In 1963 until 1967, there was a volcanic eruption along the Mid-Atlantic ridge. An island formed where there was none before and since this was close to the Westmann Islands of Iceland, they got to claim it and named it Surtsey. I have always wanted to see Surtsey and visit it but no one but scientists are allowed to go there apparently. But I did see it today, from the air, and at quite a distance. Still, it counts that I saw it.
The Westmann Islands are a group of 15 or 18 islands and 30 rocks just off the coast of Iceland. For some reason, a lot of them have red hair but I couldn't get anyone to explain that to me. The history here: in 1973, in the middle of the night in late January, a crater opened and started erupting. Before long, about a mile long fissure was open with craters erupting all along it creating quite a line of fire. The islanders evacuated and no lives were lost except later when a man succumbed to volcanic gases that were accumulating under the houses in basements and such. The volcano erupted from Jan until July before it subsided and in that time, it swallow some 300+ houses under the lava flow. About 5000 people lived there then and about 4200 live there now. It is now mainly a fishing town but has a lot of tourism as it is also a major puffin nesting site. I wanted to see it as well as Surtsey so booked a small airplane tour to get there and then a coach around the island.
The flights both going to the island and coming back were great. It was quite a clear day so I could see Surtsey from the air. I could also see a river full of silica moving into the ocean and then a clear line in the ocean from the difference in salinity from the river. We could see into dormant craters as we flew and the coastline was gorgeous.
Upon landing, there is a company that takes you around in a coach to see everything. this really doesn't take very long as it is a small island. Some facts that are quite interesting: (1) some of the highest wind speeds have been recorded on the highest point of this island. (2) the third generation lighthouse keeper on this island also bands birds and has banded some 88000 in his lifetime of which 55000 were puffins. (3) your chances of catching a puffin with a band are 1 in 5000 because, thankfully, there are still that many puffins out there. (4) one of this man's banded puffins was caught and it was determined that the puffin was 42 years old! wow. I did not know puffins could live that long.
We also got stories from the driver. his puffin story went as follows: the female puffin comes to the nest three days before the male puffin and cleans it out. Then she waits for the male puffin for three days. If he doesn't show up, she goes and finds another male puffin. But if the first male puffin comes after awhile and she has already found another male, she will beat up the newcomer and kick him out. I do think he was kidding about this, wasn't he?
There are 600 sheep on the island and I think we drove past each and every one of them. We were lucky to see puffins flying because the puffin season is really over. these are the token puffins that say behind for the late coming tourists. couldn't get a photo though as whenever they landed, they went right into their burrows. and we were pretty far away.
We finally drove around to see where the lava flow had stopped in 1973. there are a few bits and pieces of houses sticking out of the lava. There is also a place where they are digging out a few houses for an exhibit. they don't have much dug out yet but it's very impressive to see what Mother Nature can do. I asked if they have volcano insurance on their houses now. He said they do but if your house cost 10 million kroner, then you must insure it for 15 million kroner.
Back to the mainland for my last night in Iceland. wonder if they deliver pizza.
The Westmann Islands are a group of 15 or 18 islands and 30 rocks just off the coast of Iceland. For some reason, a lot of them have red hair but I couldn't get anyone to explain that to me. The history here: in 1973, in the middle of the night in late January, a crater opened and started erupting. Before long, about a mile long fissure was open with craters erupting all along it creating quite a line of fire. The islanders evacuated and no lives were lost except later when a man succumbed to volcanic gases that were accumulating under the houses in basements and such. The volcano erupted from Jan until July before it subsided and in that time, it swallow some 300+ houses under the lava flow. About 5000 people lived there then and about 4200 live there now. It is now mainly a fishing town but has a lot of tourism as it is also a major puffin nesting site. I wanted to see it as well as Surtsey so booked a small airplane tour to get there and then a coach around the island.
The flights both going to the island and coming back were great. It was quite a clear day so I could see Surtsey from the air. I could also see a river full of silica moving into the ocean and then a clear line in the ocean from the difference in salinity from the river. We could see into dormant craters as we flew and the coastline was gorgeous.
Upon landing, there is a company that takes you around in a coach to see everything. this really doesn't take very long as it is a small island. Some facts that are quite interesting: (1) some of the highest wind speeds have been recorded on the highest point of this island. (2) the third generation lighthouse keeper on this island also bands birds and has banded some 88000 in his lifetime of which 55000 were puffins. (3) your chances of catching a puffin with a band are 1 in 5000 because, thankfully, there are still that many puffins out there. (4) one of this man's banded puffins was caught and it was determined that the puffin was 42 years old! wow. I did not know puffins could live that long.
We also got stories from the driver. his puffin story went as follows: the female puffin comes to the nest three days before the male puffin and cleans it out. Then she waits for the male puffin for three days. If he doesn't show up, she goes and finds another male puffin. But if the first male puffin comes after awhile and she has already found another male, she will beat up the newcomer and kick him out. I do think he was kidding about this, wasn't he?
There are 600 sheep on the island and I think we drove past each and every one of them. We were lucky to see puffins flying because the puffin season is really over. these are the token puffins that say behind for the late coming tourists. couldn't get a photo though as whenever they landed, they went right into their burrows. and we were pretty far away.
We finally drove around to see where the lava flow had stopped in 1973. there are a few bits and pieces of houses sticking out of the lava. There is also a place where they are digging out a few houses for an exhibit. they don't have much dug out yet but it's very impressive to see what Mother Nature can do. I asked if they have volcano insurance on their houses now. He said they do but if your house cost 10 million kroner, then you must insure it for 15 million kroner.
Back to the mainland for my last night in Iceland. wonder if they deliver pizza.
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