Our planned ship excursion is to hike to Hengifoss Waterfall, anbout ann hour over the mountain from Seydisfjordur. Ann was enamored with the puffins, so she planned an outing to see them.
Click here for the ReLive video: https://www.relive.com/view/v26MzB2WW3q
4.77 miles; fog and drizzle.
The port is small and Seydisfjordur has a population of only 700, but it has a rich military heritage. The English came first in WWII, and then the Americans, so at one point there were 25,000 military personnel in Iceland out of the country population of 120,000. Seydisfjordur was home to a military hospital and a gas supply station.
Our chosen excursion with our Basque guide gave us the highlights before we headed off for the climb.
Litlanesfoss Waterfall is part of the way up the trail, and turned out to be the most impressive waterfall we would see that day. Unfortunately the fog was too thick to see Hengifoss when we were there.
The basalt columns aside Litlanesfoss were formed by lava that cooled slowly in a depression about 6 million years ago. The columns are frequently hexagonal, and here are slightly curved at the top indicating that the lava was still slightly in motion when the columns began to form.
Thank you, Ann, for sharing photos of the puffins that are ashore during June for breeding.
Look closely and you can see a ring in the water in this shot from our cruise ship balcony. Our guide had explained an WWII event that took place here when three German long-range bombers sank an oil tanker in the harbor. Tar-like black oil is still seeping out in the fjord, and the ring offers some protection.
5 Responses
Iceland is so much fun as long as the weather isn’t too bad. Looks like your’s is ok especially for early June. Keep enjoying this wonderful adventure you are on!
We have done pretty well on weather. It has been chilly but layers work well, and we can always warm up on the ship each evening.
No wonder Ann is enamored with the Puffins. They are so cute!! Coincidentally my neighbors Dean and Heather, who live across the street, just got back from Iceland. I had forgotten they were going there. Heather was walking her dog so I didn’t have a chance to ask for any details about what they saw, but next time I see her I will. Seems like Iceland is a very popular place to visit.
I would be very interested to hear how your neighbors picked Iceland as a destination and what they thought of it. Ann loved the puffins! There were too many choices that day, but we were also happy to have a walk, even if weather kept us from seeing the destination waterfall.
We saw puffins in the water, but not on land. They are cute!