Heimaey and the Westman Islands

Surtsey is the 2nd youngest island in the world.  Underwater eruptions between 1963 and 1967 created the island.   I remember watching a TV program when I was a small child about how it got created, and I've wanted to see it ever since.   Today it's a nature reserve where they study how various species of plants and animals colonize new land, so the general public are not allowed to set foot on the island.  But we did sail past.  Surtsey is the island in the background.

We docked at Heimaey, which is the largest of the Westman Islands and the only one that is populated (population 4000).   We had a quick tour of the island, including the area where the first settlers had built their homes:

I finally got to see a puffin.  We walked along a clifftop where the birds were nesting.   We weren't allowed too close though.  There was a small hut which had been set up to watch from so that tourists didn't disturb the birds.   It was fairly distant from where the puffins were nesting and although I got to see the puffins  flying around the darn things wouldn't stay still for long so this was the only photo I managed to get:

The puffin is the black and which smudge in the middle.   It's a crappy photo, but at least I did get to see a puffin, so I can tick that off my list now.   Baby puffins are called pufflings and towards the end of July they leave the nests to start exploring.  Their parents are often gone for 24 hours or more once the chicks are big enough.  The pufflings leave the nest at night (such small hours of night as they get here at the end of July) and head for the sea by searching for the reflection of the moon in the water.  However, some of them get confused by the lights of the town and end up there.   The local children have a Puffling Patrol, where they rescue the pufflings from the roads (and the cats) and take them in cardboard boxes down to the water where they release them.

Our coach managed to hit every red traffic light on Heimaey (there's only 1 traffic light on the island).

Our final stop was at the museum dedicated to the 1973 volcanic eruption on the island itself. A huge fissure appeared on a night in January and the whole population of the island had to evacuate on fishing boats.  No lives were lost.  The eruption of Edfell continued for 6 months.  Many houses were covered by the lava flow and it also threatened to seal off the harbour.   Water pumps were brought in from the US navy base at Keflavik and sea water was sprayed on the lava to harden it and divert the flow in another direction.   An area that was originally covered with lava has been excavated to uncover one of the houses and the museum was built around it with the uncovered house as its centrepiece.

Back on the ship we had the Captain's farewell cocktail party and dinner, even though this isn't the last night on board.  The  final stop on our cruise (Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon) will involve an 11 hour tour and we probably wouldn't be up to a gala dinner when we finally get back on board.