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Date: 22 Jul 2007 21:50:00
Title: Vestmannaeyjar to Vik - puffin day!
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After breakfast at Arny's guest house in Heimaey, we checked the TAF's (terminal area forecast) for Vestmannaeyjar and Höfn. They were even worse than the day before: low overcast with even lower scattered clouds and chance of rain and overcast at 200 feet. So we thought we had little hope of making the 20 minute VFR flight to Vik today. So we asked Arny if we could stay another night - no problem.

Puffin on the cliffs at the west coast of Heimaey
Puffin on the cliffs at the west coast of Heimaey

Last time we visited Iceland in 1991 we had tried to fly to Vestmannaeyjar for 4 consecutive days without luck as it was in the fog all the time. The runway is at an elevation of 326 feet, so it is often in the clouds. So since we were here, we wanted to explore it a bit. First we walked along the cliffs at the western side of the island to admire the puffins. On Heimaey they catch and eat the puffins, so after our morning walk Angela had puffin for lunch in Cafe Maria in town as we were not sure whether we would stay another night.

Puffin for lunch in Cafe Maria, Heimaey
Puffin for lunch in Cafe Maria, Heimaey

Well, as we already discovered the day before, coastal weather in Iceland is rather unpredictable, and the low clouds had lifted and we could clearly see the coastline of mainland Iceland to the north and east. We called up Arny and cancelled our reservation and went for a walk in the lava fields east of the town which had destroyed 1/3 of the town in 1973.

The lava fields east of Heimaey dating from 1973
The lava fields east of Heimaey dating from 1973

By 4 pm we were at the airport and while refuelling the plane (cheap by European standards: 1.1 Euro per litre!) we got an SMS from Dorthe and Anna in Vik reporting fine weather there too and that they were all waiting for us at the airfield.
Rocks near Vik. Somebody flew through the hole in a light aircraft!
Rocks near Vik. Somebody flew through the hole in a light aircraft!


We were received at Vik airfield by Flemming's cousins Dorthe and Anna, Dorthe's husband Oddur and Anna's friends Thomas and Lone from Ry in Denmark. After landing, Oddur drove us to hotel 'Lundi' in Vik, where we stayed for 3 nights. 'Lundi' in Icelandic means Puffin, so it was a great puffin day!

Vik airfield. Angela, Oddur, Anna and Flemming
Vik airfield. Angela, Oddur, Anna and Flemming


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