Travels with Dan

Puffins in Iceland

We’d missed out on seeing puffins in the Faroe Islands, and while I’d seen them in Newfoundland, when we saw an advertisement for a puffin tour in Iceland, it seemed like a good opportunity to see them.

We checked out of Hotel Skaftafell on Tuesday morning then drove up the road about 20 minutes to the turn off point for the Ingólfshöfði tour. Ingólfshöfði is a headland that’s not really accessible to regular vehicles. The tour takes you on the back of a tractor-pulled trailer, across black sand marshes to the cliffs where you climb to the top to see the birdlife.

We were lucky with the weather as the sun was out; the downside was the strong and cold wind buffeting us. We once again put on multiple layers of clothes and then waited for the tour to start at 9. Glen got locked in the triangular outhouse (the lock had fallen across the door) and though he shouted and banged to be let out, no one came to his rescue. He managed to get out using one of the legs on his glasses, my own McGyver. I admit I laughed a lot when he managed to free himself and tell me what had happened.

There were 15 of us on the trailer being pulled along. The wind was strong and cold, which made for a bit of a tough half-hour ride. Apart from a slightly deep section at the start, the way was mostly across dry sand or through about an inch of water. It was all black sand.

We arrived at the cliffs and climbed the sandy beach to the top where the guide led us around the headland. First up we saw the big skua, which was a big brown bird that, we were told, had a habit of flying into people for shits and giggles. We were told to stick together as a group but we were soon a ragtag bag of stragglers ripe for bombardment. Fortunately (unfortunately?) we weren’t attacked. Probably just as well. They’re damn big.

It wasn’t long before we spied our first puffins as they dropped off the cliff and flew out to sea then returned with a mouthful of fish clamped in their beaks. They must have had young in the burrows close to the edge and I was worried that they were more worried about us than going to feed their young.

They’re stunning birds and being able to see them again was awesome. The further we went around the cliffs, the more we saw, getting much closer to them than I ever had before. They posed beautifully.

In addition to the puffins we saw a seagull type bird and them another penguin-looking one as well (gamali?), and finally some sheep. After about an hour and a half we returned to the tractor and were driven back to the starting point, the wind less biting this time, but it didn’t really matter as we sat down on the return and were well sheltered.

Overall I was thrilled with the tour—plenty of opportunities to see puffins and we weren’t disappointed.

Afterwards we had a long drive back to Reykjavik. We shared the driving, stopping to take photos of the purple lupins covering the sides of the hills/mountains, grabbing some drinks in Vik and then stopping for ‘magical’ langoustine soup about 45 minutes outside of Reykjavik. No hallucinogenic effect but it was tasty.

We arrived in Reykjavik around about 6pm, our accommodation in ‘downtown’ Reykjavik, in a very touristy area. We managed to find parking and then checked in. Iceland was playing Croatia in the World Cup and there was a big screen set up in a square just round the corner.

Neither Glen or I follow ‘The Sports’ but when in Rome… We caught the second half of the match. There was a small crowd there, a mix of Icelanders and tourists. One Icelandic woman kept trying to get a chant going; it was a bit strange.

Anyway, we watched the second half, cheered when Iceland scored a goal. When Croatia scored their second, it was pretty much over. The crowd turned sombre and as soon as the whistle blew, everyone left. The screen was gone by the next morning.

We went for dinner and then had a relatively early night, the sun still shining and infusing the room with its glow. Blackout curtains would have to be one of my favourite things.