I didn’t blog yesterday because we were too busy familiarizing ourselves with the Viking Mars, our home away from home for the next 2 weeks. This 2 year old ship is stunning! And with 915 passengers, there’s never a crowd anywhere. We may never want to leave!
We sailed overnight to the tiny island of Heimaey. The pier is so small that we were transported by tender to the island.
Heimaey is sadly known for the volcanic eruption that occurred in January of 1973. The sea that day was very rough so the fishing vessels were all in the harbor that night when the eruption began. The 5,000 residents were alerted to the eruption and were told to grab what they could carry and rush to the harbor. Everyone miraculously survived but 1 person who stayed behind to rob a pharmacy. Reykjavik, the mainland, welcomed these residents. We visited the museum which housed the remains of one of the houses along with many enlarged photos of the destructive path of the volcano. Most homes were buried in the lava and the ash, along with a cemetery. The hillside we walked was overtop these homes and a pool and the cemetery.
The island is now home to about 4,000 people. Our guide related the story her grandmother tells of that horrific night when she grabbed our guide’s aunt and ran for their lives. Her grandparents and her parents never returned to the island. I can only presume the horror of that night has remained with them.
It took years to rebuild the island and the residents now share their home with about 8 million puffins and 2 beluga whales named Little Grey and Little White in their sanctuary.
The whales made their way here from Russia, then China and, finally Heimaey. We toured the sanctuary and got to see Little White close up. Our guide spends a lot of time with them but is going off to art school on the mainland. She gave them each goodbye kisses and told us it’s like kissing a very salty hard boiled egg!
She greeted us when we arrived at the pier by opening up a box and withdrew the most adorable puffin. We learned that the puffins aren’t really good flyers but that they come out about midnight as they are attracted by the lights of the town. They walk through town and are picked up by the children who compete to get the most puffins in a box. They bring them to the sanctuary where they are inspected. Some are injured. Others may need baths to remove oil from their feathers. Once they are fixed up they are thrown up in the air to begin their flight. Since they aren’t good flyers they need a boost.
It was a fun day experiencing this lovely island. Despite the harsh weather, our guide absolutely loves ‘her’ island. For us, it was yet another taste of the simplicity and beauty of Iceland.
Tomorrow we are off to a city on the east coast of Iceland where we will see a glacier and the Icelandic horses. Stay tuned😊
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