Heimaey, Iceland - Puffins and Volcanoes

July 27, 2025

Eldfell is on the far left of the town of Heimaey. The rocky outcrop at the left of the harbor was form by the lava from the eruption. Notice how if they had not stopped the lava flow, it could have completely blocked the harbor.

In 1973, Heimaey fought a gripping battle with the Eldfell (Hill of Fire) volcano. It caught the people of Heimaey by surprise as the local volcano Helgafell had long been dormant. However, that fateful night in January, a new fissure opened up near town spewing forth lava. Despite the unexpected danger, many residents took it calmly (perhaps from a mix of shock and disbelief). Our guide Trusty's mother remembers her parents sitting down to have a cup of tea and commenting on how the lava flow seemed to be missing the town. That soon changed though when the call to evacuate came. Luckily, the weather was poor so all of the fishing boats remained in town. They helped evacuate everyone in town safely. Score 1 for the town!

However, the lava flow soon reached the town, pouring through homes and threatening to close off the harbor which the town depended on. The Icelander's sprang into action. One remembered that lava cooled and hardened when it came in contact with cold ocean water. They rigged up an ingenious pump and pipe system and sprayed down the encroaching lava flow. Although it was neck and neck for a while, the citizens of Heimaey prevailed against the volcano. The flow was stopped and the harbor remained, albeit much narrower and paradoxically safer than it had been before. The new volcano, Eldfell (a volcanic cone was formed by the erupting fissure) now overlooks the town. The town itself grew by 2 square kilometers. Most of the Heimaey residents returned. Many had to dig their homes out of the ash. While living away from Heimaey during the five-month eruption, our guide's mother worried about her stuffed animals. However, when they returned and cleared away the piles of ash, she discovered her untouched bedroom with her stuffed animals unharmed and waiting for her. In the end, our guide reflected, the town gained more than it lost from the volcano. It gave them more land, lots and lots of building material, a safer harbor (the new formation formed a breakwater), and many tourists.

Eldfell today.

We enjoyed the sea birds as we approached Heimaey.

We most frequently saw the Northern Fulmar, a petrel who lives in the Artic regions. It's cousin, the Southern Fulmar lives in Antarctica. The name "fulmar" mean "foul gull" because these birds discourage predators by spitting stinky stomach oil at them.

We also saw some Northern Gannett.

Kittiwake were nesting in the crevices of the cliffs. Many were young juveniles.

Of course, the bird we were all on the lookout for was the Atlantic puffin. Heimaey has the largest puffin colony in the world. They looked quite tiny from the vantage of the ship, but if you look closely you can see them in their grassy burrows, sometimes near grazing sheep.

The scenery was beautiful with the geological formations and small islands created by the various volcanic eruptions throughout the years.

Scattered throughout were lone buildings perhaps used to watch over the sheep grazing on them.

One could imagine the lava flow creeping in the town and moving to close the harbor as we passed by the newest formation created by Eldfell.

Approaching Heimaey took some clever piloting. The Venture had to back into the narrow entrance guided by a pilot boat.

Once we made it through the tricky part, the pilot boat "parked" as our boat slid into the port.

In the quiet waters just outside of town, was the beluga whale sanctuary, home to Little White and Little Grey, two belugas rescued from a Chinese aquarium whose waters were too warm for the Arctic whales. We couldn't see the whales, but did see the cordoned off area where they lived.

I really enjoyed the tour of Heimaey. Our guide, Trusty (short for his actual Icelandic name), was very informative with a great sense of humor.

Our first stop was at the Vestmannaeyja Golf Club where golfers can play inside an extinct volcano crater. It is one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world.

They also have two reconstructed Viking houses to remember the earlier inhabitants of Iceland.

Finally, the crater is also the home of an annual music festival. The oldest and largest music festival in Iceland, it draws a huge crowd every year. The small town of 4,000 people grows to 200,000. We missed it by just one week!

We drove past "Elephant Rock" which was formed by one of the earlier volcanic eruption. The wrinkles from the basalt make it appear even more like an elephant quenching its thirst in the Atlantic Ocean.

We stopped at a scenic viewpoint.

A young man with a large net was walking along the hills above. He hunts puffins with the nets. Every August, baby puffins leave their nests and head to the ocean. However, they are distracted by the lights of Heimaey and must be rescued by the youth of the town. They capture the lost pufflings and then toss them off the cliffs into water. They use a throw similar to throwing a football to make sure the puffins fly out and land safely in the sea. Our guide is a veteran puffling rescuer. He was interviewed in a New York TImes podcast who had his metal band write a song about the annual puffling rescue.

Our next stop was my favorite. It was a puffin lookout! When the bus parked, below the small hill below the lookout, we also a wind surfer.

It was a beautiful sunny day and there were many puffins in their grassy burrows.

Our return to the bus gave stunning views.

On our drive back to town, we got a good view of Surtsey, an island that rose out of the ocean birthed by a 1963 volcanic eruption. No one except scientific researchers are allowed on the island as it is being used to study how a baby island develops as plants and animals make their home on it.

Surtsey is the more distant island in the middle.

Nearby were the Smaeyjar Islands - literally the Small Islands.

We made a brief stop by a plaque remembering the 1973 eruption of Eldfell with some of the equipment used to battle the encroaching lava whose hardened remains can also be seen.

Our final stop was the volcano museum dedicated to Heimaey's battle with the volcano in 1973. They built the museum around one of the houses destroyed by Eldfell.

The wheelbarrow of spoons symbolizes the painstaking efforts of the people as they doggedly dug out their homes and business from the ash.

From this view as we left the museum, you can see how the new harbor was narrowed by the new volcanic cliffs on the right.

If you look closely, you can see our ship, the Venture.

While I was touring Heimaey, Brent rode an ATV to the top of the volcano.