Iceland - Beautiful Nature and (some) Wildlife

[bartleby]

My wife and I have developed the safari/wildlife bug after having traveled some as a couple and noting that our main interests centered around seeing animals in the wild. Iceland is relatively accessible from where we live and we've long held an interest in visiting. Here is our trip report and attempts at seeing some wildlife (aka puffins!)

 

Iceland is interestingly barren as far as land mammals go. To my knowledge, the only native land mammal is the arctic fox which I think is difficult to find unless you visit the Westfjords which most people don't do during their first go-round to Iceland. There are, of course, whales surrounding the island and many whale watching tours will advertise pretty good success rates. To best time whale watching, the summer months are ideal. We are avid whale watchers and did not think Iceland would likely offer better whale watching than what we have seen in Alaska, Hawaii, or California so opted against doing any dedicated whale watching. Interestingly a town in the north, Husavik, does get visiting blue whales during the summer although I think the chances of seeing one there are still slim. There are many sheep and horses throughout the island, although none of these are technically wild. Anyways, the main animal of interest would be the puffin. We have seen puffins in Oregon and Alaska, however Iceland offered the opportunity for up-close viewing and large puffin colonies. The timing of our trip was not ideal for puffin watching (late August) as many have started to leave the mainland by then so we were a bit nervous prior to our departure. 

[bartleby]

We arrived in Keflavik early morning and made our way through the terminal to the rental car area. We had rented a car through Blue and the check-in process was very easy. The keys were in a lockbox and the car was waiting for us outside. It was a very windy and rainy day and this was the view that greeted us on arrival. 

 

 

We had decided to explore the south coast for our first few days. We got the car, some pastries and coffee from a keflavik bakery (these Kaffihuses exist everywhere) and hit the road. I typically will get sim cards however opted for getting an in-car wifi hotspot since there were two other passengers and this trip was predominantly car based. This worked out very well for us. We headed straight for a town called Vik where we had an airbnb, passing several well known waterfalls that we planned to catch on the way back to Reykjavik. We arrived in Vik and got some pizza at the Black Crust Pizzeria and then settled into our airbnb. After a short nap, we checked out Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon. The rain was really coming down now so we were thankful for our rain jackets and pants. It was a short hike to the "famous" viewpoint of the canyon which was stunning in this weather.

 

 

 

Cold and wet after our hike, we headed back to town and got some soup at the Soup Company in Vik and retired to our Airbnb. 

[bartleby]

The rain finally cleared by the morning and we were greeted with a lovely view. 

 

 

Eager to get the day started, we headed over to the famous Reynisfjara black sand beach. It was a hauntingly beautiful place, with deep black sand juxtaposed against the striking blue of the ocean, green cliffs in the distance, and steel gray basalt columns. The wind was whipping all around and pelting us in the face with the sand so it made it difficult to explore much of the beach.

 

 

We took our leave and headed to a lookout called Dyrhólaey which has a wonderful view of an arch. The birdlife is supposed to be excellent here in the summer, including puffins and arctic terns. Sadly we did not see any, but the views were magnificent.

 

We continued along our intended path toward the Snæfellsnes Peninsula passing by the famous waterfalls skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss. They are both very easily accessible from nearby parking lots. You can climb to the top of Skogafoss and get a view looking down the waterfall. You can also apparently walk behind the waterfall on some days, although the water level was too high to do this from the recent rains. 

 

 

We then continued out path toward the peninsula and landed at our Airbnb in Grundarfjörður. 

[bartleby]

The peninsula has several well described stops that people will typically complete a circuit around. One of our first stops of the day was the ytri tunga becah, which has a well established seal colony. It is one of the best places to see harbour seals in the country. This, again, was very accessible from an adjacent parking lot. You walk toward the beach and around some slippery rocks with kelp (saw several people slip and fall here) and then we got good views of several lounging seals on the rocks and many in the water. Sorry not the best iphone photos, but you get the idea. We spent about an hour here with the seals and then headed out to complete the circuit. 

 

 

There were several other stops along the way including other waterfalls, a very pretty church, some craters and a trip through Thingvellir National Park. There is a town called Ólafsvík that has whale watching tours that advertise good success of seeing orcas in the summer months. The tour operators sadly did not respond to my inquiries re: seeing any of the orcas in August. I believe they see sperm whales in this area as well. We ended our day visiting the famous (featured in game of thrones) Kirkjufell mountain. 

 

[bartleby]

Our next day was spent backtracking toward Reykjavik. We checked into our airbnb and spent the day exploring the town. It has a nice downtown with the famous Hallgrimskirkja and nearby rainbow road. Prices of downtown dining were comparable to scandinavian countries I would say. 

 

 

The following day was the most exciting for me was we would be visiting the Westman islands! Vestmannaeyjar is an archipelago off the south coast and the most frequented island is Heimaey. There is a ferry that departs about a two hour drive from Reykjavik (we should have planned this when we were staying close to Vik...) that you can prebook either as a passenger or as passengers in a car. I think it can technically book-up but we had no trouble booking several days before. It was a pleasant 40 minute ferry over to the islands with beautiful views as we got closer. 

 

 

The island is home to the largest Atlantic puffin colony in the world and I was hoping we would still be able to see them here. We arrived at the time of year when the pufflings are leaving their burrows and (should be) heading out toward the ocean. Unfortunately for some, the bright lights of the town can be confusing and they turn inward toward the island instead. There is an adorable tradition of the children of the town helping to capture the puffins in cardboard boxes and take them back toward the ocean to release them. We got to see some pufflings in cardboard boxes being taken around the island which was very cool. Luckily, there were hundreds of puffins still along the cliffs of the island, particularly near an area called Stórhöfði where there is a shack and viewing platform. We were exceptionally close to them and saw them leaving their burrows to fish and bring back to their pufflings. We stayed here for about two hours, completely immersed in these animals (and the nearby sheep).

 

 

 

We finished up our time on the island by checking out the beluga whale sanctuary and then taking the ferry back to mainland where a two-hour drive back to Reykjavik awaited us. 

[bartleby]

Adding some non-iphone photos of the harbour seals

 

[bartleby]

The non-wild sheep and horses can be found throughout the island

 

 

[bartleby]

And, of course, the puffins!

 

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful photos - thank you for sharing. 

[TonyQ]

I am really enjoying reading about your trip to Iceland. Lovely photos of scenery and the wildlife 

[Miss Biscuit]

Love the puffins! Thank you for sharing. We went to Iceland last September (left a year ago today actually). It's so beautiful.

[PeterHG]

Beautiful scenery photos! We went to Iceland last June and did indeed see Sperm Whales on a whaling tour from Olafsvik and a pod of Orcas when we were sitting on the rocks near the lighthouse on the western tip of the peninsula. I’m glad you still got to see plenty of puffins. Lovely story about the rescue of the puffin chicks.

[bartleby]

On 9/13/2023 at 4:56 PM, michael-ibk said:

Beautiful photos - thank you for sharing. 

Thank you for your kind words. Iceland is a wonderfully easy place to photograph, especially for amateurs like ourselves haha. I have thoroughly enjoyed your TRs on the forum! 

[bartleby]

On 9/14/2023 at 4:50 AM, TonyQ said:

I am really enjoying reading about your trip to Iceland. Lovely photos of scenery and the wildlife 

Thanks Tony. I have enjoyed your contributions to the forum and hope to be able to provide similar content in the future! 

[bartleby]

On 9/16/2023 at 7:11 AM, PeterHG said:

Beautiful scenery photos! We went to Iceland last June and did indeed see Sperm Whales on a whaling tour from Olafsvik and a pod of Orcas when we were sitting on the rocks near the lighthouse on the western tip of the peninsula. I’m glad you still got to see plenty of puffins. Lovely story about the rescue of the puffin chicks.

That's wonderful. I was very interested in a tour from there since I understand they mostly see humpbacks on the Reykjavik tour however the timing wasn't quite right. 

[shazdwn]

Thanks for sharing.  We have four nights in Iceland after and Arctic trip next July and I was debating whether or not to include the Westman Islands - I think I am now sold