Expected weather: Hi 49F, Partly Cloudy

Seas: Calm\Moderate

Population: 4500 / 352,721

We awoke to a beautiful day and another interesting excursion. Now at our final port, we took the Viking included excursion “HEIMAEY ON FOOT”. This was another tender port as a volcanic eruption which occurred from January-June 1973 significantly reduced the width of the entrance to the harbor, nearly closing it off. That eruption was the focus of our tour today. The guide met our tour group on the dock to begin our tour. The Westman Islands, off the Southeast coast of Iceland and within sight of the mainland, consist of 15 small islands and only the largest is inhabited. Heimaey means “home island”, per our guide, who said his name in Icelandic means “Trustworthy son of the Ocean” (or something like that). He told us Icelanders tend to name things for exactly what they are – and we can trust him on that!

The Westman Islands are home to the largest puffin colonies, but we are too late in the season to get to see them. However, the young pufflings who aren’t ready for the big migration yet are still around and our guide had one that had been found in town that morning for us to see. Apparently, the streetlights at night confuse them into thinking the moon is simmering on the water where they are safe from predators, and they fly into town. The schoolchildren gather the lost pufflings every day and return them later in the day to their nesting areas.  

Our guide was only twenty years old, but he was well-trained and really enjoyed sharing the history of his island. We’ve had a lot of great guides over the past two weeks, and Trusty was yet another one. His grandparents, mother, and other extended family have shared with him many personal memories of the 1973 eruption which he shared with us as we traversed along the shore of the Harbor and through the lava field covering businesses and homes some 40-60 below where we walked. They have excavated many areas back to the original levels including the town cemetery using heavy machinery, then shovels, then finally used spoons – very much like an archaeological dig. This eruption was unexpected and created a new volcanic cone which they named Eldfell (Fire Hill). The eruption began in the middle of the night and luckily a couple of people out late saw the glow and then the lava started spewing. They called the police who thankfully didn’t take it as a crank call and investigated. They immediately began an evacuation of the entire island of nearly 6000 people. There had been a bad storm a day or two before and thankfully, the entire fishing fleet was in the harbor. The majority of the islanders was evacuated via the fishing boats crammed together with whatever they thought to grab as they left for the mainland. In the still rough seas from the storm, it took several hours for most to reach ports on the mainland. Many of the elderly and sick were evacuated via plane. Amazingly, there was only one direct casualty from the eruption. Approximately 300 remained behind to fight the volcano. Large pumps used to fight oil rig fires were brought in to try to slow and cool the lava flowing towards the harbor. Apparently, this was successful as the lava flow stopped but the harbor opening was reduced by 50%. When the eruption finally ended, Eldfell had risen 200m above sea level increasing the size of Heimaey by 20% but destroyed over 400 houses and businesses in the process. After a year, only about 2100 people had returned to the island and even today, the population has not quite recovered to the level of 50 years ago.

The nearly two-mile walk ended at the Eldheimar Museum built around an excavated house and opened in 2014, I think. Listening devices were provided for a self-guided tour covering the details and stories from the 1973 eruption and aftermath. The museum was very well done, and we were glad to have decided to do this included excursion. It is a lot of walking over uneven terrain and some pretty good elevations changes. When we finished, we were able to take a free shuttle back to the harbor to catch our tender back to the ship.

Final Afternoon and Evening

Sadly, our time onboard Viking Saturn is ending in the morning. The crew and staff were great. We ate lunch, then headed to get mostly packed as bags needed to be out by 10pm. That task mostly done, we had time for a last couple of games of cards before going to dinner in The Restaurant. Another fantastic meal there with a special repeat of the Cherries Jubilee from a couple of nights ago. Chef Clifford Fernandes had stopped by our table the evening before, and Keith told him he was disappointed that the Cherries Jubilee wasn’t on the menu again. The Chef asked if we were eating in The Restaurant the next night and said he would have it made for all four of us again! And he did! As I think I mentioned in a previous post, you really do need to be careful what you ask for as you just might get it!

We wrapped up dinner a little after eight, took our “final evening onboard picture” and headed back to our stateroom to finalize packing.

However, I couldn’t resist one final performance from Sasha, so I headed back to the Atrium / Living Room around 9. Only a few of the regulars were there, but Sasha noted that “her people” were there. She had taken a few requests from some of the regulars sitting close by, but looked right at me towards the end, so I jumped up from my cozy chair and approached and told her that I would like to hear her favorite piece to play when she just played for herself. She said something along the line of “Wow! That’s a new request!”. After considering for a moment, she said, “how about Bohemian Rhapsody?” I was stunned as back when I played piano a lot (40 years ago) that was my favorite piece to play! I said “Perfect”! And it was a perfect ending to another fantastic trip with Viking.