Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.08.2004, Page 34

BREIÐAFJÖRÐUR: THE ICELANDIC
MEDITERRANEAN?by Valur Gunnarsson
Breiðafjörður means literally “wide fjord.” It was said that there were too many islands in the fjord to count, but modern science has
revealed these to be about 2800. People have lived on the islands since Iceland was settled. At its height in the early 18th century, some 70
islands were settled and islanders owned a total of 140 ships and boats. One historian has even likened the area to an “Icelandic Mediter-
ranean.” The last permanent residents moved away more than 20 years ago, but the islands are still used for summer houses.
It may not be a watery highway anymore, but there is still traffic there. The ferry Baldur operates between Stykkishólmur and Brjánslækur
on the West Fjords. And the company Sæferðir operates cruises on the fjord with its two catamarans, the ms Særún and the ms Brimrún.
OUTSIDE REYKJAVÍK
I got onboard the Særún. Our first stop was at a rock inhabited
by a colony of puffins. The catamaran got almost close enough
to touch them, but the puffins seemed unfazed. The puffin is
the country´s national bird, and, as locals will point out, there
are as many of them here as there are in the Westmans, even if
the Westman´s are usually thought of as puffin paradise.
The King of the Air
The puffin may be the national bird, but in the hierarchy
it still has to take second place to the white tailed eagle, the
King of the Air as it is often called. The white tailed eagle
became in danger of extinction as farmers used to mercilessly
hunt them down for attacking live stock. It has been protected
since 1913, and about 100 pairs exist on the island today. The
eagles only have one or two offspring a pair, and if their mother
doesn´t keep up with feeding the young, one of the chicks will
sometimes eat the other. Most of the remaining sea eagles nest
around Breiðafjörður or the West fjords.
Our guide told us that if we were in luck we might see one.
We were, for sitting on a cliff surveying its kingdom, an eagle
sat immobile. The suspicion arose that a dummy had been
planted there for our benefit, as the eagle seemed about as active
as a gargoyle on a hotel building. But finally its head turned,
putting such suspicions to rest. On a nearby rock, a second eagle
sat. The guide told us that the offspring has now reached almost
full size, and will no doubt be following in its father´s footsteps
and be found sitting immobile on a rock next summer.
Vikings, Executions and Shellfish
We now entered the history phase of the tour. Eric the Red,
discoverer of Greenland and father of Leif Ericsson, discoverer
of America, was from the area. When he was banished from
the mainland for manslaughter in the 10th Century, he took
refuge on an island and posted guards on the cliffs to warn of
approaching intruders.
In its heyday around the turn of the 18th century, the islands
were not only settled by farmers but also had a printing press
and, of course, an execution area. A rope was put around of-
fenders necks and then they were thrown into ravine off the
ocean, where they were left to rot as a warning. The fact that a
dead body on a cliff in the middle of the fjord could serve as a
warning attests
to the amount of
traffic that must
have been going
past here in those
days.
Having satis-
fied our intellec-
tual hunger, it was
time to attend to
the physical one.
A net-plough
was cast into the
ocean to drag
the seabed for
shellfish. The net
was emptied onto
a u-shaped table,
and all hands
started scroung-
ing on it for
whole shells while
we landlubbers
watched. The pile
of seashells, sea
urchins and crabs did not look particularly appetising as it lay
there, but when the seashells were opened up and their bounty
appeared, things took a turn for the better. Sea food doesn´t get
any more fresh than this.
The boat turned around, and completed the half hour trip
back to Stykkishólmur. Our ancestors may have been proud
seafaring people, but a two hour cruise at least allows you to
capture some of the feeling of life at sea
Exiting planned day tours and
custom made tours by your own wishes
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