Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.06.2010, Blaðsíða 42

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07 — 2010
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KEFLAVÍK
BORGARNES
STYKKISHÓLMUR
SNÆFELLSJÖKULL
DRANGAJÖKULL
FLATEY
NESKAUPSTAÐUR
BLÖNDUÓS
SIGLUFJÖRÐUR
BOLUNGARVÍK
HRÍSEY
NARSARSSUAQ
Greenland
FAROE ISLANDS
REYKJAVÍK
AKUREYRI
EGILSSTAÐIR
VESTMANNAEYJAR
ÍSAFJÖRÐUR
VOPNAFJÖRÐUR
ÞÓRSHÖFN
HÚSAVÍK
GRÍMSEY
KULUSUK
Greenland
Blue Lagoon
AKRANES Geysir
Gullfoss
Jökullónið
Kárahnjúkar
Krafla
Hallormstaður
NUUK
Greenland
ILULISSAT
Greenland
www.airiceland.is
CONSTABLE POINT
Greenland
Three weeks ago on the Westman Islands there
was one day when Eyjafjallajökull’s ash fell so
thick that everything outdoors was covered. Every-
thing. But the Grapevine arrived in Heimaey on
a sunny morning that belied the long stretch of
ash fall the town had braved until just a few days
earlier.
We could still observe the evidence—black ash
in neatly swept piles along the town’s roadsides, a
man mowing up a cloud from his lawn, smudged
sheep, but today there was a whole day of adven-
ture ahead of us, and the sky was clear.
On a morning boat tour of the archipelago with
Simmi Einarsson, of Viking Tours, we saw no sign
of the ash that would blow over the town later, forc-
ing us to postpone our f light home, and even go
to the police station to pick up plastic goggles and
face masks.
Simmi sailed us out of the narrow mouth of
the harbour past a boat digging out the new rock
that had been deposited from the island’s eruption
in 1973, out to the sea-carved cliffs of tuff and ba-
salt that constitute the fifteen Westman Islands.
Before lunch we had seen towering cliffs crowned
with green grass and grazing sheep, and more
birds than I’ve ever seen in my life—puffins, ful-
mars, kittiwakes, razorbills, and eider ducks. Oh,
and a pod of four killer whales right beside the
boat. “They know me,” Simmi said. No big deal.
SPRANGA
Later, Unnur Ólafsdóttir started our car tour of
the island with a little spranga, the traditional
cliff rappelling the islanders use to gather birds’
eggs from the cliffs. ‘Cliff rappelling’ makes the
experience sound more gadgety than it is. There’s
no harness and no helmet, just one old rope with
knots tied in it to make it easier to hold on. We
practiced low on a cliff face that local kids fre-
quent. One islander, José, demonstrated spranga
for us with the elegance of a dancer, f loating from
one perch to another with ease. Alas, the Grape-
vine was not so graceful.
Further along the island tour, Unnur had sto-
ries for every point of interest we passed: the site of
the first settler in Heimaey, the windiest point in
Iceland, a newly formed mountain and the homes
it destroyed, the scene of a pirate invasion. Then
the ash began to roll in from the mainland, blan-
keting the island.
Since the mainland volcano, Eyjafjallajökull,
had officially stopped a few days earlier, we
thought we were in the clear. We were wrong. But
the people of Vestmannaeyjar seemed impervi-
ous. Masked and begoggled tweens ran past us as
we trudged, perhaps a little dramatically, around
town, holding our coats to our faces. Perhaps it’s
because the town knows it can survive the worst,
as it did with the 1973 eruption of Eldfell.
THE ELdFELL ERUPTION
That eruption was a blessing and a curse, Unnur
told us. The lava and ash covered 400 homes and
other buildings, most of which will never be re-
covered.
But it was also a boon to the community, in-
creasing the Heimaey’s size by 2.2 square kilome-
tres and shielding the town and its harbour from
the elements. After the eruption, the warm lava
was even used to heat the town, and the pebbly ash
worked well as building foundation. One of the
airport runways is built over an old church and
cemetery, filled in with ash, Unnur said. The tour-
ism hasn’t been hurt, either, by the eruption story,
the new mountain, Eldfell, and the excavation of
covered homes, cheesily called the “Pompeii of the
north”. You can still see remains of some of the
houses that were crushed by the lava f low.
Heimaey’s deluxe swimming pool, a gift from
Norway to replace the one the eruption destroyed,
is one of the less obvious benefits of Eldfell. I am
not exaggerating when I say that the pool’s slide
where you coast down a steep drop onto a trampo-
line is the best slide I’ve ever been on. The swim-
ming pool is open until nine at night, so it was
a perfect way to relax and rinse the volcanic dust
from our ears at the end of the day.
LOCAL CULTURE
After the requisite swim, evenings in the sum-
mer are a great time to get a beer and walk around
town. When the sun sets, the young people come
out and drive around, ash or no. There seems to be
a strong youth culture in Heimaey. Several young
people told us that the kids here start drinking in
their teens, usually at friends’ houses. It’s unusual
for a teen over 16 not to drink. At the same time,
we got a sense that Heimaey is a close communi-
Travel | Westman Islands
More Like ‘Best Man Islands’
The Westman Islands—ashy but awesome
did you know? The Westman Islands get their water through a
pipe from the mainland. Fancy that!
“This has been a very closed
society for generations,” Heimaey’s
Mayor Elliði Vignisson explained.
“We have to be independent for
everything. It makes a very strong
identity.”