Grundarfjörður
Friday morning saw us arrive off Grundarfjörður at 07:30am on a sunny, cool morning with the temperature around 10c. We are anchored today so will be going ashore in the ship’s tenders. Grundarfjörður is a town in the north of the Snaefellsnes peninsula in the west of Iceland. With a population of around 900 it is situated between a mountain range and the sea. The nearby mountain Kirkjufell forms a small peninsula. Several scenes from the popular TV series Game of Thrones were shot in this area. Kirkjufell (“Church Mountain”) is a 463 mhigh hill near the town of Grundarfjörður. It is claimed to be the most photographed mountain in the country.
About 30 of us met at 10:15am for our tour to Melrakkaey Island. Taking the tender ashore we then transferred to our small boat run by Láki Tours. We had 4 local guides onboard to help us identify the various birds on the island. The weather remained partly sunny and dry as we travelled the 20 minutes out to the small island of Melrakkaey, directly translating to ‘Fox Island’ in Icelandic, it is a small protected island located at the mouth of Grundarfjörður Bay. Designated as a protected area in 1971 due to its exceptional birdlife, the island serves as an important seabird nesting sanctuary. Access to Melrakkaey is strictly regulated, requiring permission from Iceland’s Environment Agency, and all hunting is prohibited within two kilometers of the island. The island’s tall columnar basalt cliffs provide ideal nesting habitat for numerous seabird species, including the Atlantic Puffin. We were able to sit up on the open top deck so had a good view. The island is very low lying, and we were able to see various birds nesting on the rocks as well as flying around. Puffins were the most anticipated birds and we saw a few, but most have now gone back out to sea as the breeding season is over. We saw some flying and in the water. The Atlantic Puffin is a small, stocky bird with large beaks and short wings. They usually fly fast and close to water. Predominantly black and white they have bright bills during the breeding season which fades as they head back to sea. Other birds we saw included: shag, fulmar, eider, guillemot, kittiwake and glaucus gull. We visited both sides of the island to get the best views before heading back to land. Difficult to get good photos with the boat moving around and being offshore from the island. Arrived back at Grundarfjörður by noon and took a short walk into the small town. Becoming more overcast now but temperature steady around 10c. Visited the store, church and the maestro street food, some of which were in old buses. Weather was now beginning to change as showers moved in, so it was back to the tender and onboard by 1pm.
Highlight of the day: Seeing Atlantic Puffins
