The primary purpose of this vacation was bird watching and puffins in particular. Day three of the vacation was meant to be the primary puffin watching day. The plan was to take the eight AM ferry, rent a car and explore the island.
It was rainy and foggy when we arrived and we thought we were picking up the rental car at the airport. We took a taxi to the airport and it was so foggy that you could not see the runway even when you were right next to it. It turns out that the airport is no longer in use as the Icelandic government sees the ferry as the preferred means of access. The result was that the rental car pick up was at the ferry but we didn’t know how to connect. We took the taxi back to the ferry and picked up the rental car. We then drove to the puffin hide at the south end of the island. It is a little more than 5 kilometers from the ferry and just over an hour walk. The weather was cold and miserable and no one was willing to walk.
When we got to the puffin hide, it was shrouded in fog with wind driven rain.
It was impossible to keep the camera lenses dry. We finally gave up and got a warm lunch and then went to the lava museum.
The weather forecast for the rest of the week was equally dismal. The next day it looked like there might be a break in the weather after the horseback ride. We hustled to the ferry and just made the early afternoon trip. This time we took a taxi to the hide and arranged a pick up. Unfortunately the result was the same as the first try. We did get dinner on the island and took the eight PM ferry back to Iceland.
We did have one more day planned on the Westman Islands so we took the 8 AM ferry and taxi ride to the puffin hide. We got a break in the weather and were able to observe the puffin behaviors. It was glorious!
At this time of year, the puffins have not layed their eggs yet, so they were busy pairing up, doing home maintenance and feeding. They were eating out at sea, so we didn’t get any feeding pictures.
The wind and rain picked up at the end of our puffin adventure. It rained, was really windy and COLD. The taxi was delayed picking us up due to a meeting of North Atlantic ministers. (There are only 3 taxis on the island) ! We finally grabbed a quick lunch and got on with our regularly scheduled aquarium tour.
The ladies went on to Ireland to see more puffins but that is their story to tell.
We did finally see PUFFINS!
Mark, Wink, Meg and Kate-Lynne
Admirable persistence! Beautiful creatures and glad you finally got to see them. Great pictures too!