Hringvegur Plus #4: Ferry Baldur, Flatey island and Some Unexpected Birds

Flatey Island on the way to Vestfirðir

Finally, we were starting the new part of our adventure. 

We were driving onboard Ferry Baldur, which would take us across Breiðafjörður to Vestfirðir. The second largest fjord in Iceland, Breiðafjörður is about 43 miles across, bisected by Flatey Island. 

The route

It’s the same bay we had whale watched on from Ólafsvík the day before. 

Breiðafjörður is home to White-beaked Dolphins

The daily ferry route is simple, traveling from Brjánslækur in Vestfirðir to Flatey, the biggest Island on Breiðafjörður Bay and the only one with inhabitants, to Stykkishólmur. 

Ferry Baldur

Then, it heads back to Flatey and on to Brjánslækur. Trips are less frequent in the winter. We left at 3:00 p.m. as the ferry headed back north toward Brjánslækur. We arrived at Flatey at 4:30 p.m. and docked at Brjánslækur at 6:00 p.m. 

Flatey Island

Originally, I had wanted to spend the night on Flatey Island, a tiny sliver of land formed by the weight of a great glacier during the previous Ice age. But, all rooms were booked. 

As it is throughout Iceland, the name describes the place

Flatey is only a mile and a quarter long and three quarters of a mile wide, of which most is flat (hence its name, meaning "flat island" in Icelandic). 

Approaching Flatey

Flatey is known for 100-year-old houses painted in cheerful colors – most of which are occupied only during summer. It has only a single road, which leads from the ferry dock to the "old village."

Colorful houses dot the tiny island

In winter, when fewer ferries sail to Flatey, the island is dark and snow-covered. 

Photo: Stuck in Iceland

Flatey used to be one of the main cultural areas of Iceland, with a now-defunct monastery, founded in 1172, at its center. In the middle of the 19th century, Flatey also became a hub of commerce for the northwest, having received its town charter from the Danish crown in 1777. Iceland was once part of Denmark.

Until the latter part of the last century, Flatey enjoyed healthy population growth and was for a long time, relative to size, quite populated. 

A Flatey farm

The number or residents has now dwindled down to the minimum needed to support the community on a regular basis. The only year-round inhabitants are two Icelander families, a handful of sheep and chickens and a hotel for tourists. 

Sheep are everywhere in Iceland

Tourists visit only during the summertime. In summer, there is a large influx of second homeowners and tourists.

The lighthouse and a less-colorful building

Besides sheep, most of Flatey's natural life consists of various kinds of mostly migratory birds, especially Atlantic Puffins.

I was curious about how one stays on Flatey if you are taking a car with you. We discovered that you get off the ferry in Flatey and your car is taken to the next port (depending on which way you are traveling) and held for you. 

Guests exiting the ferry to stay in Flatey

After I saw how small Flatey was, I was relieved that we hadn’t decided to stay overnight. I am not sure what we would have done there.

Photo: Icelandic Times

If it had been clear, it would have been great for aurora. 

Photo: Arctic Adventures

But, it was decidedly not clear.

Flatey Light

But, I am a bit ahead of myself. 

The Trip to Flatey

When we pulled out of Stykkishólmur, it was sunny and bright. But, almost immediately, we hit a bank of clouds and it grew increasingly cloudy. We experienced a few raindrops and some wind. The ride was chilly with a bit of a roll, but not unpleasant. 

The weather changed as we left Stykkishólmur

What came as a pleasant surprise is that we started to see some seabirds as we approached Flatey. To my surprise, most of them were Puffins.

I was so excited to see this little guy

I didn’t think I’d see any. And, here were maybe 100!

They were fairly spread out on both sides of the ship

Granted, I was photographing from a moving ship in somewhat foggy weather, but I was still able to get some nice photos.

Not the most graceful bird

I wrote extensively about Atlantic Puffins in one of my blogs about Svalbard, Norway, so I won’t go into a lot of detail here. But, indulge me as I talk a little about Puffins in Iceland. 

There are three types of Puffins – Atlantic, Horned and Tufted – the second two can be found in the northeastern Pacific. 

Tufted, Horned (Photo: Audubon.org) and Atlantic Puffins

Every year, from May to early September, about 60 percent of the world’s Atlantic Puffin population – 8 to 10 million – arrive in Iceland to breed and nest.

Puffins are at home on the water

Puffins spend most of the year out at sea, but they need land to raise their young. They prefer to nest on rocky cliff sides along the ocean, which is why Iceland is so appealing to them.

A Puffin on a burrow

They return to the same breeding grounds year after year where they connect with their life-long mates to breed and care for a single egg, which hatches after about 40 days.

They spend the next 45 days taking care of their “Puffling” before it is time for the whole family to head back out to sea. 

Puffins on the wing

They start to leave in mid-August and are gone by mid-September. It is not uncommon for the parents to leave before the young, so it is possible most of the ones I saw were this year’s Pufflings.

A Puffin in the air

But, Puffins weren’t the only birds on the water. There were also a few Black Guillemots … 

A Black Guillemot swimming away

Lots of Common Eiders ...

Also not a graceful take-off

... which, as the trip progressed, I discovered are very, very common …

A small group of Eiders

Northern Gannets

Seeing so many Puffins was so exciting that I didn’t concentrate much on these other birds, just snapping off a few photos here and there. I didn’t even notice until downloading pictures later that one of the “gulls” I shot two pictures of was not a gull. It was a Northern Gannet – my second “lifer” of the trip. And, I took only two photos!

One of my two photos

The largest species of the Gannet family, Northern Gannets are native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and Northeastern North America.

Photo: Oceana.org

Over three feet long with a massive six-foot wingspan, they have streamlined bodies, powerful neck muscles and a spongy bone plate at the base of the bill adapted for plunge-diving at high speed. Their nostrils are inside the bill and can be closed to prevent water entry and their eyes are protected from sea water and wind by strong nictitating membranes.

Photo: Roaring Earth

Their waterproof feathers, subcutaneous fat layer, dense down feathers and tightly overlapping feathers allow them to spend long periods in cold, cold water.

Photo: Wexford People

Northern Gannets forage for food during the day, generally by diving at high speed into the sea from as high as 230 feet above the surface. 

They dive with their bodies straight and rigid, wings tucked close to the body but angled back, extending beyond the tail, before piercing the water like an arrow. 

They control the direction of the dive using their wings and tail and fold their wings against the body just before impact.

Birds can hit the water at speeds of up to 62 mph, diving as deep as 36 feet below the surface and swimming down to an average 60 to 80 feet.

They have subcutaneous air sacs that control their buoyancy. When a dive is successful, they swallow the fish underwater before surfacing, and never fly with the fish in their bill. 

Photo: Audubon.org

Larger fish are swallowed headfirst, smaller fish are swallowed sideways or tail-first. The fish is stored in a branched bag in the throat and does not cause drag when in flight. Cool! 

A Lifer!

On to Brjánslækur

After Flatey, we saw few birds and the rest of the Ferry trip was uneventful as the sky grew increasingly dark (it felt like dusk, but 6:00 p.m. that far north is still pretty light in August).

Looking at Brjánslækur from the ferry

When we pulled into Brjánslækur, I was surprised. I expected a bustling town, but what we saw was a dock and a couple of farms.

Approaching the dock

Was there any population in Vestfirðir? Not here. 

A lone far near the Brjánslækur docks

The road – a very nice, paved highway – branches at Brjánslækur. If you go east, you head toward Ísafjörður, the capital of Vestfirðir, where we would be headed in two days. 

We headed west toward our lodging in Hænuvík. But, that’s subject for my next blog.

Hænuvík

Trip date: August 13-September 1, 2021