Day 3: Searching for Puffins

There was quite a bit of rain again overnight but for our morning jog we followed a nice, well-drained gravel road up some long, winding hilly-mountain-plateau thing. 

Not sure what Hamragarðaheiði is, but we went up it.

The road continued for several steep miles then we turned around before reaching the top.  I wish we found out what was up there!  No threat of rain that morning, though I wish there were at least some trees to block the sun and give a little visual contrast to the environs.  The blame for the lack of trees in the country is placed on the Vikings, and sheep have prevented any regrowth. 

Returning to the campsite.  It was funny to have tourists walking by our parked camper (and our sweaty running clothes drying on rocks lining the carpark!) on their way to view the waterfalls.

A larger nearby waterfall, Skógafoss.

Back on the road, we hit more patches of rain showers and sunshine as we continued southeast toward the coast. Still not a tree in sight.

The rugged promontory of Dyrhólaey, full of interesting black lava rock formations and rich in bird life.  One of our objectives was to look for puffins nesting in the cliffs.

Fancy rock shape in Dyrhólaey.

We wandered along a long path hugging the coastline in search of puffins.  The guidebooks didn't tell us that they only come to land at night!  At least we were lucky to visit Dyrhólaey because it would be closed the following week to help protect nesting birds.

By late afternoon we were in search of a place to spend the night.  We had more pre-season camping issues in that the site in Vík where we were planning to stay was still closed.  We were allowed to park there for free but there was no access to toilets, a real inconvenience since we were in a town.  The HI hostel in Vík saved the day; even though they were full they let us park, use their facilities, and included a super fancy Icelandic breakfast.  It was nice to be cozy, warm and indoors for a couple hours! 

Yay, a kitchen!  And heating! (Vík Hostel)

After dinner we waited for the rain to stop and headed to the cliffs on the edge of town (the other side of the cliffs is Dyrhólaey).  We tried again to find our puffins, this time around 10 pm, when they come in from the sea.  According the guy at the hostel, if you climb up the cliffs, you can find yourself "surrounded by thousands of puffins".  He admitted it wasn't safe so we brought our binoculars to view them from below.

.  The cliffs at Reynisfjall indeed was home to many puffins and other shore birds, like fumars! 

The puffins kept high on the cliffs, however we spotted one pair fighting and tumbling down to the beach.  It was a little upsetting to see ultra cute puffins trying to kill each other. 

Our only up-close puffin experience for the day.

The poor guy was really roughed-up after his fight!

Puffins on the grassy cliffs of Reynisfjall.