Rauðanes & Langanes, North-east Iceland
As our semi-circumnavigation of Iceland continued, today was dedicated to the most exciting of activities – exploration! We had all been told that today would be an expedition day. A day with no fixed plans, just the freedom to go and take a look at some stretches of coast which looked interesting on the chart or in the pilot book, places off the beaten track, far from any road, and most likely never before visited by a group such as ours.
The weather would of course be an important factor in deciding our plans – for the coast we were exploring was one of the most rugged and exposed in Iceland, the Langanes peninsula. Langanes juts out from the coast, forming the north-easterly point of Iceland, and is today totally uninhabited. In the past small fishing settlements formed here to access the rich fishing grounds just offshore, but these were abandoned as fishing fleets became larger and faster. The next arrivals were the NATO forces that based early-warning radar stations here during the cold war, but even these have now disappeared, leaving only the lighthouse which marks the peninsula’s tip of Fontur, and a few old farm buildings used as summerhouses.
Early morning saw theNational Geographic Endeavour glide gently into a new anchorage in Vidervik, a “wide bay” just west of Langanes itself. We had been sailing through fog for most of the night, but as if by magic, upon entering the bay we left the fog, and found bright sunshine! After a quick Zodiac reconnaissance around the bay, our morning plan was formulated and announced during breakfast. Some of our number chose to hike along the cliff-tops of the Rauðanes peninsula, while others stayed at sea-level and explored the coast by Zodiac. From either vantage point Rauðanes was spectacular, its wave-weathered basalt cliffs riddled with caves and teeming with seabirds. Hikers looked down on the Zodiacs cruising under the cliffs, while those in the boats looked up at the hikers above. Once again the puffins stole the show, standing smartly outside their burrows on the cliff-tops, and congregating in great rafts on the sea below.
Back on board for lunch, and we were soon underway again and back in the fog sailing north-east towards our second landing site of the day. In the early afternoon we once again sailed out of the fog and into sunshine, as we anchored in Skorvik on the north coast of Langanes itself. Landing on the beach below deserted fishermen’s huts, we hiked across the wild and barren peninsula to reach its southern coast, once the site of a thriving fishing community.
As the last of the Zodiacs returned to the ship in the late afternoon, the fog began to roll in over the peninsula, obscuring the sun and bringing a chill to the air – what good timing! Our last view of Langanes was the cliffs of Fontur, which we rounded in the early evening. As the lighthouse faded into the fog behind us and we set course south, we gathered in the lounge to celebrate a day of doing what the National Geographic Endeavour does best, and hear about the adventures tomorrow would bring.
As our semi-circumnavigation of Iceland continued, today was dedicated to the most exciting of activities – exploration! We had all been told that today would be an expedition day. A day with no fixed plans, just the freedom to go and take a look at some stretches of coast which looked interesting on the chart or in the pilot book, places off the beaten track, far from any road, and most likely never before visited by a group such as ours.
The weather would of course be an important factor in deciding our plans – for the coast we were exploring was one of the most rugged and exposed in Iceland, the Langanes peninsula. Langanes juts out from the coast, forming the north-easterly point of Iceland, and is today totally uninhabited. In the past small fishing settlements formed here to access the rich fishing grounds just offshore, but these were abandoned as fishing fleets became larger and faster. The next arrivals were the NATO forces that based early-warning radar stations here during the cold war, but even these have now disappeared, leaving only the lighthouse which marks the peninsula’s tip of Fontur, and a few old farm buildings used as summerhouses.
Early morning saw theNational Geographic Endeavour glide gently into a new anchorage in Vidervik, a “wide bay” just west of Langanes itself. We had been sailing through fog for most of the night, but as if by magic, upon entering the bay we left the fog, and found bright sunshine! After a quick Zodiac reconnaissance around the bay, our morning plan was formulated and announced during breakfast. Some of our number chose to hike along the cliff-tops of the Rauðanes peninsula, while others stayed at sea-level and explored the coast by Zodiac. From either vantage point Rauðanes was spectacular, its wave-weathered basalt cliffs riddled with caves and teeming with seabirds. Hikers looked down on the Zodiacs cruising under the cliffs, while those in the boats looked up at the hikers above. Once again the puffins stole the show, standing smartly outside their burrows on the cliff-tops, and congregating in great rafts on the sea below.
Back on board for lunch, and we were soon underway again and back in the fog sailing north-east towards our second landing site of the day. In the early afternoon we once again sailed out of the fog and into sunshine, as we anchored in Skorvik on the north coast of Langanes itself. Landing on the beach below deserted fishermen’s huts, we hiked across the wild and barren peninsula to reach its southern coast, once the site of a thriving fishing community.
As the last of the Zodiacs returned to the ship in the late afternoon, the fog began to roll in over the peninsula, obscuring the sun and bringing a chill to the air – what good timing! Our last view of Langanes was the cliffs of Fontur, which we rounded in the early evening. As the lighthouse faded into the fog behind us and we set course south, we gathered in the lounge to celebrate a day of doing what the National Geographic Endeavour does best, and hear about the adventures tomorrow would bring.
