Day 3 was upon us. The night before, while experiencing the midnight sun during a late-night Google Maps attraction search, I set a plan for the following day. The plan was straightforward. The goal was to find puffins.
After spending the night at our campground in Djúpivogur, we set out early for the drive to find puffins. Not without a quick stop at the town’s seaside attraction, Eggin í Gleðivík, an art installation consisting of 34 granite egg replicas. Each egg represents a different local bird species.
After this fun stop, we started our 3-hour drive along the coast to Borgarfjarðarhöfn. This drive was as beautiful as ever. Striking landscapes with amazing views of the ocean, and of course, the numerous Icelandic sheep that were everywhere along the roadways. After some time, we found ourselves in a decent-sized town, one with several grocery stores, gas stations, and a hospital. This was a nice stop to refill our dwindling supplies and to grab a snack before heading on. As quickly as we entered civilization, we were back into nature, surrounded by vast landscapes and not a building in sight.
The road turned into a deserted highway, not a car in sight. Further on the road, up a small hill, the road leveled. In the distance sat a small, strange building. As we got closer, chairs came into view, a small patio, and this small green shack of a building. At first, I thought this place was abandoned, but once I opened my Atlas Obscura app, I found out this was a small shop, complete with drinks and snacks. Of course, it was closed when I happened upon it.
I took my photos of the building and of the landscape surrounding it, and proceeded on with the drive. The winding road started to go down in elevation towards the sea. On the right was a massive mountain, with what I jokingly said looked like a road. As we continued, our road turned towards said mountain, and the climb commenced. The road had such a steep grade, going up and up with switchbacks to make the climb even steeper. The wind howled and blew so hard that the van would shake. About halfway up, a vehicle sat across the entire road, blocking it for traffic. Turns out there was construction that day. So we sat, waiting for the construction pilot car to come and give us a turn to make it over the mountain. Once it was our turn, after we made it through the construction. We spotted a parking area with a place to get out and rest, and of course, admire the beauty. There was a warning when we picked up the van, “Watch out for the wind”. This was the first time on the trip that we knew exactly what they meant. Getting out of the car at this spot, the wind blew so hard that the door nearly ripped from my hand. We made a quick stop in the wind, which was blowing so hard that I had to walk at an angle to avoid being blown over.
Now was the time to head down the other side of the mountain towards our destination. The road snaked down the mountain, and we eventually made it to the bottom. We were nearly there, the puffins were close. We continued through a small town and then another. After a little further, we made it to the end of the road. I found a parking spot, got my cameras read, and started towards the cliffs where other tourists were gathered. In the distance, I spotted birds everywhere. I continued on the path and got my first glimpse of the birds up close. My first sight of a puffin! Seeing these tiny, colorful birds was a bucket list item. And there were what seemed like a hundred birds all over the cliffs. I walked up the stairs on the pathway made for tourists and snapped away, such small birds with big personalities.
We stayed for a couple of hours watching and photographing these birds. It was starting to get late, so we got back on the road to find our campground for the night. The drive to this campground was amazing, and the campground itself, well, that’s a story for another day.