FISH FOCUS TRIP TO THE WESTMAN ISLANDS, ICELAND

Fish Focus trip to the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar), Iceland. Fish Focus’ latest feature follows our trip to the Icelandic archipelago, Vestmannaeyjar.

We will be posting an article every day, covering this amazing trip and showcasing the Icelandic Seafood industry, cutting edge aquaculture, Icelandic heritage and the hospitality of the Icelandic people. You can read the whole publication here

Fish Focus was recently invited to visit the stunning Vestmannaeyjar islands in Iceland, by Business Iceland.

Our trip was to learn about the islands,the people, seafood, culture and wildlife. Our hosts, Björgvin Þór Björgvinsson and Alisa Silveira, both from Business Iceland, planned the most amazing trip for us – we thought our first trip to Iceland was unbeatable, but this trip was definitely a contender.

We met Björgvin and Alisa in Reykjavik at the Hotel Reykjavik Marina, where we had a delicious meal of Plokkfiskur, (a tradional Icelandic dish of minced fish/fish stew with potatoes and onion baked in an oven with Icelandic rye bread), in the hotel’s restaurant, Slippbarinn. It was a great evening, catching up with our Icelandic friends – we were sad they weren’t coming with us, but we were excited about the adventure ahead.

The next day, we set off on the drive south to the town of Þórlákshöfn, to visit the pioneering, land-based, salmon farming facility, First Water, where we were met by Ómar Grétarsson,who gave us a really interesting and informative tour.

From there we drove to the ferry terminal, five minutes from First Water. The weather was too rough to make the short crossing from Landeyjahöfn. We were going to be fine though, thanks to the kindness and thoughtfulness of Björgvin, who had not only booked us a cabin to snooze in on the three-hour journey, but had also given us sleeping bags and pillows and a packet of anti seasickness tablets – just in case!

We arrived in Heimaey, the largest of the stunning Vestmannaeyjar islands and checked into the Hotel Vestmannaeyjar. Our first visit on the island was to the fishing and seafood company, VSV,
where we met Sverrir Haraldsson, (Head of Groundfish Division). Sverrir gave us a tour of VSV’s cod salting facility and a visit to VSV’s trawler, Breki.

We had some free time, so we drove to the Eldheimar museum, where we learnt about the Eldfell volcano which erupted in 1973, destroying approximately one fifth of the town, before the lava flow was halted.

We were ready for dinner, which was at Einsi Kaldi, the restaurant in our hotel. The food was as is usual in Iceland,absolutely delicious!

After a good night’s sleep and breakfast, we were ready for our next visit, this time to the land-based salmon farming company, Laxey. We were met by Frosti Gíslason, our tour guide for the next few days and Óskar Jósúason, head of public relations for Laxey. Óskar showed us round the smolt station, explaining the ethos behind the whole Laxey enterprise and then took us to Viðlagafjara, where the construction of the company’s new development is underway and also where I was gifted a puffling to look after until he was released on one of the island’s cliffs.

Time for another yummy lunch. Frosti took us and our little puffling to the restaurant, Gott, where our baby puffin attracted a lot of attention. Frosti introduced us to restaurateur and owner of the internationally renowned, Slippurinn and Næs in Heimaey Gísli Matt. Gísli took all of us foraging for seaweed and herbs, to use later in his cooking at Slippurinn. Then we drove to a nearby cliff where we said goodbye to our wee baby puffling and watched him take to the skies on his next adventure.

We spent the afternoon visiting Fab Lab, where Frosti is director and also teaches, meeting two Beluga whales at the Beluga Sanctuary and then drove around the island, learning about the history and folklore of Vestmannaeyjar through Frosti’s entertaining, informative and funny stories.

We said goodbye to Frosti, until tomorrow and decide to walk up Eldfell volcano, before dinner. The view from the top was spectacular, although there were some scary moments when strong gusts of wind, threatened to blow us over the edge.

Dinner was at Gisli’s restaurant, Slippurinn, where we were treated to a 9-course tasting menu, trying such local delicacies as porbeagle shark and sea urchin, all cooked with Gisli’s foraged
seaweed and herbs – amazing!

The next morning, full of a delicious Icelandic breakfast, we left our hotel and set off for the fishing company, Ísfélagið, where we met Guðmundur Jóhann Árnason, Ísfélagið’s HR manager, who gave us a history of the company and took us on a tour of the processing facility with Frosti and production manager, Björn Brimar Hákonarson who explained the process from catching to freezing.

Time for lunch with Frosti, at Næs, Gisli’s other restaurant on Heimaey. Very different from Slippurinn, but just as good.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Frosti telling us more tales about Vestmannaeyjar, its people, its history and rich culture. The views were spectacular and the stories captivating. It was time to say goodbye to our new Icelandic friend, Frosti and head for the ferry back to the North Island (Westman Island’ people’s name for the Icelandic mainland)!

Our drive from Landeyjahöfn was through a very different landscape from Vestmannaeyjar, but equally beautiful. We had dinner at Fjöruborðið an unassuming restaurant in the village of Stokkseyri, on the coast, south of Reykjavik. The food was wonderful (pretty much expected in Iceland). We ate langoustine soup, Langoustine tails sautéd in garlic and butter and even though we had no room for it, carrot cake and an enormous meringue.

Full and happy, we headed to Reykjavik, where we met Björgvin at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica, to say our thankyous and goodbyes after such an amazing trip. We were sad to be leaving, not only
beautiful Iceland, but our old friends and our new ones.