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Click on the picture to watch this audio slideshow about bird watching at Óshólmar, an area at the mouth of Eyjafjardará river just outside Akureyri in north Iceland, the largest Icelandic town outside the capital region. Not many tourists know about this attraction, which is perfect for a walk in the sun.
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Located just 40 minutes by car and six minutes from Keflavík International Airport, Sandgerdi (“Sandy Hedge”) is a growing town of 1,700 with a storied history and loads to see. Read this special promotion about the hidden secrets of one of Iceland's most charming seaside villages.
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The commercial hunt for minke whales began on Friday when Njördur KÓ 7 caught the first minke, but has now been put on hold until scientific whaling, which begins tomorrow, finishes.
The total minke whale quota this season, which was issued by the government on October 17, 2006, is 74 animals; commercial hunters have permission to kill 38 minkes, while scientists have permission to kill 36, Fréttabladid reports.
“Scientific whaling will resume May 8 and we can’t mix those two together,” said Gunnar Bergmann, leader of the Union of Minke Whale Hunters.
According to Bergmann, three boats will hunt minkes for scientific purposes until June 25, during which 31 whales are scheduled to be caught. Five additional minkes are scheduled to be caught in September.
Commercial hunters take over after June 25 and have until August 31 to finish their quota. “We may not be able finish our quota if we have bad luck during that time,” Bergmann said.
The minke whale meat is intended for the domestic market.
“If the sale of whale products proves successful we can hardly be prohibited from hunting what the Marine Research Institute suggests,” Bergmann said.
The Iceland Marine Research Institute estimates that about 200 to 400 minke whales in Icelandic waters can be hunted every year without endangering the species.
A skeleton from a person who suffered from the Paget’s disease of bone was unearthed this week during an archeological excavation project at Skriduklaustur in east Iceland, where a monastery was once operated.
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The human being will be on display for the first time in its natural environment in the Reykjavík Family Park and Zoo next weekend. Visitors can observe three men and one woman in a cage after 10 am on Saturday and Sunday.
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The formal Videy island swim took place yesterday and there were three participants, two men and one woman, Thórdís Hrönn Pálsdóttir, who is the first woman to participate in the Videy swim since 1959.
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The Environment Agency intends to investigate whether the Heath Protection Authority handled the situation in Eskifjördur, east Iceland, in the correct manner when contaminated water from a trawler was carried into the town’s drinking water system.
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The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book Puffins as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
Hendrikka Waage is an accomplished jewellery designer whose first children’s book Rikka and Her Magic Ring in Iceland, takes readers on an enchanted and educational journey through the country. It’s beautifully illustrated and a good lesson in geography, but the plot could have been better thought through and the moral of the story is a bit too prominent.
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On the third day of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption we drove from Skógar to Hvolsvöllur in total darkness, a distance of 18 kilometers. It was frightening, the darkness being so impenetrable that we could hardly see out the windows of the car. We could see faint lights from the farm standing right next to the highway.
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Ásmundur Sveinsson is among the foremost Icelandic sculptors. The current exhibition in the Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum in Reykjavík is entitled “I choose women who thrive…” and features women as symbols in the sculptor’s art. The works in the exhibition are selected from his entire career.
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