North Iceland - a small harbor and a basalt coast: Hauganes and Kálfshamarsvík

We reached the last stop of our Iceland trip in the evening. Hauganes is a small town that would probably be skipped by most tourists if not for the whale watching tours. It sits on the long, wide Eyjafjörður, north of Akureyri - Iceland’s second-largest urban area. We also stayed in Hauganes because we were going on a tour the next day. Only during the tours do the harbor and the local restaurant come alive - the rest of the time it’s a very sleepy, quiet place.

I went for a short walk and circled the village in 25 minutes. I really like places this small.

Right next to the campsite there were hot tubs - including one shaped like a small boat. We only met locals there.

There was a banner at the harbor showing a life-size whale - just in case we didn’t manage to see one in person ;)

The restaurant by the harbor is worth a stop - built up for visitors, but it keeps a local feel.

In the morning we sailed out on a small boat with about 30 other people. It was my second whale watching trip - probably my last. I loved simply being out on the ocean - watching the waves and birds, scanning the distant horizon was like a meditation. What I didn’t like was the actual chase for the whales. A few boats were waiting for these huge mammals to surface for air. No one knew exactly where they would show up, so when they did, the boats started a real race. There was a lot of noise and the smell of exhaust. I just felt uneasy about taking part.

Still, we managed to watch those beautiful, huge mammals for a moment. I didn’t take photos - the moments were so brief that I preferred to watch fully, without thinking about camera settings and frames.

Luckily I don’t get seasick - I was very grateful for that, watching a few unlucky passengers on our boat.

After the tour we had lunch and headed west. There was only one place left on our list. Since the snowstorm that chased us from Lake Mývatn, the weather hadn’t really been on our side. The last day was cloudy and partly rainy too.

In that weather we reached Kálfshamarsvík, a small bay known mainly for its unusual basalt formations. You can only get there by a gravel road in rough shape - even by local Icelandic standards. As we got close I felt we could have skipped it. A sign that it was time to go home :)

To reach the path to the ocean you pass through a gate in a fence, because it’s private land used by sheep in summer. That’s very common in Iceland. Remember to close gates behind you so the animals don’t wander off.

Next you notice the lighthouse - its angular shape fits the basalt coast perfectly. It was built in the mid‑20th century and isn’t open to visitors.

The basalt formations are the main attraction here. They form many patterns. This kind of rock forms when hot lava cools and shrinks, cracking into even polygons and turning into columns. Here the columns line up in different ways: vertical, some slightly bent, others almost horizontal. That’s the result of how the lava cooled on slopes and how landslides and erosion worked later.

Despite the dreary weather I couldn’t take my eyes off these geometric structures.

By the shore you can also see traces of an old fishing settlement from the turn of the 20th century - foundations and outlines of buildings. Not much remains, but enough to remember that everyday life once happened here.

This stop ended our loop around Iceland last summer. I can’t believe it - after more than a year I finally finished this story here. So what will the next post be about - I don’t know yet. This year I only did a four-day loop around the Westfjords - otherwise I chose to stay in one place and explore from there, which is probably my favorite way to spend time off. More when it’s ready ;)