Akureyri – Svalbarðseyri is a 8,7 km route along the east coast of Eyjafjörður fjord in Northern Iceland. You can launch from multiple locations in Akureyri but launching by The Sailing Club Nökkvi is recommended to get the full experience. It starts off with a short paddle across the fjord. You might see some seals on the way over if you are paddling across from Nökkvi. The east side welcomes you with breathtaking mountain views, cliffs, tiny rocky beaches and waterfalls. Along the way to Svalbarðseyri you’ll find a warm geothermal waterfall and some cold smaller ones, a shipwreck, pass ocean view villas and farms and meet a lot of birds. The view of Akureyri and the mountains are also pretty amazing. If lucky whales and seals can be spotted.
We launched at 11:15 o’clock from the Culture house Hof in Akureyri. The trip started with a 1,4 km distance paddle straight across the fjord battling a bit of side wind. This would have been the perfect day to start at the bottom at the fjord but since the original plan was to paddle south and end up in Akureyri again this was the perfect launch spot.
It was a beautiful day, not a cloud on the sky and the sun was warm. A nice change after a pretty cold and windy winter season. We went to shore straight across from Akureyri by a small waterfall and cliffs. The view was breathtaking and the sun nice and warm so we stayed there for awhile taking in the view and absorbing some much needed vitamin D, before the group split. Some had to be back in Akureyri in an hour so they stuck to original plan and headed south along the coast into the breeze. It was so nice to be finally out on the water so the rest of us decided to take advantage of the wind direction and head north to Svalbarðeyri.
It took us about 1,5 hour to paddle the rest of the way. We drifted by a geothermal waterfall. The hot waterfall has been a popular playground for local paddlers. The hot water was discovered about 7 years ago when tunnel work for a new road started in the mountain above. Recently the hottest part was redirected to the Forrest lagoon near by. But to our surprise they left us some water, it was not as hot as it used to be but not as cold as we had expected so we were extremely happy.
We passed a shipwreck, ocean view villas and farms and met a lot of birds on the way. There were no whales or seals in our path this time, but we did see a whale watching boat head out the fjord and knew about a herd of seals at the bottom of the fjord. The trip ended by the lighthouse at Svalbarðseyri. This will be the third time I paddle this route and it did not disappoint. This trip filled us with energy and joy that will, with out a doubt, get us trough the stormy days ahead.
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