Hvitserkur

Hvitserkur is a lump of basalt left standing in shallow water off the eastern side of the Vatnsnes peninsula, about fifteen metres high and holed twice at the base, so that it reads as a four-legged animal drinking from the sea. Birds nest on it and have whitened the top, which is where the name comes from. The base was reinforced with concrete decades ago to slow the erosion that would otherwise have taken it by now. A platform above gives the standard view and a steep path drops to the black sand, where at low tide you can walk out toward it. The flats along this coast are among the better places in the country to see seals.

What you actually see

• The stack - fifteen metres of holed basalt standing in shallow water offshore.
• The beach path - a steep descent to the black sand for the view from water level.
• The seal flats - haul-out sites along the Vatnsnes shore, best watched with binoculars.
• The peninsula road - the gravel loop around Vatnsnes with open sea on one side throughout.

When to go

May to September for the seals and the nesting birds, and low tide for the walk out on the sand. Both sunrise and sunset work, since the stack faces east across the bay and in June is often lit from behind close to midnight. The peninsula road is gravel and slow, so allow more time than the map suggests.

Honest expectations

The path to the beach is steep, eroded and slippery when wet, and the platform view is close to what most people have already seen in photographs. It is a fifteen-minute stop at the end of a long gravel drive. The concreted base shows. Seals are wild and frequently absent, and walking out onto the flats after them puts them straight into the water.

Nearby

Hvammstangi sits at the base of the peninsula, and the ring road runs on toward Blonduos.