Are you adventurous and aiming for a rare experience? Do you like feeling free and in proximity with the sea? Would you love to see a diverse bird life breathes life into the steep cliffs? Then you should take a tour with Ribsafari! 2-hours RIB boat tour riding through the waves and you will feel the life.
RIB stands for rigid inflatable boat. The boats are lightweight but high performance, with rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are inflated with air and makes the boats very save, at all times. Captains and guides have finished maritime safety and emergency management for passenger boats and have a lot of experience so they will indeed take a good care of you.
Guests meets at the office (Básaskersbryggja 6) 30 minutes before the tour, it’s just a minute walk from the ferry. We help everybody to suit up, float overall and a lifejacket are mandatory. We recommend wearing a hat and mitten. The guide informs the safety rules prior the tour. People with heart or back problem and pregnant lady’s, cannot ride at the RIB boat, we recommend a boat tour on Teista instead.
Then the fun start with a blast! At the beginning many guests get that feeling in their stomach when riding out of the harbor area. First we sail by the north side of Heimaey, the only inhabited island, and look at the steep cliffs and sail between skerries. The birdlife is diverse and it’s very enjoyable watching fulmars, gannets, kitty-wakes and puffins around the Westman Islands.
When we reach the small islands, at the west side, we sail at a slow speed between amazing places around those smallest islands. Stopping and listening to the guide tell us about the history of the islands, the traditions of the islanders, folk-stories and the nature. It makes the tour even more special. The captain takes us into a cave that only smaller boats can enter, the sea caves are incredibly beautiful and it is amazing to have the opportunity to see at least one from inside.
We visit Elephant rock, it’s really easy feeling its size when sailing pass this most famous landmark in the Westman Islands. Elephant rock is in fact a creation of the nature, we can see a giant elephant bending its head and dipping its trunk into the ocean.
The tour is 2-hours, so we have time to head out to the other islands in our archipelago. Westman Islands archipelago have 14 islands and you will see a single house on many of them. The people of the Westman Islands have always used the islands for food supply, and we still do. The houses are for men that are descending for sea bird eggs and taking care of their sheep in the islands.
If the weather and the sea allow us we will sail around the whole island, but it’s important listening to the nature. Most guests see puffins, and often a lot of them and the extreme lucky ones have even spotted a whale or a seal.
If the nature allows us to take the whole circle we will pass Great Cape (Stórhöfði), one of the windiest place in Europe. The east side of the island is very beautiful, we see the Pirate Grove (Ræningjatangi) where the pirates came ashore when the Turkish invaded the island. Sailing pass the new lava from the 1973 eruption is breathtaking, it’s still so black and raw.
If you like to experience Westman Islands archipelago in a unique and fun way then Ribsafari is the way you should. Sailing with the waves are incredible fun and addictive, you will think you should do this again sooner or later.
