Vestmannaeyjar I

The Westman Islands were named after the Irish slaves who unwittingly bacame their first inhabitants. Most of these islands were formed by submarine volanoes between 10'000 and 5'000 years ago, making them one of the world´s youngest archipelagos. In 1963, the world witnessed the birth of its newest island, Surtsey, which continued erupting until 1967.
Most of the 16 islands are rocky and steepsided affairs. Only Heimaey, the "Home Island", supports a permanent human population. Other islands only have temporary huts of puffin hunters and egg collectors.
In 1973 Helgafell exploded, and over the next five months, spewed out over 30 million tonnes of lava and tephra to create a new mountain, Eldfell. The island grew by 15%. Overnight, Heimaey's 5000 inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland.
In September 1998, Keiko the killer whale (who starred as Free Willy) arrived in a US Air Force C17 cargo aircraft and was confined to a northern part of the harbour while progressively being trained for a release which was never successfully realized. He used to hide in this cave.