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Haelavikurbjarg
(258 m) is a precipice, occupied by thousands of birds between the
coves Haelavik and Hornvik.
It was named after a freestanding rock in the sea just off the
coast.
At its foot is a scree, where 18 English men were buried by a
landslide, when they were poaching for eggs and birds.
It was
consequently named Heljarurd (The Scree of Death).
Above the brink is a depression in the landscape called
Hvannadalur and that part of the cliff is called Hvannadalabjarg.
Just outside it, in the sea, are three freestanding
basalt dykes,
Langikambur, Fjol and Sulnastapi.
The
cove Haelavik is to the west of the cliff and on its other side is Mt
Skalakambur.
The cove is mostly framed with cliffs and has a small lowland
strip.
People lived there until til middle of the 20th
century.
In 1321 a polar bear attacked the inhabitants and killed 8
people. On May 2nd, 2011, at 9 O'clock a.m., the
captain of a fishing boat reported the sighting of a polar bear at
cove Haelavik, and that it had disappeared into the fog in the
surrounding slopes. There were no travellers in the area at the
time, but search and rescue services prevented a group of people from
going there until the problem had been solved. The weather
conditions improved and a helicopter could track the bear to cove
Rekavik, where it was shot about five hours after it was spotted.
It was a 3-4 years old she-bear weighing about 150 kilogrammes. |