Oxarfjordur is the name of the big bay between the peninsulas Tjornes and Melrakkasletta. It is about 30 km wide, but rather short. The Tjornes side is precipitous and then flat sands, deposits of the glacial river Jokulsa, take over all the way to the Melrakka-peninsula in the east. When the river is laden with mud and sand the discolouration of the bay is obvious.

The northern part of the country sometimes is engulfed in ice, when the ice flows from East Greenland drift this way. Accompanying the ice, the polar bears, have and still do create havoc and casualties and there are many stories and legends about them.

The ample driftwood on the northwestern, northern-, and northeastern coastlines originates from the rivers of Siberia. It gets caught in the Polar ice and drifts around the North Pole until it is released in the right place and brought to Iceland by the East Greenland- or Irminger Stream.