Djúpavík - Where the northern road ends!

WORK/PROJECT: SEEDS Volunteers will be working on various things in and around Djúpavík, which is a small village in the Icelandic Western fjords.

Among the main tasks will be to build and maintain hiking trails and walking paths in the area, alongside the paths we will put up sticks and signs. Other tasks will include cleaning the coast line between Djúpavíkurkleif and Stekkjarnes, collecting driftwood and general gardening work.

In Djúpavík there is an old abandoned herring factory. It needs maintenance and we will be assisting in some renovation works inside it. The building is used by artists and cultural events are hosted there.   

ACCOMMODATION: Volunteers will be hosted in a local summer house, sleeping in shared rooms on bunk beds. Please bring a sleeping bag.

Food ingredients will be provided and a kitchen is available. Volunteers will share the duties of preparing and cooking meals.

Do not forget some traditional/typical food from your home country for the international evening.

LOCATION: Djúpavík is located at the head of Reykjarfjörður on the Strandir coast in the Westfjords region (Vestfirðir), in the municipality of Árneshreppur. Perhaps one of Iceland's most remote areas, it is a sheltered bay, largely untouched by modern developments, where silence reigns and nature continues to shape a rugged, mountainous landscape. The distance from the capital is ~ 360 km.

The bay Djúpavík is among the least frequented parts of the country. The roads up there are only open during the few months of the short summer. It is one of the remotest corners of Europe, where the coastline is covered with vast expanses of driftwood that originated on the other side of the Arctic Ocean, in Russian Siberia. The region is stunningly beautiful and a perfect place to really experience Iceland’s wildness.

There have been small farming communities in the district for hundreds of years, but the story of Djúpavík really began in 1915, when Elías Stefánsson started a herring salting station. Unfortunately he went bankrupt in 1919 but in 1934 entrepreneurs of Djúpavík started building a huge herring factory that ran for two decades. It changed the lives of the people in the region, giving them a chance to earn a living. In 1954 the “herring adventure” (as Icelanders call it) in this part of Iceland was over and the factory went bankrupt.

Today Djúpavík is dominated by the huge ruins of its old herring factory and the rusting shipwreck of the 100-year-old former passenger and cargo ship Suðurland. The tremendous costs involved in demolishing the factory building – once the largest concrete structure in Europe – is too much for the village so its huge shell remains, reminiscent of a Hollywood set.

Few years ago, the famous Icelandic band Sigur Rós held a small number of concerts in Iceland. The venues were specially chosen, and the old herring factory in Djúpavík was one of them.

LANGUAGE: English will be the language in the camp; basic conversational skills are necessary.

TERMINAL: Closest international Airport: Keflavík/Reykjavík (KEF).

SEEDS organises the “minibus option”, a shared transport from Reykjavík to the camps and vice-versa. This is a cheap, convenient way to travel and it allows volunteers to meet fellow campers and stop at interesting sites on the way.

EXTRAS / SPECIAL REMARKS: Participation fee EUR 180 (Euros) to be paid to SEEDS. Please note that the fees are to be paid on arrival in Euros or Kronur and they include full board and lodging (food and accommodation) for the whole duration of the project.

Excursions for SEEDS volunteers include kayak trips in the fjord that has a seal colony, a visit to an isolated pool in Krossnes, among other recreation activities.

AGE: 18+