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Cove Adalvik

Region: Westfjords
Coordinates: 66.3390502° N 23.18218° W

This short but wide cove faces the open seas just north of The Isafjordur Bay. It is about 4-5 miles wide. The impressive mountains on both sides fall steep into the ocean and there is a considerable lowland area at its end, split into three parts by protruding mountain shoulders, which make it difficult to get between them. The sanded shoreline has started growing up. The hill to the south of the split valley is called Kleifarhals. Below it is a sanded, eternal patch of snow from where the fishermen fetched ice to keep their catch fresh. In the north corner of the cove, a hamlet of 80-100 people developed during the first decades of the 20th century.

Quite a few of its houses still stand and are maintained by the descendants of their original owners and occupied by them during summer. As in so many other places along the coastline of the country, there is also an emergency hut there for shipwrecked sailors and fishermen. There is a short and an easy way over to the next cove, Rekavik. Ever since the last people abandoned Adalvik cove in 1952, the vegetation has recovered and spread.

Adalvik in Icelandic