THE MARINA

Höfn í Hornafjörður (or Hofn in Hornafjordur when anglicised; roughly pronounced "hurb-n ee hotn-a-fyur-thur"), is located in the East Iceland, 460 km east of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. It is in fact a geographically large munipalicity situated along the coast, in front of the Southern part of Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajökull.

In spite of substantial territory, the population is only around 2400. Höfn is the largest part of the municipality in terms of population, with around 2000 inhabitants. Its economical activities mainly revolve around fish - fishing and fish processing. One of the town's main product is the lobster, which can be found in abundant quantities in the fishing areas surrounding the Southeastern coast of Iceland. The name "Hornafjörður" relates to the very large glacier lagoon (at times incorrectly referred to as a fjord). The 40 sq.km large lagoon, Hornafjöður, is formed by interactions of the Atlantic Ocean and the Vatnajökull glacier, which by its constant movement produces clay and sand, carried by the glacier rivers and ending up as sediment in the lagoon.

The region's main itineraries are 1)The spectacular national park, Skaftafell (around 200 km west of Höfn), 2) Jökulsárlón (literally the Glacial River Lagoon) located approximately 100 km east of Skaftafell and 3) The Vatnajökull Glacier to which there is a road, around 50 km east of Jökulsárlón and 4) Lónsöræfi, one of Iceland's most beautiful montain area, only reachable by foot. The breakthtrough in the fish industry in the dawn of 20th century created new possibilities for the community. Höfn's growth in the 20th century from a small village to today's town resulted from the developm ent of a relatively diverse fishing industry. The landed catch is now more varied than in other fishing towns, including high-value species such as the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), but a good part of the Icelandic lobster catch is landed at Höfn. In recent years the thow has promoted lobster as a central part of its image, for instance with a "lobster festival" being held each summer. Höfn actually means harbour, though repeated dredging has proved necessary to keep the entrance safe from sand deposits.

Apart from the town of Höfn the municipal region has been an agricultural area. In many ways it has been lagging in economic terms, to a large extent because of difficult natural conditions. Number of glacial rivers cut the area in parts and before they were hemmed in by barriers and bridged, all transportation was very difficult. The last river was bridged in 1974 and with it the road encircling Iceland was finished. An example of difficult natural condition is the eruption in Vatnajokull in the year 1996. In fact number of active vulcanos are under Vatnajokull. The flood which resulted because of the eruption broke down large bridges and caused damage of roads and electric lines. A video tape of the flood can be seen at the Glacier Exhibition in Höfn.