June 21 – Sandoy (Sand Island)

We took a ferry to the island of Sandoy, one of the southern islands.  There we met our guide, Paul, for our tour of the island.  First stop on Sandoy (the largest of the southern Faroe Islands), the world's largest postal box.

Then it was off along the coastline to our next stop.

Next was a giant fissure near the coast.  The waves have carved a long cave through the rocks that then comes out of the top.  Apparently the seas are very calm today as our guide said that often the waves crash through the opening like a blow hole.  Today it just looked pretty interesting.  It's also the type of geological feature that is almost impossible to photograph in a way that you can tell what it is.  We tried with abysmal results.

Around that area were pretty vast areas of pink sea thrift or pink armeria…enough to make pink carpets.

From there we drove through one of the largest towns on the island, Sandur, population of about 500.  Sandoy is the only Faroese island with sand dunes.  We drove by them but you couldn’t see a whole lot as they aren’t real big and they are mostly covered with grass.

There was a small  bay, called Givrinarspor, where we stopped for some pictures.

Overlooking Givrinarspor was the Knitted Stone, inspired by a local legend about the "Troll Woman's Cave".  Local women get together during the long winter days to gossip and knit.  They now knit this very large cover for this very large stone by the waterfront.  The stone is covered by their knitted masterpiece from mid-May to mid-August. 

Nearby was a "footprint" of the troll.

Then we drove down to the end of the south western road to the very little village of Skarvanes.  Turns out this where our guide lives.  We stopped at his home and his British wife, Clara, served us a lovely lunch of vegetable omelet, beetroot salad, and a lovely apricot and whipped cream dessert. 

After a nice visit we headed off to see the location of the wreck of the Principia.  Only one person survived the wreck.  The site is pretty but you can’t see anything of the wreck.  They did eventually recover the ship’s anchors.  They are on display there.

Then it was back to catch the ferry back to Eysturoy and on to Torshavn.  Nice and easy day.  The weather was sunny but not so warm.