The Marina

Nature provided no harbour in the Borgarfjörður of East Iceland. Therefore, the building of a harbour was discussed soon after 1940, and in 1943 construction started on a concrete pier by the village of Bakkagerði. By 1974, this pier had been extended by stages to its present length of 180 m. Although it provides hardly any shelter, freighters could lay up there in calm weather and local fishing boats were tied there when the sea was favourable. Nevertheless, boats had to be drawn ashore when the wind blew from the ocean, so fishing was still restricted to summer months. Even today, most catches are landed at this pier, though it is otherwise little used except for the few transport vessels that still come to Borgarfjörður.

After 1970, plans arose for utilising the shelter from Hafnarhólmi island on the east side of the fjord to build a marina there –  something not thought practical with previous technology. Starting in 1973, construction began by piling up rocks to close off the sea between this island and the mainland. After it had been taken into use, the marina was repeatedly improved, most recently through deepening in the summer of 2001 to a depth of three metres – more than enough for the vessel sizes now fishing from Borgarfjördur. Today the marina offers adequate facilities, even if it is not quite complete. On the other hand, due to considerable suck, the boats need tending in major storms. In fact, Borgarfjöður wave measurements show the greatest heights measured near any Icelandic harbour structures.

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