Westfjords hotel owners expect crowds and clear skies for eclipse

Hotel owners in Iceland’s Westfjords are expecting the car park at Látrabjarg to fill soon as visitors head out to watch the total solar eclipse, mbl.is reported. More than 1,000 people stayed overnight at the Breiðavík campground, where the sun was still shining and anticipation was building.

“It looks excellent,” said Birna Mjöll Atladóttir, one of the owners of Hótel Látrabjarg. She estimated that more than 1,000 people were at the campground and said the weather remained fine.

When she went to bed at 4.30pm on Tuesday, a long line of cars had formed at the checkpoint on the road from the campground towards Látrabjarg. The eclipse may be visible there for more than two minutes, and there is also a chance that the sun will appear during the event even if skies are cloudy elsewhere.

Although more than 1,000 people spent the night at Breiðavík, the campground is not expected to become full. At 10 hectares, only about a quarter of it was occupied on Tuesday evening, Atladóttir said.

Keran St. Ólafsson, the hotel’s other owner, said the excitement was clear among hotel and campground visitors. Temperatures were 17 to 18 degrees Celsius, he said, with some people who had not left early for Látrabjarg still wearing T-shirts.

Visitors had begun setting up tripods and adjusting camera equipment in an effort to record the eclipse. Ólafsson said he was optimistic that the weather would hold, noting that winds from the east were bringing warmth and sunshine.