Vatnsnes Peninsula

The sea stack stands in the shallows like a prehistoric animal drinking — fifteen metres of basalt eroded into something part dragon, part rhinoceros, depending on the tide. The beaches around the Vatnsnes Peninsula are among Iceland's most reliable places to look for hauled-out seals — though the sea decides the day's attendance.

Vatnsnes is a broad peninsula jutting into Húnaflói bay on Iceland's northwest coast. Its centrepiece is Hvítserkur, a fifteen-metre basalt stack eroded into a two-legged arch — a drinking dragon, a rhinoceros or a petrified troll, as the angle decides. The peninsula ranks among Iceland's best shore-based seal-watching: harbour and grey seals crowd its beaches through the year, best in early summer, watched quietly from the distances the Icelandic Seal Centre in Hvammstangi recommends — the centre also tells the ecology's story. A circular gravel loop rounds the peninsula past coastal farms, low cliffs and seal beaches, a modest turn from the Ring Road.