Farewell Mr Puffin: A small boat voyage to Iceland

by Paul Heiney

'It would be hard to imagine a more thoughtful, intelligent and companionable person to go to sea with than Paul Heiney.' Bill Bryson

'High comedy on the high seas. Informative and warm and freezing. It's quite a combination.' Griff Rhys Jones

The writer and broadcaster Paul Heiney set sail from the east coast of England bound for Iceland, propelled by a desire to breathe the cool, clear air of the high latitudes, and to follow in the wake of generations of sailors who have made this often treacherous journey since the 13th century. In almost every harbour he tripped over maritime history and anecdote, and came face to face with his own past as he sailed north along his childhood coastline of east Yorkshire towards the Arctic Circle.

But there was one major thing missing from this voyage - the sight of puffins. They are remarkable birds, uplifting as a ray of sunshine after a storm. To see them and share their waters was also part of Heiney's ambition. Imagine then his disappointment when, first, no puffins appeared off the Farne Islands, then none to be seen on puffin hotspots like Orkney. When he failed to see puffins on Iceland, Heiney still held out the hope that he would see the 'joker of the seas'.

With inspiring travel writing, social and maritime history, and good-humoured reflections on his sailing journey, Heiney brings us this delightful book – a love letter to the puffin, to Iceland and the north, and to the pure pleasure of being at sea.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Nature, Memoir, Nautical, British Literature, Animals

256 pages, Paperback

Published September 7, 2021

Reviews

[Graham Mott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slightly strange book as the author didn’t appear to like Iceland much or indeed the Icelanders. Overall the message might be that Iceland, which is an amazing and spectacular place to visit is not a good place to explore by small boat. His visitas limited to what he could see from off shore and to the small rather sameish communities he stopped off in (and no one goes to Iceland for the architecture).

Thé puffin theme is also a bit odd and seems almost shoe horned in to provide some sort of message and tension to an otherwise fairly routine trip (an experienced sailor the trip was easily within his capabilities). That he saw almost none seems extraordinary unless he went at the wrong time of year, as in summer, given where he went, there are literally millions of puffins and they can’t possibly be missed. Yes, numbers have fallen but as he notes there are still around 5million nesting on the island.

Perhaps slight grumpy and with that snobbishness that sailors and boat owners sometime exhibit towards anyone who isn’t part of the fellowship of the sea I do wonder whether his publisher or bank balance forced the book and as such his heart want really in it.

[Ape · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book falls into a very odd category, of one that I have enjoyed reading and yet I increasingly disliked the author as the book went on. One of these pompous types who looks down on many not like him, knows little about subjects but talks about them as though he is THE authority. The book is called Farewell Mr Puffin and he says he wants to see Puffins, and yet doesn't write that much about them, makes little effort to see any, and grumbles that he only sees one. He also sets off on his venture telling us the north is in his soul and yet doesn't have that much good to say about Iceland. You get the impression he thinks Vikings were all violence and raping and folk who say they were also farmers looking for new land to settle are mad hippies.... although later mentioning how so many places have been influenced by Viking culture (surely that would need a bit of peace and settling for it to be taken on board???) and also not really believing in climate change or worrying at all about it - for what is he going to do about it??? Just... lord, don't get me started on that. He's of the generation that had contributed greatly to so many problems, climate and society that are brewing, and yet somehow merely sits in his wealth and his big pension and says hey ho, nothing to do with me, why worry? Is it obvious I didn't end this book with great feelings for the writer?!

Well, it's about a guy who has this little yacht and likes sailing places. He picks up crew here and there, pre arranged, who sail with him for a few days to a few weeks. From the east coast of England, he sails up to the Orkneys, then to the Faroe Islands, and then to Iceland. Leaves the boat up there to overwinter, then goes back the next year and then sails round Iceland. And maybe there isn't much to Iceland when you're just sailing round part of it - I wouldn't know, I don't sail.

Oh, and a common irritation of mine: where were the maps? Not a single map in sight.

Borrowed from the library.

[Lea]

I bought this while I was on the Orkney Islands, just having come back from a trip to Iceland myself, so I just know this is going to be a special read 🥰

[Christian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so lame and pointless that I ended up getting mad at it, and at myself for wasting my time on it. The cover illustration is gorgeous and it seemed to promise three things of great interest to me: puffins, Iceland and a sailing adventure. It delivered none of those things. The writer encounters a total of one puffin. The sailing narrative is uneventful and uninteresting for the most part - the cranky author spends a lot of time explaining his clogged bilge problems and various nondescript rotating crewmates. And he doesn't seem to have that much interest in Iceland really. He complains a lot about Reykjavik and most of the towns he visits, claims the island is "too woke" (huh?), and barely touches on the rich history of the island and its relationship to the sea. The book is so uninteresting, without any real tensions or insights, I wonder if the writer simply saw an opportunity to dash off a book about Iceland to sell to tourists to the island (or was suggested to do so by an agent or publisher) - unfortunately it worked on me :(

Two great sailing books that are excellent in exploring the places, people and history+stories of the geography they take place in are Jonathan Raban's Passage to Juneau and Philip Mardsen's The Summer Isles: A Voyage of the Imagination. Give this one a hard pass.

[Diana C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t be fooled by the cute cover art. Incredibly hard to read. The thesis of the last chapter is essentially “climate change, why worry about it?”.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the attraction of puffins which turned out to be few and far between, this book was a really interesting travelogue. I learnt so much about sailing ⛵️ and northern arctic islands and Iceland. The book did lament the absence of puffins in areas where they would normally proliferate. The book had a list of books referenced and I will definitely seek out the 2015 book about puffins. This was a very good read.

[Kolymaarasto · Rating 2 out of 5]

1,75 stars.

That was somewhat underwhelming - the cover promised a lot more than the book eventually delivered. Considering how much the author waxes lyrically about how much he loves the North while he is still in England, he doesn't seem to find much to please him there once he is in Iceland. A lot of complaining, a very dismissive attitude towards land, people and the environment... in contrast to Bill Bryson i could easily imagine people "more thoughtful, intelligent and companionable [...] to go to sea with". Seasickness of his randomly picked crew and his blocked toilet feature more prominently than the somewhat forced puffin-theme.

The writing style itself is nice, the story easily readable and the book contains a few interesting nuggets of information, which saves it from a 1*-rating.

[my.bookshelf.87 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring.

[Scott Sambrook · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very nice easy read, broken up into bite sized and topical chapters, particularly in the first half. Lacking a little in details, but a nice review of the journey taken. A good easy book to casually read.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough detail to satisfy sailors. Not enough story to interest non-sailors. Lassez-faire attitude about the environment. Interesting bits of local history. Literate.

[Farah Mendlesohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant enough read.

I am not sure why this didn't work for me. It has all the ingredients: history, the sea, landscape, puffins (or not) but it just didn't quite bite.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seem to have a more favorable impression of this book than a lot of others, perhaps because it’s the first book I’ve read about someone’s travels at sea. I’ve also never been on a sailboat. Although he only saw only Puffin, he certainly tried to see many more.

I found his descriptions of Puffins, the scenery, and everything else to be vivid. The way he describes the puffin like it’s the most interesting thing in the world drew me in. Along with vivid descriptions of many other things, I felt immersed in the story. Having never been on a sail boat, especially not one for a long journey, I enjoyed learning more about what it’s like. I enjoyed learning about the history, scenery, people, and folklore of Iceland and the other islands along the way. Moreover, each of his crew-mates had something memorable to add to the journey, from the guy who always wore short to the one who too busy admiring the beauty of the waves to realize that bad weather was coming.

As one example of the vivid, memorable, and immersive descriptions, he describes the south wind as a wind that hasn’t washed its hands. It clings like a warm sweater that he doesn't want to be wearing and can’t take off. It dulls the mind and kills inspiration. Whereas the north wind is inspiring. There is a spirituality to be found by heading north. With the north wind, one can see for miles and even thoughts becoming clearer. However, the north wind is demanding of energy.

As a second example of the same, below is an abridged quote:

To have a book about the place in which you are immersed is one of the great joys of sailing….you can lift your eyes from the page and see around you what he was describing…he becomes your friend and guide, and the characters…so real they could be walking toward you on the narrow street.

[Eline Van · Rating 1 out of 5]

On the cover of this book feature a beautiful illustration of puffins, Icelandic landscapes, and a review of Bill Bryson promising ‘It would be hard to imagine a more thoughtful, intelligent and companionable person to go to sea with than Paul Heiney’. All these promises could not be further from the truth, as here we have a book that hardly mentions puffins, is very negative about Iceland and does not explore its beauty further than the harbour walls, is written by a guy that’s completely full of himself and insults his crew mates because he is better than everyone (at least he gives off those vibes in his writing). He consistently misspells the Icelandic placenames, gives factually incorrect information about our culture (I am Icelandic), and does not bother at all to explore the beauty of our country - yet, he has lots of opinions about it. The puffin theme is as lacking as his efforts to look for them. I live in Reykjavik and in the summer I literally have to sail out three minutes and I’ve already seen hundreds of them. My only explanations are that he either doesnt know what puffins look like, or he went at the wrong time of year (which wouldn’t surprise me because he does not seem very well read about anything). Oh, and that ‘love for the puffin’ at some point turns into a hunger to try to taste them, which I think sums up the character of Heiney pretty well. All in all, this author is very ignorant and does not do justice at all to Iceland and its puffins. I havent finished yet, and don’t think I will waste my time on this further, but apparently he will deny climate change in his final chapter - I guess perfectly summarising his ignorance and selfishness. Nei takk.

[Simone Frost · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love puffins so picked up this book expecting it to be about puffins. This isn’t the case and I would say it’s more about his voyage to Iceland. There are some puffin facts which I enjoyed but they’re few and far between. He only sees one puffin the whole trip.

For me, I felt the book was missing something and the apparent “good humour” throughout the book didn’t materialise for me. The author seemed to complain about everything and was disparaging about places he stopped at, even if he was only there for a day or two.

There are some black and white pictures but they didn’t bring much to the story for me and made the whole trip seem bleak and depressing.

Overall I was glad to finish this book and I was disappointed with it. It wasn’t what I expected and the lovely cover felt misleading.

2.5 stars rounded to 2.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just OK. I wanted to like it so much more than I did, maybe hoping for a Bill Bryson book only with puffins. The humor was gentle, but skewing a little toward unkindness when it came to some of the assistants who joined the author along the way. I don't know, the whole narrative felt a little flat, mirroring the author's disappointment at only seeing one solitary puffin on the entire adventure.

[Rosalyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing style and finished the book easily but didn't like the way the author talked down about Icelandic culture, food, and the people. Also, he was complaining about tourists when he himself was one but arrived by different means. Also, not every fishing village in Iceland is bleak. The author did do the landscape justice with his descriptions, but the narrative came across as judgemental at times of different cultures of which he was a guest.

[Andrew Power · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off really enjoying the travel from the UK to towns I live near towards Iceland and the interesting facts and historical anecdotes to on the way. So much so I read up to the point of arriving to Iceland in short succession.

After that my reading spotted around as the travels in Iceland seemed a bit dull.

[Julian Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable (and nicely dry) read of the author's northern quest to see puffins, with a collection of shipmates or varying nautical skills to help him.

Great history and observations throughout and a gentle reading style which makes the journeys even more immersive.

Maybe not 'high comedy on the high seas' but a very good read from the first to last pages.

Great stuff.

[Andrianna Kaimis · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book about a pessimist who is unwilling to try the slightest bit. He says he prefers to travel alone but maybe nobody wants to travel with him. His claim that Iceland is a desolate land that’s grey and only has horrible weather is an insane take. Maybe if he was on land for more than refueling and buying coffee, he would’ve been able to see what Iceland truly is.

[Florian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great reading for sailors and non-sailors alike. Especially interesting is the history of the fishing industry in England as well as the search for the puffin, that the author continues throughout the book. Very good!

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like to sail, have a penchant for islands and/or Vikings, and reckon the world around is you is worth a comment or two, you will love this. I do and did. But it is a niche book, albeit and funny and well-written one.

[Jo Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable light, sometimes amusing, read. Left wondering whether the author did or did not like Iceland and, indeed, whether he enjoyed the trip at all! Don’t expect any earth shattering discoveries or revelations but overall I found it an easy entertaining read.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very pleasant read. It made me think of two lovely Icelanders who were our balcony neighbours in Spain, one holiday. It was interesting to learn that Iceland is mainly black/grey with lava, that there's very little grass. I don't think I'd like that.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit Partridgesque.

[Janet Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this voyage up the coast of England and on to Iceland.

[Mr Peter Staveacre · Rating 5 out of 5]

No Puffins

Graphic summary of V sailing in the North Atlantic and the inhabitants of the islands en route and Iceland. Made me feel very cold !

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book . I followed his journey on a map and learned a lot about the ocean , sailing and wildlife .having very recently visited Iceland myself I could relate.

[Ian Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is a bit of a bore and a snob but the adventure is one I'd love to do. Love the cover art work.

[Clair · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me unfortunately