The Arctic Circle marks the latitude above which, on the summer solstice, the sun will not set. It's actual latitude varies year by year, but it's approximately 66'33". I've never been anywhere close.
The 66' line crosses the northern part of Iceland, but to cross the Arctic circle near Iceland, one must go to the very northern tip of a tiny island off the coast of Iceland - Grimsey Island.
Even though this is a technicality (all of Iceland is pretty darn light all night this time of year) - I've always wanted to cross this line - and now I have!
From Dalvik, we boarded the ferry, the Saefari, for the 3 hour journey north.
It was a very foggy morning, so we could only see the very bottom of the snow-covered mountains that we were passing - wondering what they really look like.
The harbor at Grimsey is cute - but also a working fishing harbor, supporting the 57 inhabitants.
Once off the boat, we took the path north toward the tip of the island, and Meg got her first look at .... puffins!
The gulls are pretty neat too, even if they're not as showy.
And then ... Icelandic horses! Genetically similar to the Shetland pony, we saw thousands around the island, living outside year round.
Finally - we made it to the circle! There's a rock:
And a huge ball:
On the way back, we passed a pair of women from France with their folding bikes. I admire them - but I was glad I hadn't brought mine. It was really better hiking terrain.
Then a mist came up - which was gorgeous but cold:
Finally we made it back to the harbor, in time to see fishermen sorting the catch, which was then weighed, put on ice and loaded onto our ferry. We thought about buying a fish - but even the smallest were way bigger than we'd be able to eat in one day.
On the way back, the clouds lifted and we could see those dramatic snow covered mountains we missed on the way out.
What a day!
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