DAY 9: GRIMSEY AND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

Friday, June 2, 2017: Today, we traveled to the island of Grimsey. It is 40 km north of the northern most point of Iceland, and it's the only portion of Iceland that crosses the Arctic Circle. This is why we ventured this far north. Let me begin by saying, in hindsight, I am glad we went, but I sure didn't feel that way for most of the trip. The ferry ride ended up being almost 4 hours (it's supposed to be 3 hours) because we were traveling into the wind and waves. It was some of the worst hours of our lives. I guess we should have been worried when the crew members began giving every passenger 5 barf bags before we left the harbor. It was the worse seasickness I have ever witnessed. Everyone was throwing up for hours, the seas were so rough. Michael and I hung out for as long as we could before we joined the other vomiters around hour two. Mike never threw up but he was definitely green.

Once we got to Grimsey, it was freezing cold, windy (over 30 mph sustained wind), and rainy. And yet we persevered. We found our way to the bridge that designated crossing over into the Arctic Circle. That was pretty cool. We spent about 4 hours on the island. Sadly, we only saw one puffin and there is supposed to be the largest colony living on Grimsely. Maybe even the birds were hiding from the yucky weather?!

We were all dreading the ferry ride back to the mainland.

Luckily, we were pleasantly surprised that the return trip was much better. It was basically a normal boat ride. This time we were going with the waves and wind, hallelujah.

Then, we drove back to Akureyri. There was a major cruise ship docked in town.

We had our best meal in Iceland so far for dinner at a restaraunt named for one of my favorite words! Hey, everyone...look at the meal I had just "boughten!!!" hehehe I had the second best salmon I've ever had (with Mike's being THE best!). Mike order grilled whale and it was not too bad. We even splurged on desert. We all earned it after today. The meal cost us a whopping $139.00!

FROM MICHAEL:

I puked a lot on the boat ride. It did not feel good. On the bright side, though, I made it to the Arctic Circle and I got to see a puffin on daddy's camera.

FROM MIKE:

It was definietly asparagus soup.

MY RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY:

I still feel somewhat queasy from that first ferry ride.

I am still congested but the nose spray is still working for 7 hours at a time, so that is good.

Today was the first day I felt cold this whole trip.