Near the Arctic Circle

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Geo: 65.6839, -18.1105

Last night during our passage from Lerwick to Akureyri, the ship crossed the Arctic Circle. This is the first time that we have been that far north so I stayed up watching the ship's position on the TV screen. We passed the latitude of 66° 33′ 44″ north by just a bit. It was still light outside last night even though it is a month passed the summer solstice.

We took a full day excursion today including stops at Godafoss (the Waterfall of the Gods) on the Skjálfandafljót River, the pseudo craters around Skutustada giger, the trails through the lava at Dimmuborgir, and the geothermal area of Namafjall Hverir. All the landscapes are quite interesting to see and not like anything I have seen before.

On this trip, we walked on the edge of a cliff near the waterfall, through barren lava landscape at Dimmuborgir, and in between the steaming mudpots and fumeroles of Namafjall Hverir smelling the sulfur and feeling their heat. They warmed up the immediate area so that the temperature right there was higher than the surrounding space.

We met a couple from Geneva on this day trip. We haven't had very many native English speakers to talk to, but the woman, Carol, was from Colorado originally, and the man was a native of Iraq. Both had lived in Geneva many years. Carol was surprised when she heard Philip and me talking to each other on one of the trails. She did not expect to hear American-accented English.

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Photos

The Sea and Sky
This was an odd look to the sea--bumpy, but without white caps. It was very gray, cool and dreary.

Pilot Boat
The boat guides the ship though the bay to avoid shallow areas.

Dimmuborgir
Lava landscape area where we took some of the trails with the help of our guide. It was disorienting to be among these formations in the cloudy weather. I could not tell what direction we were going much of the time. The guide knew how to lead us out though.

Stream
Some of the land was grassy in Iceland, but in this area there was more lava than anything else.