One of the first places I wanted to reach in Iceland was this little island on the Arctic Circle. I don’t know why. I was fascinated by the idea that I, coming from the 45th parallel, was getting to 66.33 degrees north latitude.
The first days in Iceland had taken all the excitement out of my vacation because of the rainy weather, which chilled me to the bone, so I didn’t have high expectations from this island above the map of Iceland.
I flew in a small plane from the capital, Reykjavik, to the northern town of Akureyri, planning to board, along with very few travelers, an even smaller plane that would take us all to Grimsey Island.
Considering my chronic fear of flying, imagine what was going on in my head seeing the nasty weather outside and the tiny plane that was supposed to take us over the ocean…
I had to walk sideways to get to my seat, as I couldn’t fit otherwise… I sat nicely in my reserved seat and gathered my courage, thinking that the two men at the controls often fly in this kind of weather and in such places. So I even managed to take out my camera to take some pictures 🙂
And we took off. The flight? Thirty minutes, no more. We left behind the gloomy northern coast of Iceland on that July day, and headed in a surprisingly bright direction! I started to get excited at the thought that, although I knew very little, I was about to discover a lot.
GRIMSEY ISLAND
I think the first impression mattered a lot! Actually, I’m sure of it.
41 kilometers off the northern coast of Iceland, I landed on a green island, bathed in sunlight, a 5.3 square kilometer patch of land, 5.5 kilometers long, located right on the Arctic Circle.
An island formed from volcanic rock, home to fewer than 60 people and… over 1 million seabirds!!! Seriously!
You can imagine how eager I was to explore it!
Once I got my small bag for an overnight stay, I was spotted by a lady – my host.
I barely stepped out of the airport when I reached her guesthouse. Here, the saying “just a stone’s throw away” would be perfect, as you can also see in the photo. It was practically the shortest airport-to-accommodation transfer I’ve ever had haha.
WHERE TO STAY IN GRIMSEY
There are two guesthouses on the island. That’s all.
One is right next to the airport, called Básar – where I stayed. It has 8 small rooms, a shared kitchen, and a shared bathroom.
The other is near the harbor, where tourist boats dock. It’s called Gullsól, and it has similar amenities to the first one.
ON THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
From the window of my tiny room, I could see the marker indicating that you’re exactly on the Arctic Circle – one of the best-known landmarks of the island. I dropped my bag and rushed out with my camera, as if that pole would vanish if I dared to breathe, unpack my backpack, or take a quick bathroom break…
Four tourists were also taking photos there. Quite the crowd, huh.
I waited for them to finish and leave so I could take over – me, the queen of the Arctic Circle…
I planted myself right there, but of course, I needed them, because the selfie wasn’t cutting it.
The pole was installed in July 2003. The idea was that people could “cross” the Arctic Circle on a kind of bridge – basically, a ladder on each side of a stile:
I started to mark my territory. No, not like that, don’t get any weird ideas! I pulled out the Romanian flag I’d brought especially from home, stuck it in the pole, and just like that, added a splash of color to the place haha 🙂
Then I went puffin hunting. My weapon of choice? My Canon camera.
THE PUFFINS
“You’re in the right place at the right time”, someone tells me. Puffins, those northern sea birds with parrot-like faces, spend most of their lives on the water, but during spring and summer they come ashore, especially in Iceland, to form breeding colonies.
I step off the path to see them on the cliffs and I’m amazed by how many and how cute they are!
In some spots, I come across “camouflaged” cameras without owners:
I look at my own camera and feel so small compared to what I see here…
Truth is, this island is the perfect place for professional photographers to come and capture these birds.
I spot the owners of those huge cameras. They wait patiently for the perfect wing-flap. With lots and lots of patience. I understand that there’s good money to be made from this.
So I arm myself with patience too, and slowly approach the promontories, where I see the puffins chatting or holding fish in their beaks. I’m beyond thrilled to see in real life, with my own eyes, what I’ve only seen on TV before. And to take photos like the ones I’ve seen online. Just with the camera on auto mode.
GRIMSEY SEEN FROM ABOVE
The island has a few walking trails. Easy ones. Some spots give you the chance to see the landscape from above. Not too high up, considering that on the eastern side – the highest point – the island only rises to 105 meters above sea level.
But the walk is worth it! The air is the kind that feels like it cleans out your lungs. And the landscape is so beautiful, it instantly fixes any nearsightedness you might have 🙂
From the island’s trails, I spot the “shuttle” that carries passengers across the sea from the mainland (from Dalvík) to Grimsey and back:
One trip takes 3 hours.
Many of the tourists who arrive by sea only stay on the island for a few hours, until the boat leaves again. They walk around a bit, take photos, eat something, buy a souvenir, and that’s it.
SANDVIK
I start walking down the main street of the island’s only village – Sandvik.
I’m curious about how these people live, what their houses look like, what they do, what they have…
It’s sunny outside, but the temperature doesn’t go above 16 degrees Celsius (in July, mind you!).
I stare at the houses, the yards (though there are hardly any fences), and whatever else they’ve got around. No movement anywhere. No barking dogs, no lazy cats.
Later, I found out, by talking to the locals, that they raise horses and sheep. Definitely not dogs or cats, which are not allowed on the island, because of the birds!
There are no rats or mice on Grimsey either. The only wild land mammals that occasionally visit the island are polar bears. Very rarely seen.
Fish is left out to dry in the sun. I’ve seen this in many places, and I found it again in shops, for sale, in bags that release such a strong smell it makes you want to run… But everyone considers it extremely healthy food!
Speaking of fish, all the men on the island are fishermen. Except for one – who is a mechanic.
Fishing and fish processing are extremely important nowadays, but in the past, bird hunting and egg collecting were essential! (From what I understand, they still go egg collecting even today.)
Well, look at that… I’m not the only one staying overnight! Though some have chosen to sleep outdoors.
Camping is allowed on the island, in a designated area where you even have a few facilities like showers and toilets.
I pass by the school. It’s summer break, so not a single child in sight. Not inside, not on the makeshift football field, not by the basketball hoop.
I find out that 13 kids study here, up to 14 years old. And there are 3 more in kindergarten. (These figures are from the summer of 2014. Now, things have changed: the building is a Community Center, as the school and kindergarten were closed due to lack of children!)
I don’t see any sign of a hospital or clinic.
They don’t have one…
“We only get sick once every 3 months”, jokes a local. Because a doctor only comes to the island once every 3 months!
If there’s an emergency, something serious, help comes by plane.
THE GRIMSEY CHURCH
This church, photographed by me in 2014, burned down in 2021! 🙁
I found out the news in Reykjavik, during my 2023 trip, when I saw an exhibition with photos from the disaster and details about the fundraising efforts for its reconstruction. (People have rallied and hope to have it rebuilt by the end of 2024. In the meantime, they hold certain services or events in what they’ve managed to build so far.)
The church was originally built in 1867, and later expanded and renovated in 1932.
So these photos I took in the summer of 2014 now feel very precious to me!
I found the church open and learned that it was kept open permanently so that anyone could come in to pray or gather their thoughts.
However, there was no resident priest. The priest visits Grimsey about three times a year – for a wedding, a baptism…
On the way out, you could buy a postcard of the church if you dropped 100 ISK (just over half a euro) in the donation box.
THE INHABITANTS OF GRIMSEY
Approximately 60 people are officially registered as living on the island.
During winter, however, the population drops to 25–30 people! Women leave for mainland Iceland with the children, for school (since the island hasn’t had a school for 3 years). On top of that, tourism drops drastically, and people go elsewhere for jobs, education, or other needs.
In summer, they return, relatives also come to stay, and there are more fishermen too.
When I arrived on the island in 2014, most of them didn’t have mobile phones, weren’t into the internet or Facebook. Since then, things have changed, and at least those I spoke to are now enjoying the benefits of being online.
Very, very rarely do they go to the mainland. They stay on the island. They go for walks, collect eggs along the high shores, hunt birds, ride horses, have fishing competitions, or relax at the small pool on the island. But what they enjoy the most is gathering for chats, that’s their thing.
And I also found out they’re really good at chess!
In the 19th century, a wealthy American scholar and chess enthusiast (Daniel Willard Fiske) set foot on the island. Seeing the locals’ love for chess, he donated a chess set to every household, plus money for the community to help with its development. Since then, the people of Grimsey commemorate him every year on his birthday – November 11.
I came across two of the island’s very few children. Working in the small fish factory. On their own.
You wouldn’t believe the speed and skill these kids had! And we’re talking about hundreds of kilos of fish!
Fish that I later found on my plate, at a nearby restaurant. Cooked…
WHAT TO EAT IN GRIMSEY
AND WHAT TO BUY
There is only one restaurant on the island, near the port – Krían.
This is where people gather to chat, outside of the ferry hours that bring tourists to the island, and when every local becomes helpful – my host from the guesthouse was washing dishes, the man who served me would later be my boat guide…
It’s common for everyone to do a bit of everything, especially when the place gets flooded with tourists from the ferry.
The restaurant is small and, since the weather is amazing, I sit on its terrace because I have a stunning view of the Arctic Ocean and Iceland’s northern coast:
I had lunch twice on the island, so I got to try both of the local specialties, frrresh:
Puffin with potatoes and cod with potatoes. Oh my God, my mouth waters just remembering it!!!
On the island, there’s only one supermarket. Well, more like a village shop.
It’s only open a few hours a day (an hour and a half at lunchtime and two more hours in the afternoon), and in summer it depends on when the ferries arrive.
Inside, there’s also a post office. They have stamps, but no postcards.
Meanwhile, postcards, but no stamps 🙂 can be found at a small souvenir shop at the guesthouse by the port (Gullsól).
Besides postcards, you’ll also find handmade crafts by local women, books, maps, and a few edible goodies.
From here, you can also buy a diploma, stamped on the spot, after they fill in your name and date – a diploma proving that you’ve been to the Arctic Circle. Of course I bought one…
WHAT TO DO ON GRIMSEY ISLAND
You can get a tan, quickly.
After just a few hours of walking, I could already feel the sun had roasted me well.
You can play football on the island. On a “natural” field. Just bring your own team.
If I go by the golf ball I found, it seems there are also people who play golf here.
I take the ball as a lucky charm…
I also come across a swimming pool. I wasn’t expecting it, considering these people are surrounded by ocean, but when I learned that the water temperature is around 4°C in winter and only about 8°C in summer, I understood the value of a warm indoor pool.
I go in to see what it’s like.
Warm!
It’s a small pool, but clearly it makes the locals happy, at the very least.
You can set off on a walking tour. There are paths that take you to the northernmost point of the island, then to the high cliffs in the east. You’ll also reach the only lighthouse, at the southern tip of the island, and then return to the port through the village.
You can go horseback riding, if you’ve had a bit of training (or have courage…), but you can also rent a Vespa if you prefer comfort. Or a bike.
ARCTIC TERNS
They’re officially called “Arctic terns” around the world, but to me, they’re the “terrorist terns”!!!
I acknowledge their merits. They’re beautiful, no doubt. And they’re also remarkable: they hold the record for the longest migration in the world – traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole! That’s seriously impressive!
But that still doesn’t excuse them 🙂 In summer, when they return to this area, may the heavens help you if you pass near their hidden nests in the grass. They go absolutely berserk, screeching like something out of a horror movie, and they attack. Yes, attack! They dive-bomb your head, thinking you’re there to steal their eggs.
Only after I personally experienced this “Hitchcock’s The Birds” moment twice did I learn a trick:
You take a long stick and hold it above your head while walking. The terns will target the highest point, so your head stays safe.
Ok, so that person I saw on the road walking with a vertical stick wasn’t crazy after all. He knew what he was doing.
That’s also when I understood the bundle of blowpipe tubes stacked at the corner of the guesthouse…
I grabbed one myself and headed off for a more peaceful walk around the island. Still, I never got used to the noise!
Look:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HSSVHXTekFs
BIRDS ON GRIMSEY
Besides the “terrorist” terns, in July I also came across thousands of seagulls on the island.
Busy with their nests too.
And I kept photographing puffins, fascinated by them:
MIDNIGHT SUN
The idea of seeing the sun at midnight thrilled me endlessly, right from the start! And especially to witness it from the Arctic Circle.
A few minutes before midnight…
There were some clouds in the sky, but I still stayed outside, eyes on the clock and on the sun!
These are the photos taken at exactly 00:00.
Next time, I’m settling in on Grimsey and staying until I catch a perfectly clear night…
THE ISLAND SEEN FROM THE SEA
There are boat tours around the island. I found out from my host, who took me and another tourist to a local man (the local man who had earlier served me at the restaurant), and he took us out on his boat, bringing his child along too.
And so we set off together around the island.
It was beautiful! At one point, they blew twice into a small trumpet, and thousands of birds suddenly flew out from the cliffs, swarming toward the sea. Scary!…
Then we reached the other side of the island:
THE TAKEOFF ADVENTURE
I froze on my first day when I saw how the plane I came with took off!
It was full, full of birds on the runway and around the plane, as if the Ocean’s seagulls had found their mother-ship! And my fear of flying instantly shot from my stomach to my throat…
On departure day, shock, shock, shock, I saw the runway full of birds again.
At one point, a car came to politely ask them to move aside so we could take off.
In the small airport room, I checked in and received, for free this time, another Diploma:
They filled one out for each of us passengers, and I wondered who on Earth took calligraphy classes, because the handwriting was beautiful!
With two certificates proving I had crossed the Arctic Circle, I boarded the plane along with a few other passengers and flew back toward mother-Iceland.
The adventure continued – back then, in 2016 too, and again in 2023. So now I need a loooong vacation just to write about everything!
Whoever hasn’t read about how I sent a granny bag full of Romanian stuff to Grimsey in the summer of 2023, here’s the story. So you’ll understand I am missing a few screws…
And for those who haven’t seen how I slept in a capsule, here are the details.
