Near the Arctic Circle

Wednesday was spent in the pretty town of Seydisfjordur , pronounced
"say this fyor thur" . Now say that 10 times quickly! Seydisfjordur is at the head of a 16 km fjord of the same name and is on the east coast of Iceland at just above 65N. It was first established by the Norwegians in the 10th century as a herring port. Fishing is still an important part of it's economy.

The landscape is very similar to the Faroe Islands ie. steep hills several hundred meters high, valleys, trees only at low levels . The major difference is the snow still high in the hills. Stunning scenery.The town itself has less than 700 inhabitants and we all certainly overwhelmed it with our presence today. A pretty town as the pictures show.






One of the attractions there is the iconic Blue Church (Blaa Kirkjan). When we went in there an attractive young lady was singing some Icelandic song. After a few hours of wandering we headed back to the ship for a quiet afternoon . The local Internet cafe with free wi-fi was so crowded it was impossible to get a connection.

In the evening we went to another Murder Mystery Dinner and it was a hoot. Great meal,wine ,company, and performance by the crew. It was premised on a TV award party for a cheesy soap opera and it was hilarious. The crew really got in to their roles. I' m pictured with the character "Alice Cialis" played by the Lifestylist Jo. I had on my tux T-shirt to add to the formality of the occasion .


At 11pm many of us then went to the pool on the Lido Deck for the Polar Bear plunge to signify crossing the Arctic Circle which will happen shortly after midnight. It was a lot of fun and people really got in to the spirit of it. The crew added lots of ice cubes to bring the water temperature down somewhat. We didn't get good pictures of it so this is probably the best of them. I'll be given a certificate to mark the occasion. I'll be looking out our cabin window for the dotted lines we see on maps marking the Arctic Circle.



On our way tonight to Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland. A private tour of some farms is planned.

Location:Seydisfjordur , Iceland