Day 6 You Actually CAN get there from here

You may remember from eight years ago that I mentioned we tried to go to Grimsey Island earlier in the trip, but Mother Nature had other ideas.  Well, we tried again on day 6.  Our plan was to take the ferry to the island and fly back to Ak.  If for some reason the plane couldn't go again because of the fog, we could take the ferry back as the ferry left later than the plane.  We had to take a bus to the ferry stop, which worked out fine in the end, but there was some drama as the lady at the bus station said the bus didn't go back.  The bus driver assured us that it did (as it turned out since we were able to fly home it was a non-issue in the end anyway).  The bus was late so they had to hold the ferry for us, but they did and we successfully boarded the ferry and set sail for Grimsey.  I took my seasick medicine and settled in for a pleasant ferry ride.  WRONG!  Pleasant it wasn't. I mean the people were nice and the movie playing was a good one, but the ride was bumpy.  The medicine that usually helps was NOT helpful.  I was a miserable grump.  I sat in one of the only empty chairs (near the front of the boat, which I know is not the best place to sit when you feel sick on a boat, but it was my only option), closed my eyes and hoped I'd fall asleep.  No such luck.  I spent a good deal of time looking at my watch and trying not to try during the movie (when I wasn't dozing, I kept opening my eyes at the sad parts of "Reign Over Me").  I don't think I spoke more than three sentences to my friend, I felt so miserable.  Three hours is a long ride when you feel sick, but eventually (slowly) it passed and we docked.  And I stepped off the boat and felt fine.  It was like magic or something.  I was afraid I'd still feel a little blah, but nope as soon as I was off the boat, I was back to my ol' self.  We spent some time exploring the island.  We didn't have time to do quite everything we wanted, but we did see the one school, the church, walked part of one of the trails, visited the two shops, from a distance saw the light house,  AND made it to the arctic circle, where we posed with the pole for pictures and got a certificate.  BTW the island is small, when I said the school, two shops, etc, that's because that's all there is.  There is also a small hotel or two and an indoor pool. The population is about 90 people.  I really wonder what it's like living in a place like that.  I'd love to meet someone who lives on a small island like Grimsey and ask them a ton of questions about island life.  It kind of fascinates me.  I could't live like that forever, but maybe a few months would be fun.  Anyway...Thank goodness it wasn't foggy and we were able to take the plane back to Ak.  The plane holds about 20 people.  The airport was small, the staff were very nice--they even took our pics by the plane, the plane was small as in you could see the pilot from your seat, and I'm pretty sure the lady who checked us in also took our pic, loaded us onto the plane, and cleared the plane for take off.  A little different from life around here, but I'm not complaning, just noticing.  The plane was SO much better for me than the ferry (and only a 25 min ride).  We spent the rest of the evening shopping a little bit more, exploring Ak and seeing another famous house (Nonni's house), having delicious treats at a local cafe/bar, walking around a bit more, than having tapas (sp?)--my first time--at a local restaurant and I will admit I finally tried an Icelandic beer there (I'm still not a beer fan, but it was drinkable lol), then it was back to the airport to head back to Rek for two nights.  Oh, and as you check out the pics, it appears that I took a lot of pictures of churches, I think that is because we saw so many on the trip.  :)