Hafnir

Hafnir is a hamlet on the coast south of Keflavík, reached by following the shore past Hvalsnes and into Kirkjuvogur bay. In the escape from the military base, it is both a planned landing place and the point where Kristín and Steve leave their boat and continue on foot toward Reykjavík.

Setting and Approach

Hafnir lies beyond a stretch of shoreline that Steve and Kristín travel by Zodiac after getting out of the base. They find the boat in a bay west of the base, hidden roughly five hundred yards from a gap in the perimeter fence. From there, their intended route follows the coast south past Hvalsnes into Kirkjuvogur bay, to a beach just outside Hafnir.

The journey is made under a cloudless, star-filled sky, with moonlight helping them cover the distance. The Zodiac’s quiet twenty-horsepower outboard starts at the first attempt, but the boat moves slowly and repeatedly strikes the waves. Icy wind and spray soak Kristín’s anorak as she clings to the rope at the bow. Steve steers along a coast that gives her the impression he has navigated it before.

The Escape and Its Aftermath

About fifteen minutes after setting out, Kristín and Steve reach Hafnir and make the rubber dinghy fast before abandoning it. They have not spoken during the crossing. Only after leaving the boat does Kristín ask whether this is how drugs are smuggled; Steve says he would not know, and they let the exchange end there.

They then walk north from Hafnir toward the Reykjanes dual carriageway. The reddish-brown glow above Keflavík and Njardvík remains visible in the distance, while headlights approaching from behind interrupt their silent walk after about forty-five minutes. The driver, a baker on his way to Keflavík, gives them a lift to the main road, from which they expect to hitch onward to Reykjavík.

Narrative Significance

Hafnir marks a shift in the escape from covert movement by sea to exposed travel on foot and by road. The abandoned Zodiac makes the hamlet a practical stopping point rather than a destination: once ashore, Kristín and Steve must rely on a passing stranger to continue their journey. The brief landing also contrasts the physical hardship and enforced silence of the crossing with the ordinary intervention of a baker who happens to be driving toward Keflavík.