Scott King and I are on a 15-day cruise to Greenland. We boarded our plane Wednesday (8-28-24) from New York City (JFK) close to midnight and flew to Reykjavik, Iceland and landed early Thursday morning, about a 5 hour flight. As Iceland is about 4 hours ahead of New York City, it was close to 10 am by the time we were in the Reykjavik airport. Our aircraft was a Boeing 767-300. We were in Reykjavik until Friday when we board the cruise ship Seabourn Venture and started our cruise to Greenland.
Our cruise was scheduled to take us from Reykjavik, with a scheduled short stop at a small island (Heimaey) off the southern tip of Iceland, then around the southern and western part of Greenland, we will debark the ship at Kangerlussuaq, and then fly back to Reykjavik on September 14, 2024. We will then catch another flight back to NYC. The map below shows our scheduled cruise route and the land stops.
Greenland is Earth’s largest island and about 80% of Greenland is covered with ice as shown in the following illustration. The ice is up to 2 miles thick.
On our flight from NYC, Scott and I had a grueling night in economy class, no legroom, Aargh! Double Aargh for Scott as he is even taller! The Reykjavik airport is pretty sprawling, but clean and modern. The drive into town took about an hour and we saw some hot lava. Our Hilton hotel, the Iceland Parliament, is well located but we didn’t go far because pillows and nice fat comforters in the hotel room called our names.
Finally we rallied and went to look for a charging cable for Scott’s phone, and some advice for my digital technical issues. We got Scott's cable but nada on advice for my technical issues.
Scott and I also walked to the shoreline to be sure we could find the shuttle to our ship Friday, plus we went to The House of Collections, one of 3 art museums, which has a collection of Icelandic art. It was an old mansion (built in 1908) repurposed so the building was equal to the art. I'm spoiled about art living in NYC with all of our wonderful museums. Our cruise ticket gives us admission to another museum tomorrow if we choose to schlep around in the rain at 52 degrees.
Scott and I are pretty beat so we won’t do anything fabulous tonight for sure. Due to the time difference between Iceland and NYC I’m 4 hours off, and Scott is 7 hours off since he’s from California. So it’s ok in my book to take it easy.
Scott and I have been in Reykjavik before, back in February of 2014, and we saw a lot of interesting stuff on that trip, including the Northern Lights. It’s kind of fun to say “oh remember seeing this in 2014.” But Reykjavik was covered in snow in February, 2014. I hope I get to see the Northern Lights again on this trip, and some whales, puffins, icebergs, and polar bears, unlikely on polar bears, but glaciers for sure.
I’ve taken a few photos so far but have been unable to upload them yet, maybe due to the Hilton WiFi.
Day 1 - August 30, 2024 (Friday) - Reykjavik, Iceland.
Scott and I embarked on Seabourn Venture at the port of Reykjavik on what was quite a moody day weatherwise, as our ship left Reykjavik around 5 pm into the Denmark Strait, we started our voyage.
Day 2 - August 31, 2024 (Saturday) - Denmark Strait, en route to Greenland.
We are at sea today and the sky is completely gray. We were scheduled to cruise to Heimaey, a small island off the main island
of Iceland. I had read there are over 8 million puffins on Heimaey. Due to the weather, 30+ knots of wind and pouring rain, we didn’t go to the island of Heimaey this morning. it was Rock n Roll all night, but without the music. I was disappointed as Heimaey is a great place to see Puffins. The interesting thing about that island is that the harbor is so narrow that ships turn around in an inlet outside and back in. Which I gather one can’t do in 30+ knots of wind and 9-12 feet swells.
Since we skipped Heimaey we headed for Kulusuk, Greenland a day earlier than our original plan.
Our ship, the Seabourn Venture is great, it’s classified as an Ultra-Luxury Expedition Ship. The Venture is the first ultra-luxury expedition ship to join the Seabourn fleet, it was just launched in 2022. The ship is small enough that you can see the other end looking down the corridor. It’s smaller than the Seabourn Quest that Scott and I were on for our 2020 Antarctica Cruise. For example, the Quest had a passenger size of 458 while the Venture has a 264 passenger list. We recognize some of the expedition leaders from the Quest, particularly “Luke," who gave a lecture on "penguin poop” during our Antarctica Cruise.
Today we go to lectures about kayaks and submarines in preparation for the adventures ahead. And there’s a lecture about guess where… yep, Greenland it is reported there’s a possibility we will see polar bears in Greenland. Yay, 😀
On our sea day today I took a photo with my 2015 Apple iPad mini 4 from the balcony of our cabin showing the rough seas and gray sky. See below.
For no special reason, a photo below is of our ship the Seabourn Venture I filched from the Internet (I forget where), I have indicated where Scott and my cabin is located on Deck 7, this is where the above rough sea photo was taken.
Also, below is a picture of our ship that shows some of the ship’s features, this photo from the Seabourn site on the Internet.
Day 3 - September 1, 2024 (Sunday) - Kulusuk Fjord and Tasiilaq, East Greenland.
As I mentioned above, after we left the port of Reykjavik in Iceland the weather and seas were quite stormy and our ship was unable to go to the island of Heimaey, so our ship headed west, across the Denmark Strait, and was a long sea day for us.
Sunday morning after a long sea day Saturday we headed for the Kulusuk Fjord in Greenland. The annotated Google map below shows approximately our route from Iceland to Greenland, and the two places we visited Sunday (Kulusuk Fjord and Tasiilaq).
Scott and I fairly early in the morning donned layers upon layers of clothes topped off by waterproof trousers and jacket. We then went to the bottom of the ship and changed out our street shoes for waterproof boots. We had been instructed about using the Indian grip assist to get on and off the zodiacs. I felt like a kid in a too big snowsuit. My desire to go to Greenland was to see icebergs and polar bears. The first desire was met big time as I took at least 100 iceberg photos, some really up close and personal. Below are a few that I just learned how to download to my iPad, a rather complicated process. I’m pretty proud of myself for doing it. But I have yet to see a polar bear.
To summarize, the icebergs were magnificent, I have more photos and when I finally download them I may post them, or I may see even more icebergs, I hope so. I heard we are going to "Iceberg Alley." YAY!
After the zodiac trip we went back to our ship to await lunch. In the meantime from the bridge came an announcement that a whale had been spotted so we all rushed to see it. But the whale was so far away that by the time I could see it and get my camera ready the whale was underwater again. Although I didn't get a photo, the ship's staff crew took a video and below is a frame grab.
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| Above: Frame grab from ship's video |
After lunch we sailed to the small town (996 residents) of Tasiilaq in Greenland’s Ammassalik Island. There was a small museum in an old church and a workshop where they carved small souvenirs which some of the ship’s passengers purchased.
We walked through the town toward a lovely valley with the graveyard in the distance. I learned that in the Inuit culture the cemeteries are supposed to be in the most beautiful part of the settlement. I digress. A local guy we met, I'll call him Sven for short, was very informative. He lives with his Inuit girlfriend who is mother to their 3 children, one of whom we met.
Sven brought 2 adult dogs and 2 puppies. He has 16 dogs and 4 puppies. They are Greenlandic dogs and are not allowed to be cross bred or move from the area. I have a photo somewhere and when I get the photo act together I'll find them. He partially feeds them commercial dog food which is imported and costs 1200 Euros per palette and he uses 4-5 pallets a year. The rest of the time he feeds them seal meat that his Inuit girlfriend hunts. Inuits can also hunt polar bears, but there is a quota. A highlight of my day was to watch him feed his dogs. Below is a frame grab from a video the ship created.
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| Above: Frame grab from ship's video |
The dogs are used to hunt and to pull sleds which brings us to the sign in front of the red house in the following photo. Yep, a sign that says "dog sled crossing."
The Inuits have lived in the area for centuries and other people have settled in the last 120 years and there has been a lot of adjustment, not all smooth.
Another interesting thing Sven told us was that the Eastern Greenlanders (we are now in the eastern part of Greenland now) can understand the Western Greenlanders, but the reverse isn't true, because Western Greenland language is the national language and is taught in the schools. There are only 566,000 residents in all of Iceland.
The green grassy building in the next photo must be a turf house. It wasn't labelled and I'm sure I'll learn more as the trip goes on. Inside was dark and there was a leather covered boat under repair I suppose. No one else went in to look, that I was aware of.
Later we had a very nice choir sing local songs, and a drum thing I didn't understand. Although I didn't get a photo, below is a frame grab from the ship's video.
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| Above: Frame grab from ship's video |
It turns out it wasn't as big a loss as I thought, not to go to the Heimaey Island to see the puffins, because they had already "flown the coop" for this year. The puffins usually leave Iceland in late August, early September and spend the winter months out on the open sea without touching soil for up to eight months.
This whole day was redesigned because we couldn’t go to Heimaey Island, the ship’s expedition team is amazing as far as creating the new plan for the day.
Day 4 - September 2, 2024 (Monday) - Umivik Bay, Greenland.
The ship’s captain (Simon Bishop) woke us up Monday morning to see the sunrise, below is a photo I took.
Monday was pretty much a sea day, but below are a few more photos of some icebergs.
Day 5 - September 3, 2024 (Tuesday) - Thrym Glacier and Dronning Marie Dal, Skjoldungen Fjord, Greenland.
This morning Scott and I went in one of the 24 zodiac boats to see the Thrym glacier, or what remains of the Thrym Glacier as it continues to retreat.
The following two photos were taken by one of the ship's crew members, of one of the zodiac boats, don't know if Scott and I were in this particular zodiac.
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| Above: Frame grab from ship's video |
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| Above: Frame grab from ship's video. |
Below are photos with my camera from that trip. The first photo shows the Thrym Glacier, which looks small in this photo, but it's quite high. Note the second photo is of Scott and myself in the back of our zodiac. The third photo is an iceberg.
In the afternoon we plan to go to Dronning Marie Dal to see the Skjoldungen glacier and then kayaking, then hiking.
Day 6 - September 4, 2024 (Wednesday) - Sermeq Kajatleq, Prins Christian Sund, Greenland.
This morning we entered the Prince Christian Sound, known as Prins Christians Sund in Danish, the main waterway between the southernmost tip of Greenland and the islands below. The map below shows where we entered, this is the southernmost tip of the Greenland Ice sheet.
We had bad weather last night but this morning we had a lovely ride in one of the zodiacs to see a glacier and to visit it up pretty close. Below is a photo of one glacier taken from our ship.
Below is another photo taken today.
Below are two more photos taken by one of the ship's crew, showing our ship in front of a glacier.
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| Above: Photo by ship's crew. |
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| Above: Photo by ship's crew. |
Scott went on one of the submarines and lived to say he enjoyed it. After looking at his photos, I had better vistas in the zodiac. The Seabourn Venture has two custom-built submarines. Each battery-powered submarine will carry six guests plus the pilot. There is a one-minute YouTube video on these submarines, at the following URL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La7Q2eIqt8k
Below is a frame grab from the ship's video, of one of the two submarines.
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| Above: Frame grab from ship's video |
It started snowing and blowing so if we went through the channel of darkness I missed it. I understand the scenery on the way through this channel/sound has very spectacular views. I hope it stays light enough to see the towering peaks.
Today was also the famous Arctic Polar Plunge from the Seabourn Venture. I did the Polar Plunge during my and Scott’s 2020 Antarctica Cruise, but on this Greenland trip I opted to just watch a bunch of fish-belly white seniors jump in the water and swear when they surfaced. I related.
Day 7 - September 5, 2024 (Thursday) - Kangikitsoq, Tasermiut Fjord, Greenland.
After leaving Prins Christian Sund we headed for Kangikitsoq, Tasermiut Fjord, then later to Igaliku and Halsey, but I’m having problems sending any text or photos for those places. I hope to do that later. We are now on route to Qaqortoq. See map below.
Kangikitsoq was an unscheduled stop because we skipped going to Heimaey Island in Iceland at the beginning of this cruise due to the rough weather. See map below for location of Kangikitsoq.
At Kangikitsoq, there is a group of conical land formations called molards. The molards are a mystery. They conjecture that they were boulders buried in glaciers and as the glaciers melted, rivers formed and made the molards. The molards were tall and rugged to hike up, with lots of low shrubs and holes in the undergrowth. But I hiked to the top of 3. The view of the fjord was beautiful. Below are some photos from Kangikitsoq, including one of yours truly.
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| Photo by Scott King. |
Day 8 - September 6, 2024 (Friday) - Igaliku and Hvalsey, Greenland.
Today we visited the small town of Igaliku (also known as Igaliko), which is located at the far end of the Igaliku Fjord. Below, see the town marker.
Igaliku is a town of normally 11 to 58 residents, it varies from year to year, but up to 200 in the summer. The residents are basically farmers, livestock is mostly sheep, although one farmer has cows. The men farmers were in the mountains collecting the sheep that are sheltered in barns from November through April. Then sheared before they lamb.
We saw ruins of a “cathedral” and bishop’s residence, all just stones laid out. This was the only cathedral because it had the only bishop.
There was a nice woman who answered our questions, these are some of her answers. "yes they have running water and indoor toilets, they have electricity underground wires, there was a school, a laundry, cafe, and church.” See the photo below of the church.
The church was very interesting as the stones were left from the time of the Vikings, and the local residents built the church from these stones. When they go to church they can see which stones their relatives put in.
The next photo is of a house in Igaliku, I'd call it a Greenland "Mansion."
Later in the day after we returned to the ship for a special treat from Seabourn, "Caviar on the Arctic”. It was abundant with a variety of drinks, all before 11:00, then to lunch and cruising to the next port of Hvalsey. See photo below.
After leaving Igaliku our ship cruised to Hvalsey, see map below.
Hvalsey is another Unesco site like Igaliku, which I forgot to mention above on Igaliku.
The photo below is one I took cruising on our ship to Hvalsey, we had a blue sky for a change, some blue that is.
The following photo is of the remains of an old church (Hvalsey Church) with amazing stone work. The last record of the Norse (aka Vikings) was a marriage that took place in this church. It’s a long story I may send when I’m on a computer and not my iPad. However, one of the expedition team members is a 15th generation descendant from that marriage.
The last photo is a horse arena or shelter. They don’t know much about any of these Viking relics but are finding hundreds more.
Note, we are now pretty much back on our original cruise schedule.
Day 9 - September 7, 2024 (Saturday) - Qaqortoq, Greenland.
Today Scott and I are in Qaqortoq, the largest town in Southern Greenland, with something like 3000+ residents. When friends Dayle and Larry went on their 2022 Barcelona to Montreal (aka Route Of The Vikings) cruise they also stopped in Qaqortoq. In Dayle’s write-up on their journey she wrote to not even try to pronounce the name. I took that as good advice. But someone here told me Qaqortoq is pronounced like you have a sore throat and are trying to say something while gargling.
Anyway, Saturday is a nice day, great skies, yay. Around 6:45 am this morning we noticed a lone kayaker paddled by our ship, we found out he is part of a group of kayakers that is going to give a Kayak demonstration for the ship at 6:30 pm. But he was confused about the time and came early this morning. Below is a photo of the confused kayaker.
Below are two photos I took while still on the ship as we entered the port.
After leaving our ship the first building we noticed was a red building with a banner that said ‘Welcom to Qaqortoq,” this appeared to be Qaqortoq’s visitor center. In the photo below of this building, to the left of the building, you will notice a small geodesic dome, reminded me of the 1965 Buckminster Fuller's Fly's Eye geodesic dome I saw last year in Miami.
Scott and I went to the local museum and found an exhibit about Shamans to be the most fascinating. They were and maybe still are an important aspect of local beliefs. even when they are Protestants.
We later went to a few shops where you could buy those gallon cans of beans or tomato sauce, and tires and rifles. We also went to a pottery studio with cute but expensive cutouts of polar bears or eskimos mounted on driftwood. I had a nice chat with the potter.
In the afternoon we took a walking tour and stopped by the only fountain in southern Greenland (and the oldest fountain in Greenland) which we of course called Trevi. The real name is Mindebrønden (Memorial Fountain). The fountain has three whales squirting water out of their blowholes on top of a lantern-like base, acknowledging Greenland’s whaling tradition.
All throughout Qaqortoq, carved into boulders and rock faces, are carvings of whales, faces, and other traditional designs. These stoneworks are a citywide work of art known as Stone & Man. Below is one photo of some faces.
On our walk, we took a photo of an old red church, a wooden Lutheran church, the Church of Our Savior. And I have a story to relate about something "evil" that happened in this church today, but I’ll do that later in this write-up.
The following photo (a crop of the original) I took later back at the ship when the kayakers gave their demonstration, which was very interesting. Impressive how they turned over and over and over (called a kayak roll or Eskimo roll), they even paddled upside down. Amazing!
The next two photos are from the ship's crew, showing the kayakers.
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| Above: Photo by ship's crew. |
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| Above: Photo by ship's crew. |
This is a followup to my earlier comment where I mentioned something “evil” happened in the old red wooden Lutheran church in Qaqortoq. Actually it wasn’t evil of course, but more “unfortunate” for me. While in the church I took a photo at the altar with my Panasonic Lumix ZS70 camera, when I turned to leave the sisal rug had a huge ripped place with rope sticking up, which grabbed my foot causing me to faceplant in the aisle with my camera flying. The camera is probably beyond repair. So now I will need to take future photos on this trip with my iPad.
My knee is scraped but doesn’t hurt (yet), probably because I had on so many layers of clothes. Hopefully my camera insurance hasn't run out, and they will fix or replace it. I won't know until I get home, I think. I bought this camera in very late 2019 for Scott and my 2020 Antarctica Cruise, so that's going on 5 years now
Below is a picture of my ZS70 camera after my fall today, and also the photo at the altar that I did take prior to my fall.
For no special reason, below is another photo from inside the church. I confiscated this photo off the Internet, so therefore I need to credit the source. The photographer is Harold Moses, photo taken in 2015 with a EOS 5D Mark III camera (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mosesharold/21797135853).
Again for no special reason but speaking of new cameras, Scott also bought a new camera for our 2020 Antarctica Cruise, a Panasonic DMC-FZ300. Sadly Scott’s FZ300 was stolen from his house when we were on our 2021 Road Trip from California to Oregon.
Day 10 - September 8, 2024 (Sunday) - Brattahlid, Greenland
Today Scott and I are in Qassiarsuk, Erik Thorvaldsson (aka Erik the Red) settled here around 985 A.D, and he is known as the first European to create a permanent settlement on Greenland. Eric is also known for fathering Leif Erikson, who is given the credit as being the first European to step foot on North America. Qassiarsuk is now a town of less than a hundred inhabitants. The ruins of Brattahlid (where Erik the Red lived) is near the modern town of Qassiarsuk.
Note, all of the above photos are from my Panasonic Lumix ZS70 camera, unless otherwise noted. From here on all my photos are taken with my Apple iPad mini 4 (unless otherwise noted) since my ZS70 was broken.
The first thing we saw on our visit was the following monument for Erik the Red.
Down the road we stopped at the Otto Frederiksen house. Otto Frederiksen was Greenland's first fulltime sheep farmer. He started in 1924 with 145 animals but by 1935 he had 300 sheep, horses. Before 1924 farming was just an extra activity for hunters. Otto Frederiksen house is a museum now. The following three photos are of the Frederiksen house and kitchen, and a photo of Otto Frederiksen and his family from 1929. Their kitchen is a little larger than mine back in NYC but I don't have to melt ice for water, and collect wood.
The following photo is of the small horseshoe-shaped foundation of the famous church Erik built for his wife Tjodhilde so she would have sex with him again. We’ve heard that story almost every time the church is mentioned. The church, actually just a chapel, was very small and was only for Tjodhilde. Some sources I read before starting this cruise was that Tjodhilde converted her pagan husband to Christianity, other sources say Erik remained a pagan until his death.
The next photo is of the outside an Inuit turf house, they were very small, I could stand up inside, not that I wanted to.
The following two photos are of the reconstruction of Tjodhilde’s chapel at Brattahlid, reconstructed in the manner of the Norse’s style. The bell tower in the front had a bell and someone rang it from our group, the sheep didn’t even look around, those heathens! The third photo is a side view of the chapel.
Next are three photos from the replica of Erik the Red’s house. It may be hard to imagine but up to 12 people lived here. The people slept on the sides of the house, and cooked with fire in the middle. At the end was a smallish room that was the Erik and Tjodhilde master bedroom, the one she locked him out of until he built her the church. This was called a Viking longhouse and was much smaller than I expected.
Tomorrow we have a sea day heading for Nuuk on Tuesday, Nuuk is the capital of Greenland and also the largest city in Greenland. Nuuk, at last an easy-peasy lemon squeezy Greenland word to pronounce "NuuK, Nuuk" as the Three Stooges might say.
Day 11 - September 9, 2024 (Monday) - Ivittuut, Greenland
After leaving Brattahlid and Qassiarsuk, our ship landed Monday morning at Ivittuut with brilliant sunny weather and scarcely a cloud to be seen. See map below for reference.
Now abandoned, Ivittuut was once a mining town for the mineral Cryolite, which was vitally important during the Second World War. The following Google map shows the mining area as it looks now.
Cryolite was very important for the manufacture of aluminum. This mine was funded by the United States during WWII for the manufacture of aluminum in Pennsylvania for use in primarily aircraft for the war effort. The mine was closed in 1987 because synthetic cryolite was developed, the need for cryolite to be mined at Ivittuut was no longer required. The following two photos show part of the mining area.
The next photo shows a rock that is primarily Cryolite, with some other semi precious metals embedded in it.
The next photo I took of our ship from inside of one of the mining buildings, this was one of my favorite shots.
Since I broke my ZS70 camera by my faceplant fall in the church in Qaqortoq Saturday all my photos have been with my Apple iPad mini 4 which I purchased in 2015. It’s a little awkward for taking photos compared to a regular camera or my iPhone but with its 8MP (3840 x 2160 pixels) camera I think the photos are turning out pretty nice. Plus it has GPS (Global Positioning System) which documents the geographical position where the photo was taken. The ZS70 camera doesn’t have this feature.
The next two photos show the workshop for repairing the mining machinery, while the 3rd photo is a picture of Scott “surveying the rubble."
After viewing the workshop area we walked over to the now “ghost town,” where at one time hundreds of people lived that supported work the mine lived. There are now some new houses as some folks come here for weekend retreats??? In its day the town was a very well off place. The inside of some of the buildings were really nice appointments for the time. Attached are two photos from that area, the second photo is of the nicely appointed community center.
The next photo is of yours truly taken in a “ghost town” building.
After our ship left Ivittuut, we spent the remainder of Monday at sea, in spectacular sunshine, on our way to the city of Nuuk.
Day 12 - September 10, 2024 (Tuesday) - Nuuk, Greenland
We saw the northern lights twice, the following photo is one we saw early Tuesday morning at sea on the way to Nuuk, but it's someone else’s photo. My 2015 technology iPad mini 4 couldn’t capture it. Scott couldn’t capture it with his 2020 technology Samsung SM-G781U either. But a new friend I made on the ship had a 2022 technology Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, and took this photo. I'm guessing my 2022 technology iPhone SE (3rd generation) would also have captured the northern lights if I hadn't accidentally left it in New York City. We saw faint northern lights the night before also. The solar flares were predicted to give us more, but the skies have not cooperated.
And after going ashore at Nuuk Scott took the following photo of yours truly.
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| Above: Photo by Scott King. |
The following photo is from when we had breakfast and coffee with a group. The group was interesting, people from Florida, India, Brazil, and another couple who we can’t remember from whence they came, all hot weather locations. hmmm. Also interesting that 75% of the people on the ship have cruised with Seabourn before, and we met nor heard of any first time cruisers and almost everyone had been to Antarctica.
The next two photos are from our walk around Nuuk. The first one is a sculpture of Kaassassuk created by Simon Kristoffersen. Kaassassuk is a prominent figure in Greenlandic mythology, known as an orphan boy who endured significant hardship and suffering. The sculpture depicts the moment when Kaassassuk encounters the Lord of Power, capturing.. The second photo just shows part of downtown Nuuk.
Greenland is part of Denmark but has its own governance. Denmark pays for police, health, military, all of which are very expensive and completely unaffordable for the 56,000 Greenlanders. Their education system is different grades, preschool and kindergarten are paid for by the parents including paying for the diapers,which made them unhappy. Grades 1-8 are paid by the government and the students learn Greenlandic, Danish and English.
After 8th grade the students go to high school for 6 years until they are 18-19 whereupon they either go to work or to one of 2 universities which teach different things according to their ambitions.. Some are technical and some are for things like hospitality. What I found interesting is that the high schoolers from the villages go to the cities and live in dorms.
Our hostess commented that the kid’s English is improving greatly because of smartphones, Netflix, and YouTube.
The next two photos are of the government subsidized old folks residences, the blue buildings are what I would call assisted living and the red buildings are independent living.
The following photo shows the Nuuk National Museum on the shore of the Nuuk fjord.
The next photo is of the History Museum, it may not look like much but it is amazing. The main building is on the left and there are 2 other buildings that are amazingly well laid out, displayed and documented, showing life as original peoples through colonial inaction. And believe it or not they have Greenlandic mummies, three women and some children amazingly well preserved and creepy looking.
The next photo is of the Nuuk fjord, one of the largest in Greenland.
This fjord has a statue of the Mother of the Sea. But it’s out in the water and I couldn’t get a good photo of it. But below is a frame grab from a video by the ship's crew.
After all of that exploration we enjoyed a performance by an Inuit singer and a good guitarist. It was a lovely event, very mystical and maybe magical even though we couldn’t understand the words when there were some. The chants were haunting.
Day 13 - September 11. 2024 (Wednesday) - Camp Kangiusaq, Greenland.
After leaving Nuuk Wednesday our plan originally had us heading for Camp Kangiusaq, but that plan had to be changed as we awoke to gray skies and ice, not so much but such that it prevented us from going to our planned stop. Instead we cruised through gorgeous fjords (Sulussligutip Kangerlua) until we were far enough from the glacier that the ship could get us close to shore.
The first photo below shows a view along the way. The second photo shows the landing where we could get off the zodiacs to hike up a hill to see a lake.
The following photo shows the flora mixed in with the dryish brambles which were varied and kind of pretty. The plants got smaller and smaller (starting at maybe 2 feet high and going to less than 6 inches) the higher we went.
The next two photos show the lake, the area surrounding the landing, and an iceberg we got to circumnavigate up close, which gave us a cold shoulder…
Day 14 - September 12, 2024 (Thursday) - Eternity Fjord, Greenland
Thursday morning, we arrived at the beautiful Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord. Also known as Evighedsfjorden or the Eternity Fjord, we saw gorgeous mountains, a "polar bear” sighting, but more on that later :o), and we did a rock climb to the vista of the glacier.
The fjord is called the Eternity Fjord because it is so long, 90 km (according to Seabourn Venture), and it takes an eternity to get to the end of it. It was also said the long name of Evighedsfjorden in Danish means eternity, or it could also mean “a really big glacier but one as big as the one close by.”
The following three photos show views from our cabin where we went to a big rock outcropping beside the glacier. Very exciting to be that close.
The next photo is as we headed for land via a zodiac (note the zodiac).
The following two photos are on land. In the first photo you will notice the “polar bear” mentioned earlier. As you can see it’s not a real polar bear, just our cruise director in a polar bear onesie by the bar. Sort of a bar bear. The flag was by the bar with champagne for the climbers. The second photo is the start of our climb. THIS WAS A SPECTACULAR FINALE TO AN AMAZING ADVENTURE!
The next photo just shows passengers on land, you can see our ship in the background.
The following two photos are not my photos, but two photos taken by one of the ship’s crew, which shows our ship and some passengers kayaking.
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| Above: Photo by ship's crew. |
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| Above: Photo by ship's crew. |
The next photo is of yours truly.
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| Above: Photo by Scott King. |
The following are more photos of the fjord, spectacular views!
A view of a small iceberg so that you can see how much is under the water.
In the next photo you can see the majesty of the mile high peaks
A view off the ship as we traveled north to the Arctic Circle.
Day 15 - September 13, 2024 (Friday) - Kangerlussuaq, Iceland and home
Early this morning, below is another photo from the ship's crew, of the norther lights.
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| Above: Photo by ship's crew. |
Friday Scott and I debarked from the ship in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland and checked in for our flight back to Iceland to go to the USA. I haven't used my credit card once and I didn’t ever change any money. Maybe I’ll find some souvenirs at the airport in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Kangerlussuaq is a small town at the end of the long fjord, the town has the only international airport in Greenland.
Our disembarkation from the Seabourn Venture was interminable. Cruise ships can't dock at Kangerlussuaq so we were finally tendered by our ship's zodiac, across to the most desolate looking wreck of a place, Kangerlussuaq Harbor. The following photo is of two old World War II landing crafts at the harbor.
These old landing crafts are a reminder of how Kangerlussuaq came to be a town. The town was founded in 1941 when it was opened as a United States Army Air Forces Base. The United States remained here until 1992.
Below is a photo I took at the harbor.
We were then on our way to the airport, a bus ride of 7 or 8 miles. The harbor freezes all winter so they have to bring everything in for the long cold winter months. The tundra on the way to the town of 550 people was colorful and low. There were pipes running alongside the road that were for fuel. Our driver was really funny, he said one year they forgot to bring toilet paper. He pointed out buildings, one had been a hospital when it was a US airbase. Now they don’t have a doctor so he warned us not to get sick. They do have a nurse and I think a medical evac team.
The next 3 photos were taken from the bus on the tundra ride to the airport. The second photo shows part of the Kangerlussuaq fjord. The third photo seems to show 3 white arctic hares, some sort of decoration, just a little something to break up the monotony of the landscape I guess. There was a musk ox painted on a rock later,but on the wrong side of the bus so I didn’t get a photo of it.
At the airport Scott and I went to lunch in a semi heated tent and it included reindeer sausage and roasted musk ox. Not the elegant fare we had become accustomed to on our ship. Below is a photo of the plane that will take us to Reykjavik, Iceland, an Airbus A330-800. This airport is the only airport in Greenland that can accommodate the Airbus A330.
After lunch we went to the terminal for another interminable wait. The cloud cover was so high or thick that the plane bringing the passengers that were replacing us on the ship circled for a couple of hours. When the plane landed, the incoming passengers went to the ship, Scott and I then flew to Reykjavik and then to an airport hotel near Reykjavik. We arrived four hours later than planned but to a send off of Northern lights.
Saturday was a long uneventful plane ride on a Boeing 767-300, from Reykjavik to JFK and home, a 4-hour time change, so yawn.
Note: High resolution of all my photos can be viewed at the following URL.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2hHBsiWx9pcgVEeU6
Note #2: The ship's 42 minute video was posted at the following URL.
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