Blogs from Greenland, North America - page 2

After sailing from Nuuk, the ship headed back down the Nuup Kangerlua fjord out to the Labrador Sea. It was once known as the Godhåb Fjord and is 99.4 miles (160 km) long. Nuuk is situated at about 6.2 Miles (10 km) from the mouth of the fjord. The scenery along the fjord is dramatic and with rugged mountains rising sharply from the sea. A fog kept trying to close in, but we were treated to amazing landscapes. We saw icebergs, too! They were small ones, but icebergs nonetheless. The peak of Sermitsiaq overlooks Nuuk. The 1,210 foot (3970 m) mountain remains visible for a distance as the ship proceeds down the fjord. Small lighthouses and foghorns dot the path. They look very lonely against the stark landscape. Kingittorsuaq, another peak comes into view. At 1,184 ... read more

Today we had to leave Eqi Glacier camp. The boat does a round trip: it picks up people in Ilulissat and brings them here, spends about 1-2 hours viewing the glacier calving, then comes to the dock to drop people off at Eqi Glacier camp. The people that are leaving Eqi Glacier Camp get on board and travel back to Ilulissat. Our pickup time was approximately 3 p.m. The boat also supplies the staff there with food, beer, wine, soda, alcohol, and whatever else they need to run the place. I talked to one of the staff today and he said they arrived May 21 to do some work on the place, and the first visitors were June 21. They continue to get guests till early September, then they winterize the place and leave. He said ... read more

Last night I went to an amazing concert at the Cultural Center. An orchestra from Denmark had been here a week doing friendship teaching with musicians in Nuuk. The frustrating part about the concert was not understanding a word that was said. A woman introduced each piece of music and also 2 special guests (mayor of Nuuk and mayor of city in Denmark). The conductor spoke in Danish about something, then back to the woman speaking in Greenlandic. The first 2 pieces had the interns playing with the orchestra, then the rest of the concert was by the Danish orchestra. There was also a male and female singer. I can't upload the video to this blog because I have the basic version of the blog and they don't allow uploads of videos. Today we left Nuuk ... read more

Our little group had different things to do today. John and Sheila had prebooked a boat trip that would go up the fjord, catch fish, go to a country restaurant and cook the fish they caught. Nick, Angela, and I did not sign up for that trip because it was expensive. Nick and Angela are amazing hikers and decided to hike the high peak behind town. My knee is still a little sore from the fall I took a few days ago, so I only want to do a short hike. Jan suggested we take the #1 bus which would give us a good overview of how Nuuk had expanded drastically since the 90's. We all took the bus, and Nick & Angela got off to do their hike. The rest of us did the loop, ... read more

Today was a very relaxing day on the boat. Other than 3 meals today, looking for whales (never saw any), watching movies, spotting occasional icebergs, and just hanging out there’s not much to do on this boat. It’s not like cruise ships: no casino, pool, spa, exercise room, nightly show, etc. It’s just a transport boat. The highlight today was a visit to the bridge. We were able to ask the captain lots of questions. Turns out we are in water that is too shallow for whales, so hopefully we will see whales north of here. We travel at 11 knots, the water is about 48 meters deep (when we were there), and the water temperature is 3 Celsius. The boat made 3 stops today at different villages. I think the villages are cute, but I ... read more