Blogs from Arctic, Oceans and Seas

To celebrate our 25th Anniversary we signed up for a Celebrity cruise from Cape Liberty NY with stops in Halifax, St. John’s, Greenland then 3 stops in Iceland. We tacked on 3 extra days in Reykjavik to get in some extra sightseeing. Here are a few sample pics.... read more

Today is the Summer Solstice - when the daylight is the longest in the Northern Hemisphere. It is also a day of cruising as we sail south through the Norwegian Sea. It was a bright clear day all day, with smooth seas and the temperature up to 61. The pool deck was pretty crowded this afternoon with people out enjoying the sun and comparatively warm temperatures. Anyway, we sailed out of the Arctic Circle last night and we continue to head toward an area where we will get a few hours of darkness at night. Today is also the day that our Grandson Alex is leaving on his trip to Europe. We expect him to have lots of interesting experiences and see plenty of impressive sights. It will help him to understand more about other parts ... read more

I’m excited, finally getting to visit the world’s largest island with the least densely populated region on earth. Hard to believe only approximately 56,000 warm bodies live on a hunk of rock 3 times the size of Texas! The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors migrated from Alaska through northern Canada, gradually settling across the island by the 13thcentury. Most reside along the southwest coast, the area I’ll be exploring. A Little Bit of History: According to Icelandic Sagas Erik the Red, who had been banished from Iceland allegedly for manslaughter, settled what is now Greenland in 982. Upon returning to Iceland around 985, he praised the merits of this newly discovered land and by 986, he had organized an expedition which resulted in the development of present-day Nuuk and Qarqortoq. Greenland became Danish ... read more

Tuesday 1st March, 2016. Cruising the Atlantic Ocean We had another lazy morning and then had lunch in the restaurant. We went to the quiz in Scott's Bar and played with a nice couple called Mick and Margaret. They didn't answer many questions but we still won the keyring which we gave to Margaret as we already had one. At 7.30 pm we went to the Captain's Welcome Reception for a glass or two of fizz. After dinner we went to see the "Dancing Queen" show. The new singer, Emma, is excellent. We followed this up with "Buddy Brilliant" in Scott's Bar where Rob was great as ever.... read more

Sharon went to mass while I finished up the blog, and did a review of country flags for tonight’s Mega Trivia game. When she returned we went up to the Crow’s Nest for the Team Travel Trivia. All six of us found a prime table and were ready for a Day of Trivia. “What European country has the longest coastline?” I figured Norway. My teammates were debating Italy or Greece. The later claimed they hadn’t heard me or they would have all agreed that Norway was right. What country has the largest archipelago? Sharon suggested Alaska. I guess it figures that the answer is the country with the world’s largest volcano: Indonesia. What country has the most lakes? Jim noted that Minnesota is known and the land of 10,000 lakes, and this led us to the ... read more