Qaqortoq, Greenland

Wednesday August 9th – Qaqortog Greenland

 

The Plan:

 

Barbara has booked an excursion to visit the Halsey Church Ruins, I on the other hand will probably wait for a later tender and explore on my own. We are only scheduled to be ashore for three hours, and the weather will no doubt be a factor.

 

The Reality:

 

I must give kudos to our intrepid Captain and Crew. Since we arrive early the Captain has adjusted our “going ashore” time to around 8:00 am instead of ten and our all aboard time to around 5:30 PM. In addition to that extended visit time he is making sure that all hands get to go ashore in an expedited manner. Tendered are continuously shuttling passengers to and fro.  I have never experienced this type of tender operation.  It’s almost as though this voyage has been given “Grand Voyage” status. I was ashore by 8:13 am and returned to the ship at 9:20 am.

 

Barbara’s excursion did not begin until 1:30 pm but she had departed when I came back onboard.

 

All I did was walk around and took over 50 photos.

 

 

Yesterday was a sea day, yet the weather was such it was like sailing inside a bottle of milk.  As we sailed into the North Atlantic old King Neptune was there to greet us with some minor rolling and pitching, but by evening. The sea was quite pleasant and our sail in this morning was very smooth.The fog stayed with us through the night and only lifted as we arrived at the entrance to the mainland and was quite clear as we approached our “hover” point just a few minutes from shore. Several small icebergs lined up along the shore as our welcoming committee, the first of many we expect.

 

At his “Ask the Captain” session yesterday, our skipper shared that our sailing tomorrow through Prince Christian Sund might be doubtful, due to the amount of ice stacked up at the eastern exit. He was scheduled today to take a helicopter flight to reconnoiter the area.  He also shared that we might be able to transit part of the way but would have to reverse course if the ice proved to be impassable.  I expect he will give his report at dinner time.

 

It’s been a while since we have been in a port where all the signs are in the language of the mother country; Denmark.

 

That’s my report for today.

 

 

Jack W Cummings VOV 2017 –  Qaqortoq bay, Greenland