With the lack of sleep I'm not sure how I made it onto the first tender this morning, but I did. Last night I was fascinated by all the icebergs I saw it took me forever to get into bed. (If you didn't see yesterday's iceberg video, be sure to check it out here near the bottom of the post.) Then when I got in bed I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable spot for my knees. I was so obsessed with finding the sweet spot that I completely missed the Northern Lights out my balcony door at 1:30 in the morning. I saw the pictures one of the crew members took but it's not the same as seeing them in person.
I finally gave up on trying to sleep at about five this morning. I wrapped myself in a blanket like a mummy and sat on the balcony, waiting for the sun to rise. At 5:09 AM my view looked like this
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| See the icebergs out there? |
so I knew the sun had to be following soon. But it was another hour and a half before it popped over the mountain. Not even where I was expecting it! I wasn't expecting the jet trail to look 3D either, but I'll gladly take it.
Being up so early made it easy for me to get on the first tender to shore. Not only was I on the first tender, I was the first person on the first tender. In almost 20 years of cruising that's never, ever happened before. Lucky me. Something important to know about tendering in Nanortalik - there is space for only one tender to unload and load at a time. It slows down the tendering process greatly. I can't imagine what it would look like for a larger ship. How would all those passengers make it to shore and back? Makes me thankful I'm on a smaller ship, although those returning midafternoon reported having to wait in line more than an hour to get on a tender for the ride back.
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| The way the dock is built the space between the yellow steps and the tender is quite large. Thank goodness for my wheelchair assist guys! |
Once onshore I found the scooter-ing surface just outside the port to be difficult. Scooters, wheelchairs, and walkers are going to have a hard time with this area. So instead of going left out of the port area like everyone else did I went right and found actual pavement that took me everywhere I wanted to go. Another benefit of not following the crowd.
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| Not this way for me |
In an empty town on an early Sunday morning I spent my day wandering.
I first headed towards the church but it was still all closed up.
I went to the area where the open air museum was. It was closed - and not handicapped accessible anyway - but I was able to look around outside. I found out later it opened at 8AM and was $10 so I left in just the nick of time. Didn’t want to have to pay for something I couldn’t do.
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| Thanks to the narrow path I can't get to the rock house |
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| Thanks to the big gravel I can't get to the iceberg |
I really wanted to climb to the viewing platform at the base of the flagpole. I carefully climbed the narrow dirt and grass path to get to the bottom of the stairs. I know it doesn't look steep, but it was for me. You can see I had to leave Scooter behind.
But when I saw the steps? Uh, no. I think I might have been able to make it up the wooden ones since there was a railing, but the steep cement steps with no railing? No way in hell.
I called it good and took a picture without touching a step.
Just like our visit yesterday in Qaqortoq the houses were colorful, but thankfully today the hills were less steep. (Notice a theme? Steep = bad)
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| One group was heading to their boat but I was pretty much alone |
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| Three colors in one |
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| Gotta love houses with clotheslines |
I did make my way up and down some hills. Without them I would never have found the cemetery on the other side.
I found many homes with walkers or wheelchairs near the little wooden walkways. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get in your house with terrain like this?
I also discovered the soccer field (this one's for you, Ed), a mural, and some flowers.
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| What a view |
Looking at my photo locations, I did pretty good for a gal on a scooter in Greenland.
There were only a few of us riding the tender back to the ship because it was still early. Guess who rode on top again?
Doing all my exploring in the morning left the afternoon for sitting in the sun on the balcony. Look to the right and see this..
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| Icebergs again |
It was another glorious day in Greenland. Word on the street ship is the Northern Lights will be showing themselves again tonight. Can't wait! If they appear (and I'm awake), I'll pop a picture in here later.
Update: Two hours standing in the cold in the middle of the night on a windy cruise ship deck and this is the best I can do.
We have four sea days as we make our way back to Southampton. I expect I'll be back before then with some catch up stuff. See you then, whenever then is!