Qaqortoq, Greenland

Hello from Qaqortoq, Greenland!

Qaqortoq really needs closer up pictures to see the beauty of the colors.

But it didn't start out so colorful this morning. It started like this:

Even so, I knew I wanted to be on the first tender to shore so I made my way to the Wheelhouse Bar before 7 AM to grab my tender ticket. The Captain held us for a while because of the visibility but by 7:30 we were on our way. It was only a few minutes to get to shore and was almost as foggy there. 

Just us and Holland America out there

The fog didn't stop me from exploring about everywhere I could with the scooter. With no sidewalks and crazy fast drivers I had to be cautious on the straightaways, the curves, and the hills I tackled. I wished the fog didn't obscure everything but it did add a bit of Greenland-ish feeling to the day.

Thankfully at that time of morning no one else was out and about other than the walking tour folks. I kept running into them again and again so I figured I must be hitting all the good spots.

I found the oldest fountain in Greenland. After the tour group cleared out, that is.

I easily found the stone carvings right above the tender dock area. At first I thought I was going to have to climb the stairs...

but found the best of the carvings were on a paved path. Whew.

I discovered a church, a river, and statues.

Can't forget the flowers and road signs.

I discovered lots and lots of hills. Scooter and I tackled some and passed on others. We definitely passed on the stairs. Most definitely.

When I'd had enough of the cold and fog and was already onto my backup battery I headed to the ship. I checked my photos to see where I had been and was pleased with the ground I covered. 

Looking at my health app today's number of steps (which really meant steps made while pushing a scooter up a hill) was the highest of the entire summer. Wow.

But more wow was to come. After I got back to the ship I took a verryyy long nap and woke up to this view off my balcony.

So what would used-to-be-adventurous and now-adventurous-again Deb do? Hop on a tender to get some more photos! But I didn't even need to leave the tender because bold, adventurous, spring-in-her step (hubby's words) Deb climbed to the top of the tender to get her pictures. 

A roundtrip tender ride for me, please. (I even parked the scooter under the stairs on deck 4 and walked limped to the tender.) And I found out there were actually mountains under all that fog.

It turned out to be such a beautiful day. Even the pool deck was packed. Umm...we're in Greenland?!

Oh, but the day didn't end there. On the tender ride back I had seen a little bit of smoke not far from town but didn't think much of it. Guess I should have because a couple hours later it turned into a mighty fire.

A helicopter was dispatched to help put out the fire so then I got to spend time watching a helicopter dumping water on it.

You'd think that'd be enough excitement for the day. Nope. As soon as we left port we wound up with icebergs around us. It's hard to judge the size of these things but they are bigger-than-house size. They are everywhere!

Then there were the whales. (Sorry, no pics.) And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, this guy shows up off my balcony. 

Words fail me

Icebergs have been going by all evening and my crew member bud Pradnesh sent me a video of some of what we saw. Check it out!

The sun has gone down, I’m pooped and my body is shot, but tomorrow we're in Nanortalik, Greenland and I'll be there on the first tender again. See you there!

A Greenland sunset

Prince Christian Sound, Greenland

Hello from Prince Christian Sound, Greenland! 

My first look at Greenland

Well, well, what a surprise today was. The Captain announced last night we'd be taking a detour through Prince Christian Sound on the way to our next port. Prince Christian Sound (Prins Christians Sund in Danish) separates the mainland of Greenland and the Cape Farewell Archipelago. Not a lot of cruise ships visit the Sound. It takes the right size ship, the right ice conditions, and the right weather. We were able to check off all three so this morning we headed in at about 10:00 AM. But the pretty sights began even earlier.

When you are sitting at breakfast and the room suddenly clears out as people rush for the door all you have to do is look out the window to see why.

You're not going to find me rushing for anything so thankfully I had a crew member who was thoughtful enough to send me a picture without me even asking for it.

After breakfast, still before 10:00, we had even more icebergs popping up for us.

And icebergs continued all day. As did fascinating geologic features and glaciers. Sometimes glaciers and icebergs and interesting geologic features showed up all in the same picture at the same time. I don't quite know how to explain just how amazing today was. I guess it was like seeing all the glaciers in Alaska - including calving ones - on the same day you sailed through all the Norwegian fjords which also happened on the same day you went to Yosemite and to Banff, Canada. But you're in Greenland on a sunny day. Probably best not to try and mess up the explanation any more and just let the pictures do the talking.

There's a settlement at the bottom. Can you see it?

Welcome to spectacular Greenland. I'll see you tomorrow in Qaqortoq!