20240617 Monday Greenland
This page shows the three stops in Greenland, numbered in the diagram to the right according to HA's itinerary as of 1 March.
These are Wikipedia informational links:
1. Qaqortoq.
2. Paamiut
3. Nanortalik
BUT the ice field is pushed up against the south coast. As we understand it, the ship will run around this ice field to reach Arsuk north (R) of Qaqortoq. Allegedly, the port here never freezes.
We are now way off-shore southwest of Qaqortoq, running at 18 knots to the northwest on course 305*. Visibility about a mile in light fog. SS1 with long swells; rolling a few degrees.
At 1030 the Captain, speaking from the bridge, called our attention to an iceberg 10 miles to starboard. We couldn't see it.
We dined lightly in the MDR then returned to the Neptune Lounge. While loafing there we found the itinerary has changed. Now we do scenic cruising in Ivittuut for a few minutes tomorrow morning (6/18) and we scenic cruise Arsuk a few hours later.
And then we move out around the ice field to return to schedule at Reykjavik, Iceland. So we are unable to put foots on Greenland proper but we'll have a look at it.
As Confucius said, "'Doodoo occurs".
We've seen a couple of small ice chunks off to starboard. People would call these "bergy-bits" because they're just little bits broken off big things.
Brings back to O memories of his 1960 trip north through Baffin Bay and the NW passage to the North Pole.
During dinner in the MDR we saw lines of ice where the wind had pushed the brash-and-block together. We reached the north-ish end of the ice field and turned and headed for a fjord to view tomorrow, keeping the ice field on the starboard side.
Our Greenland guide pilots are weaving along and through the ice, generally on course 100*. We're taking some pictures but damn that veranda is cold. We gave up and went to bed.
20240618 Tuesday
At 0600 we woke up and looked out (L) to see Ivittuut, the abandoned village, formerly a cryolite mining village. Cryolite is a rare earth used in aluminum manufacture.
The view was on our starboard side, so we could take pictures from the suite. We stepped out onto the veranda for some pictures and got cold feet. After 45 minutes the ship moved on through the fjords toward Arsuk.
The captain spoke briefly. Among other things he said Viking Star had looked closely at the ice field, turned around, and departed.
We took pictures during this "scenic cruise". The narrator during the trip gave his regrets that we were not able to go ashore.
The narrator noted that polar bears do come this far south but nobody has seen one this trip. If we want to see a polar bear, we should visit the pool and look at the plastic bear standing next to it.
Photo Link here.
The captain took us out from the Arsuk fjord to a large ice field. He slowly rounded it so everyone could get pictures. Then the sun came out so he stayed a little longer. He said in his noon announcement they had tried to contact every port and authority to find a way to pull into a port, with no success.
Then he headed north along the coast to position us north of the ice field he circumnavigated to get here. Once outside of it, he'll ring up 17 knots to eventually mate with the scheduled times of the cruise going on to Reykjavik.
At 1700 he's outside, heading 170* at 17 knots.
We had dinner in the MDR. Then we attended Dr Hannesson's lecture on medieval Iceland.
At 0800 we're directly south of the southern tip of Greenland, making 16 knots on course 095*. SS1. We'll soon turn NE for Reykjavik. Oops, just turned to 085*.
Fog. All around is fog. It went away after a while leaving 100% overcast, not much better.
Plan of the Day. We have none. Should make one, I suppose.
Lazy. Had a light breakfast brought in.
At 1100 there was a presentation on why we couldn't get into Greenland. The Staff Captain showed the information they had on which they based their decisions. Seems to O they chose correctly, given this thin-skinned ship and 1650 passengers. Ice chart (R).
We consulted in the Lounge to have an appointment with Future Cruises at 1730. D was having extreme frustration with her iPhone looking up HA cruises. The browser's URL would be changed by the ship from English to German. Staff couldn't figure it out either.
To Trivia, where we joined a couple from Riverside CA to form a team. Miserable but we had fun.
Then we met with the future cruise salesperson who furnished us with cost data for three cruises in October that we may or may not take.
20240620 Thursday (Thorsdag) At Sea
The Summer Solstice happens sometime today. However, we are below the Arctic Circle, so we won't have true 24-hour sunshine. But as they say in Fairbanks, Alaska, we will have 24-hour "functional daylight" this date (and the others around Iceland and Greenland).
At 0800 we're about halfway between the south tip of Greenland (Cape Farewell) and Reykjavik. We're doing 15 knots on course 050*. Sea State kicked up some, now 3, causing slight rolling. Gray overcast, visibility only a mile or so.
We're having breakfast brought in, eating lightly since we have the Mariner's luncheon at 1300.
HA is compensating us for not being able to set foot on Greenland. Each person gets $100 in OBC (On Board Credit) and ten percent of their base cruise fare for this cruise to apply to a future cruise. That's about $582 for each of us. Nice gesture.
The Mariner's Luncheon in the MDR hosted by the Captain was a success. We enjoyed it with ladies at the next table from Canada. Then we loafed.
Dinner was taken in the Pinnacle Dining Room. D had a huge crab, O settled for halibut. Didn't finish until after 2100.
A tour of the pool deck found us in the middle of some sort celebration. Many games were in play with many guests playing and whooping it up. We passed through and went to the suite, read books for a while, then bed.
