In search of a walrus.

[jpalbny]

Ron, great pics of Greenland! The Arctic is so beautiful! Sigh...

 

Also nice to see Lou again - he was on Explorer (then PA II) for our Antarctica cruise in 2009; we saw him again on one of our later Wind cruises but can't remember which one. Hope he'll be aboard again for our Panama Canal cruise in less than 2 months - fond, but foggy, memories of dancing in the lounge until way too late while he played the keyboard!

[drron29]

Ah JP.As soon as I cross something of the bucket list it seems another 2 are added.But I will not give up!

Saturday.A very good night's sleep and awake to another fine day.We are entering Prince Christian Sund and will view the sernet glacier.At first it is not as spectacular as yesterday but the further we go the better things become.I am able to go out on the back deck sheltered from the wind just in a short sleeved shirt and jeans.

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note Captain Maggi showing her skills.Taking us into a smaller off shoot of the fjord to get a great view of the glacier and then turning the ship on itself to continue our cruise.

[drron29]

Lots of waterfalls,snow,ice and mountains-

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Even Rojaan got out into the fresh air-

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And lots of lovely old rocks as Juan kept telling us.

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[drron29]

We had a very enjoyable lunch with a Canadian couple.The scenery just kept coming-

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[drron29]

Forget the Amazon,here is the real meeting of the waters-

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Caused by the run off from the glacier-

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[drron29]

Just to prove I don't take all the photos-

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As always the birds kept us company-

 

Next one of the cruise highlights.

[drron29]

The Inuit village of Aappilattoq.Now about 100 residents.Was ~250 in the 60s and 70s.Founded in 1922.A beautiful place with great views and a protected little harbour-

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[ging466]

Hi drron

 

Wow factor plus! I'll never get to this part of the world so it's great to see these wonderful pics. Thankx very much for posting.:)

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[drron29]

This however is a subsistence village.last year 2 polar bears were killed.The Inuit have been doing this for thousands of years.It is their culture and there is a quota system in place.

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The natural beauty though shines through-

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[Emtbsam]

Fabulous photos. Thank you so much for sharing your trip (and your internet time) with us.

[drron29]

It is obviously a hard place to live.The cemetery had many small graves-

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And here a 24 yr old who died at childbirth-

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I then visited the school-

 

The headmaster speaks both old and new Greenlandic,could speak to us passabli in English and was fluent in German.I felt humbled.But technology is catching up fast.The school has a Facebook page-

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Though it must take some time on their computer-

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It is amazing any work gets done especially with this view from the classroom-

[drron29]

Then I was off to church-

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Some of the locals sang to us in their own language.If I closed my eyes I could imagine I was in A South Seas village listening to their singing.

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After that I climbed a small hill overlooking the village-

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It was also important for their communications-

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[drron29]

Walking back to the zodiacs there was dancing in the streets-

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There was evidence of past meals-

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But a novel way of keeping future meals fresh-

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When we arrived it was warm and there were lots of mozzies and midges.By the time I left there had been a change.It was cold but no more insects.The ride back was a little breezy-

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We then cruised out of the fjord whilst the sun set amongst the icebergs.Dinner with 3 other Australians and another night of amarula and a singalong before a contented night's sleep.

[drron29]

Sunday.We were going to visit a town but it was cold,raining and miserable.But as well there was an insect plaque so the visit was then called off.

Instead we went to the scheduled afternoon activity at Unartoq Island which has a natural hot spring.It was still raining and cold so we passed.Lunch was really good with a nice spicy chicken korma.

The afternoon was then a zodiac ride amongst the icebergs.Having done this in the Arctic and Antarctic we sat this out as well.So only a few pictures from the day.

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That night we had dinner with an English couple who were adamant they knew what Silverseas was going to do.As I have said before they also said SS will be announcing a new Expedition ship in September but they also added it would be an ex-Seabourne ship.Their Expedition ship though is a 400 pax vessel and that is not the sort of expedition cruising I want to do.

The meal also was average.

[patnlcc]

Keep up the great work, Ron. Am enjoying every post.

[drron29]

Monday morning and we awoke when docking at the town of Qaqortoq the largest town in Southern Greenland.Population 3200.The morning was spectacular-

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We had breakfast in our suite.The morning's activity was a walk around the town.our guide was the son of the Deputy Mayor.He comes home for summer and works on container ships for the other 9 months of the year.He told us the largest ship to visit had 3200 pax.

In the 90s the town had a program to beautify the rocks-

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Some in town definitely have a quirky sense of humour-

[drron29]

Back to the rocks-

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And the view from part way up the hill.The first building being one of the oldest in town-

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[drron29]

The road up the hill has an unusual name.According to our guide one of the houses on this street was for the Catholic priest.Many,many years ago one priest having consumed too much sacramental wine appeared on the balcony naked proclaiming himself to be Pope.Hence the street name-

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Nearby was the home of a local artist-

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The local newspaper office-

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And of course the local Thai restaurant-

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And the first church-

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[drron29]

The town has the oldest fountain in Greenland-

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And as Greenland is controlled by Denmark what statue would they have-

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Then to the market-

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Those that visited the market first were lucky enough to see a seal being cut up!But we saw the local lads actually catching a fish,no bait needed-

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[drron29]

We next visited the church-

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The life ring was from a ship which disappeared in the late 1950s bound for Denmark.Many politicians and other important people were onboard.Outside the church was this little place-

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We all wondered what it was-dog house?for the kids?

What we were told it was for storing the bodies of those who died in winter to be buried in spring.

Now a hymn in the local language-

[drron29]

How would you like writing this address down everytime you filled out a form-

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Then the little museum with a traditional house in front-

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Inside traditional dress-

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We then headed back to the ship buying a few little trinkets along the way and sending postcards to our grandkids.The plan was after lunch the ship was to leave for the next destination.However thanks to the Expedition team and Captain Maggi we were able to stay for the afternoon for the first day of school.A community celebration.

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Parents and children come along in traditional dress.More to come of this fantastic afternoon.

[drron29]

First the Headmistress gives a speech.Then each child's name is called out and they go over to their teachers and given a Greenland flag-

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as the name is called out a relative throws handfuls of coins or sweets into the air-

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If you have a big enough screen you may see the coins in the air on that last shot.

A young Thai girl was starting school.This is her older sister-they were dressed the same-

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The best part of the afternoon was that the community was very happy to share this day with us.I had parents offering to pose with their children.At one point I found myself next to this fellow-

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I thought he was a mariner but it turns out he is the town's fire chief.His grandson was starting school.We had a talk as grandfathers.He told of his pride with tears in his eyes.We were truly honoured to be where we were that day.

[drron29]

And the final shots of our visit to Qaqortoq.Going back to the ship I went to the supermarket.A good selection of fresh fruit but at a price-

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A good selection of wines with French wines alongside Australian-

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And outside some youngsters with an impressive dog-

[drron29]

The afternoon activity was delayed but not a problem as the sun was setting late.We were at Hvalsey.This was an old Norse settlement.The Norse were here before the Inuit.It has the best Norse remains in Southern Greenland.The church here is at least 800 years old.So our first sighting-

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The water was full of Lion's Mane jellyfish-

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So on land we see the church from close up whilst Juan stands guard to protect us from the sheep-

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There are more ruins than the church though-

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And evidence of the fierce sheep-

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[jpalbny]

Great shots of Qaqortoq - we were there 4 years ago with some great friends from Sydney, on the Tahitian Princess. We had to tender; glad you could dock! The town looks just like we remember... :) We climbed the mountains on both sides of town - up to the communication tower, and up the other side past the bar with the car hood hanging out. The views sure are spectacular, aren't they?

 

One thing that is different, though, is the fountain. When we were there, the square surrounding it was torn up and the fountain was dry. Glad to see it in its full glory now; just compared my picture from there and yours looks much nicer! Sounds like you had a great experience, sharing the community's first day of school with them. And we too love to check out grocery stores in faraway locations... Great memories!

 

We're off to Glacier NP Friday night - you're in the Canadian Rockies now, right? Please keep the Grizzlies up by you, because we'll be off hiking this weekend and don't want to run into any of them! :eek: