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LIVE from the ZUIDERDAM - VOYAGE OF THE VIKINGS


sansterre
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9 hours ago, Pia1913 said:

 

 

Great hunk of ice. 😀. Too bad you missed a port today.

YES, looking at that iceberg was like looking at another ship out there on the water.  The captain estimated it to be about 1000 ft. long and 50 feet high but some parts were much higher.  

Today we saw more nice icebergs.  The captain described one as "humungous", even though it was 8 miles away.  As it came to our beam it appeared in and out of the fog and finally the sun came out when it was on our port side.  Tomorrow I will upload photos and post them here.

The seas have been calm with hardly a ripple as we sail South from Paamiut.  During dinner we saw several whales about 300 feet off the starboard beam.

Later, around 9:00, we watched two whales for several minutes from our port balcony.  They were a bit further from the ship but surfaced more and seemed to be much larger whales.  Beyond them we could also see a series of islands, the West coast of Greenland.

I don't recall seeing whales off of Greenland last year but the calm water made spotting them much easier!

Edited by sansterre
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What a fabulous day in Nanortalik, Greenland!  The forecast was for a high of 45 degrees  but after the fog burned off, we saw some sunshine and a little blue sky.  There wasn't much wind either so most of us were over dressed in our layered clothes.

The tenders brought us to the commercial area this time, far to the right (south) of the town center.  Last year the tender spot was near the grocery store and just a short walk to the church and museum area.  Therefore the walk was about three times as long to get to the church.  However,  it was a beautiful day so we strolled all the way to the museum.  Two men were collecting $5 for the entrance fee in return for a wrist band to wear as you visited the museum and other outdoor buildings now part of the historical museum.  We had only Danish Kroner, so 50 Kroner ($7.50) was happily accepted for two of us.  We found the museum well kept and very interesting.I took some photos and will post them.  

As well I took photos of the church and some videos of the choir singing.  We arrived near the end of the choir's concert so the girls collecting $10 told us we could just enter.  I gave a nice donation anyway as I am also of the Lutheran faith and I also left with them a small prayer book from home.   

On the way back to the tender port, we made a brief stop at the grocery store.  I bought some knitting supplies to keep me busy on projects for the rest of the cruise.

Now we sail to Prince Christian Sound!  The captain said, "icebergs are in the area but the sound is usually free of them during August. And tomorrow is August 8 so all is good."  He expects fog as we begin our transit, but that as we reach the second half, the weather should clear up.

More later............ as soon as I get my photos deleted, cropped, saved, and/or uploaded or transferred.

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Good morning!  And what a glorious morning it is here at the entrance to Prince Edward Sound.

I've been taking some photos since 7 this morning as the fog lifted and we entered under bright sunlight.

While I upload those photos, I'll post the photos of icebergs we have seen from Red Bay  to here.

The first one is in Red Bay, the low flat one was the humongous one, eight miles distant.  The third one near Paamiut, and finally the iceberg with us in Nonortalik yesterday.

Today there is an occasional small iceberg in the sound, but none that are dangerous to cruising.

 

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I was going to post some photos from the town yesterday, but Prince Christian Sound is so spectacular I can't wait to share those photos!  There will be sea days after this to tell more about Nanortalik.

Early photos are taken from our balcony between 7 and 7:30 this morning.  There is scenic narration on channel 10 (forward camera) and on all outside decks including our veranda.   We are now surrounded by natural beauty so I will go to the aft lido deck for some pictures of both sides of the ship.  Cruising at 3 to8 knots, the transit will take most of the day;  I hope it takes forever!  In about an hour we will pass an Inuit village and later, some glaciers.  The best is yet to come!

 

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and it gets better!                                                                                                                                                                            

Last year, as we entered the Prince Edward Sound, it was very foggy so we missed this.  

Returning, it was a clear day, but today is more spectacular.  Perhaps it is the time of day, or the fog lifting.  Whatever it is I hope the photos do justice to the amazing beauty to those of you looking at them.

The Inuit village is coming up on the port side where our cabin is so I'm enjoying some breakfast in our room while waiting for that photo op..

 

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2 hours ago, sansterre said:

I was going to post some photos from the town yesterday, but Prince Christian Sound is so spectacular I can't wait to share those photos!  There will be sea days after this to tell more about Nanortalik.

Early photos are taken from our balcony between 7 and 7:30 this morning.  There is scenic narration on channel 10 (forward camera) and on all outside decks including our veranda.   We are now surrounded by natural beauty so I will go to the aft lido deck for some pictures of both sides of the ship.  Cruising at 3 to8 knots, the transit will take most of the day;  I hope it takes forever!  In about an hour we will pass an Inuit village and later, some glaciers.  The best is yet to come!

 

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WOW! Just WOW!

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it doesn't get any better than this, does it?

We spent about 30 minutes off the coast of the Inuit village of Aappilattoq.  From the port side, we saw this village of 134 (did I hear that correctly? - must google!) from several directions.

The average age of the villagers is just over 30 and most are men who fish for the village.

I took a photo of our location so you see how protected they are in this maze of fiords and sounds.

If you look carefully, you will see two men on the rock to the right of the last photo. They shouted to us and many shouted back. Soon fishing boats showed up from behind us, just to circle the Zuiderdam with their greetings.

Uploading is not going well;  it is painfully slow.  

Guest services says because of the mountains, but I'm sure there are many trying to also send photos.

The third photo never did upload and I could not post until all uploads were finished.

I finally gave up and went out to take more photographs!

Now we are out of the Sound and internet is working much better.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

I'm happy for you, you had a beautiful day there.  Last month, Zuiderdam sopped off the village while at least two boats came out.  We think maybe there was a "thank you" gift (Food?) given.  

Did you stop at the glacier?  

 

We had about 8 fishing boats going around us, just to wave and say hello.  To my knowledge, nothing was exchanged. What surprised me was that they were all fiberglass with big outboard motors.

Yes, we stopped at all the glaciers, rotated the ship at three of them so visible from all cabins and decks.  Those photos are coming next.  We entered at 7 a.m. and exited at 4 p.m. - a very leisurely pace.  10 knots was the fastest I saw.  Often we were at 0 knots or close to it.

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On 8/4/2019 at 10:05 AM, sansterre said:

Moments ago, the captain re-opened up service on the tenders to shore.  So now we are rethinking what to do - it is 52 degrees, lightly raining, and wind is around 20 mph from the East.  We both are comfortable inside our cabin and the ship has added a 12:00 movie in the main theatre, a coffee talk with some of the entertainers at 2:00, and a few other activities so I'm happy staying on board.  I'll post a couple photos I took this morning so you get a better picture.

The first photo shows a tender on the way into Red Bay.  Notice the iceberg to the left - it is a little smaller than the tender but remember 9/10th of the iceberg is below the water level.  As the captain said, tenders and icebergs do not mix well in foggy and windy conditions.  And according to the captain there are many more icebergs out in the channel presently.

The second photo of a tender shows the height of these new tenders in use now.  

Both of these photos were taken this morning at 8:30 before the fog started rolling in.

 

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Thank you for posting! I’m following! I’m sad that I canceled! But just can not leave my dog for 35 days!

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Thanks all.  I didn't realize that the third photo I posted above was a short video.  We stayed at that video for a long time, about 15 minutes.  Every few minutes you could hear the ice crack and a few times small sections actually broke off.  So here is a close up of that particular glacier.  On the left side notice a "waterfall" which contains a lot of glacial grit and sand.

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Currently sailing  through the Greenland Sea.  This is the roughest sea we have had on this cruise, but it is still fairly calm with just an occasional white cap.  The photo below was taken at 5:00 pm today, 5 hours ago.  Both the sky and water have been like that most of the day.  Currently, the wind is 18mph from the NNE which means we are going right into the wind.

We will arrive Isafjourdur, our first port in Iceland tomorrow at 8.  It will  be a tender port and weather is expected to be partly cloudy and cold with temperatures in the 40's.

Since we took a tour last year to a waterfall and saw much of Iceland's NW Peninsula, we plan to walk around the town and/or port area this time.

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