Mon Sept 21, 2015–Thur Sept 24, 2015–Halifax, New York, and Home

Monday and Wednesday were sea days.    We listened to lectures and enjoyed shows on board the ship. 

On Tuesday we visited Halifax.    We had been there a couple of months earlier, so we confined our day to a walk on the boardwalk along the harbor, a visit to the Museum of the Atlantic, and lunch at the Old Triangle Alehouse, with the same waiter we had two months before.  Along the boardwalk are a number of plaques and monuments, many placed there by the Petty Officer Association.   The first two items below are a statue and plaque related to Cunard, who was born in Halifax, and started the Cunard Steamship Company.  I really like the statue in the third photo, that is in honor of the immigrants.

At the Museum of the Atlantic we learned about the Halifax explosion that occurred during World War I.   Two ships accidently ran into each other in the Narrows entering the harbor, one of the ships was carrying explosives for the war.   The collision caused a fire, and everyone was watching the fire and smoke that had risen to 13,000 feet when the ship blew up.   It was the largest man made explosion after the atomic bomb.    Thousands were killed in the explosion, fireball and fires, and tidal wave caused by the explosion.  Thousands were left homeless.    It was a very sad story, but the ability of the people to go on and rebuild was amazing.  

The Museum also has a number of items from the Titanic, as the city was the base for recovery operations.  They even have the only deck chair that was saved.

We wandered back to the ship on the board walk, and watched our crew paining the anchor chain.

On Thursday we arrived in New York, very early.   Nancy happened to catch the Verrazano bridge as we were coming it at 4:30am, and I happened to look back and see the Statue of Liberty that we pasted at about 5pm.   Otherwise we slept in until about 7am, had breakfast, and hung around the ship.   At 9:30am we left the ship for the last time, caught a taxi to Penn Station, and at 11:33 the train to Northampton.   I type this and will send this from the train.   At 4:03pm we should be in Northampton, and be picked up by Mike.

It was a wonderful trip, with amazing stops, weather that could not have been any better, and filled with new experiences and sites.   But we are very happy to be home.

Sat Sept 19th–Sun Sept 20th–Transatlantic Cruise St. Johns Newfoundland

Saturday was a sea day on the way to St. Johns.   The sea was rough with a lot of rolling motion, we wondered how far the ship could roll from side to side before it could not come back upright.

On Sunday we landed in St. Johns.   We walked around town for a half hour before we started our tour with Legends tours.   We were fortune to be in a van with only eight of us, as they had two chartered city buses to haul the rest of the participants around.   Our first stop was Cape Spear, which they describe as the easternmost point in North America.   We happen to know from our cruise that there is a point in Greenland, which is North America, that is farther east.  Cape Spear has some old lighthouses and some world war II bunkers and gun emplacements.   The German submarines were active in the area, even firing torpedoes through the narrow cut to the town harbor in the hopes of blocking the harbor.

Next we stopped at Petty Harbor, where the locals sail out to fish, particularly for Cod.  They are allowed to catch five Cod each per day.  Historically they would salt the Cod and store in in small shacks for a couple of months before drying it.   Now they eat it fresh or freeze it for later.

We then went to Signal Hill, with Cabot Tower on the top.   It was from here that Marconi proved there could be radio communication with Europe across the Atlantic.  We had a good view of our ship from Signal Hill and you can see how large it is compared to the city.

Our final stop was at Quidi Vidi, a cute little harbor with a very narrow entrance.

The entrance to the St. John’s Harbor is called the narrows, and is very narrow.   It is only three times wider then the ship.   We sailed out at night, with the locals firing muskets from Signal Hill.   The last photo shows the city as we are leaving.  There are two lights in the distance, very bright, one above the other.   As you sail into the harbor, you keep the two lights above each other and it keeps you on track as you sail through the Narrows into town.

After our tour we stopped at a little coffee shop to use the internet.   It was very slow, so we were only able to read a few emails.   We are sad that we have not been able to send more timely updates but our access to Wi-Fi has been impossible or very limited for more than a week.  Hope our luck is better in Halifax.

Tue Sept 15th–Fri Sept 18th–Transatlantic Cruise - Greenland

On three different nights we caught a glimpse of the Northern lights.   On the night they were suppose to be out and the best, it turned out to be foggy.  Finally on Tuesday, we had a clear night and they were fairly clear.  To the naked eye, they appeared more white, but when you take a picture of them, you see the colors much better and they are clearer.   The shutter needs to be left open for three to five seconds, and we had no tripods, the ship was rolling, and there was about a 20 mile an hour wind, so if you look at fixed points there is movement, but they came our pretty clear.  In the first photo you can see the big dipper.

On Wednesday we sailed Prince Christian Sound in Greenland.  It turns out the tip of Greenland is crisscrossed with 280 miles of fiords and channels.   We sailed through 66 miles of them.  On the map, first photo, we sailed from the right side of the map to the left side. The second photo shows the ship in the fiords, which became very narrow as can be seen in the third photo looking out our cabin window.  We saw a number of glaciers (fourth and fifth pictures); as well as icebergs (sixth and seventh pictures).  In the middle of the area, is one small town of 130 people.   They live in this remote area, surrounded by steep mountains, so you can’t go more then a mile before your route is blocked.  The fiords open about 5 months a year, when they can be reached by boat, but the rest of the year they are closed by icebergs and the only way to reach the town is helicopter.  (In fact we learned that there are no two towns anywhere in Greenland that are connected by a road.)  The ship stopped at the small town and the crew delivered 200 pizzas, fresh fruits and vegetables, and some beer.  It was one of the most amazing areas we have ever seen.

On Thursday we stopped in the town of Qaqortoq, the largest town in southern Greenland with a population of 3,400 (the country has a population of about 57,000).  We visited the welcome center and walked on the Tassuunnaqquunnerit street.   Say that real fast three times, or even once….

On Friday we stopped at the town of Nanortalik, a town of 1300.   It was a delightful small town.   About 90% of the population of both towns are Inuit.   The second photo shows the sign on the Tourist Service and gift shop, with the three polar bears which is the symbol of the town.   The line for the cashier was about 20 people every time we looked, but we did wait in it to get some postcards to mail.  The third photo shows an iceberg that was floating around by the ship.   Note the size of the tender at the back of the ship that can hold 150 people compared to the iceberg.   We had a great time in this town, walking around, saying hello to the people, and visiting the excellent museum.

Sat Sept 12th–Mon Sept 14th–Transatlantic Cruise - Iceland

On Saturday we had a sea day, sailing north around the northern side of Iceland.  We crossed the artic circle, so Nancy and I are now officially members of the Order of the Blue Nose society.

On Sunday we tendered into the small town of Isafjordur Iceland.  The town has a population of about 1500, so here were the 2100 of us strolling up and down the eight block main street on a Sunday morning.  It made quite a sight for us, let alone the people driving to church.   Many of the shops, café’s and even the library opened up for us.   It was a pleasant little visit.  The photo’s show Nancy under the town sign hung from some whale bones, a statue of fisherman, and the snow we could see from our ship on the hills around the town from last winter.

On Monday we docked at Reykjavik Iceland.   We took an 8 1/2 hour tour called the Golden Circle and Horse Show.  Our first stop was a location where the European and North American tectonic plates meet.  We walked down the gap, where the two sides are moving apart at a rate of approximately 2 centimeters a year.   In the first two photos, the cliffs on the left are on the North American plate and the ones on the right are on the European plate.  The third photo is looking back, so the sides are reversed.   As the bulk of Iceland is on the European plate, it is considered part of Europe.   Greenland, is considered part of North America, as it is on that tectonic plate.

We then went to the Gullfoss waterfall. It was really impressive.  In the second photo you can see the trail that goes down beside the falls and the little dots are people.

We then went to a hot springs area with a few geysers.  One geyser shoots up about 50-60 feet high, and goes off about every five minutes.   But it is very fast, lasting only a couple of seconds at a time.

Then we were off to a small, family run horse show.  It was kind of corny, but they showed the Icelandic Horses, which is a specific breed.   No outside horses have been introduced in Iceland for 1000 years.   If one of the horses is taken off the island, it can not return.   We loved the horses bangs.  The horses have five different paces (trot, canter, etc.), where all other horses only have three or four.

Our final stop for the day was the main power station for Reykjavik. They capture steam and very hot water from about 40 wells.  They use the steam to drive the turbines to generate electricity.  They use the hot water to heat fresh water for the city.   They heat it to 80 degrees C. and pipe it to the city where it is used to heat the houses and and for hot water.   The water used to heat the houses is recirculated back to the plant, under the main streets and sidewalks, so they are warm enough to melt any snow that lands on them (amazingly they don’t get a lot of snow in Reykjavik).

We were the last bus back to the ship, about 15 minutes past the all aboard, and the gangplank was removed before we had time to walk to our cabin.