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.

Thur Sept 10th– Fri Sept 11th -Transatlantic Cruise Shetland and Faroe Islands

On Thursday we docked at the Shetland Islands, an autonomous part of Scotland.  The first three photos are from Lerwick Harbor. 

 

We started our visit with a four hour small boat tour, with Robbi and Alan and nine of us guests.  We were told the history of the island and about some of the buildings in the harbor.   We then rode around to a point where they dropped a small robotic submersible in and we watched a TV screen as they showed us the kelp, urchins and star fish.   We then went over to the cliffs which were covered with birds.   Most of the bird population had moved south, but there were still thousands of them.   On the way back to the harbor we saw a lot of seals, such as the one below, as well as one otter.

On Friday we stopped at the Faroe islands, an autonomous part of Denmark.    We loved the old buildings with the sod roofs.    The Red buildings are some of the oldest in the capital city of Torshavn.   We found a public library that had excellent Wi-Fi and sent off some of the blogs.

After a lunch on board the ship we went for a bus tour of the ship to this 1800’ church, first photo, and this medieval farm (fourth and fifth picture).   The country is so green, but treeless.