June 30 – Nuuk, Greenland

 Weather – 6º, cloudy, a few sprinkles

Steps – 8,787

Northness - 64º (Calgary - 51º)

Sunrise – 2:52, sunset – 10:05, hours of daylight – 19hrs, 13 min

The fog was thick last night as we sailed to Greenland - the ship’s foghorn is not quite the lullaby we were looking for. We didn’t get into Nuuk until noon, so we don’t have to be up too early. We had a breakfast to go to for past guests having sailed over 200 nights. As of today, we have 332 nights –

ICE BERG!!!

almost a whole year! Around 9 this morning the sky cleared, and the horn stopped.

ice berg looks more real

Small icebergs greeted us as we approached Nuuk, the world’s smallest capital (only slightly more south than Reykjavik) – pop, 19,872. Icebergs were on my to see list this trip, so I can check that off. They were at quite a distance, but they were there! One of the tours we were supposed to go on, that has been canceled due to us not going at all into our next 2 Greenland ports, had us on a small boat close to icebergs that we could touch them…that is disappointing…oh well.

waterfall

One our first excursion of the day we got pretty close to one beautiful iceberg – in fact, my photos don’t even make them look real. It looks like 2 in the photos, but the 2 bits above the water are connected below.

sun casting light on the waterfall

I can see how people are more disappointed than we are to be missing 2 or our 3 Greenland ports. This place is mountains, mountain, and more mountains. We are spoiled living in Calgary being able to see the mountains everyday, and it doesn’t take long to be right in them. For people who were dying to see mountains it would be a great disappointment. I think we are actually lucky to be in Nuuk at all. Originally, we were supposed to be tendering here, but are docking.

glacier feeding the waterfall

I cannot get enough!

Our first of 2 excursions today was through the Nuup Kangerlua fjord on a small boat looking for humpback whales. We saw exactly ZERO whales. I talked to one of the tour guides who lives here, and he said he’s seen 3 whales all year. They tend to be further out on more open water.

In addition to the iceberg, we saw a glacier and the waterfall it feeds. We got so close to the waterfall that we were getting wet from the spray.

fun times in Greenland!!!

That was it for the boat tour. Seeing the iceberg and the waterfall were terrific, but it took us 2 hours return to see them. I didn’t exactly have anything else to do, but it was a bit of a commitment.

We also saw the colourful Greenland houses I’ve seen on TV. According to our guide, the colours used to signify the trade or occupation of the inhabitant, but now people just pick whatever colour they like.

beauty

We came back for a late lunch, some down time in the room and were back for an evening panoramic (mostly sitting on a bus and driving past sights) city tour.

 The tour took us past the University of Greenland, the Nuuk Cathedral, the one and only school, the hospital and other required small town spots. Nuuk is a small, simple town, but we figured we should see what there is to see, and we did.

colourful houses

Nuuk is set in a beautiful, remote fjord setting. Homes and businesses cling to the side of the craggy mountains. There’s not too much to Nuuk as far as a capital city goes, but it was super interesting to see how people live in this remote, harsh place – we think Calgary’s climate can be a bit harsh, but when I think of the weather at home today at the end of June and compare it to Nuuk, I’M not sure we know what harsh is.

We are spending the night here.

colourful houses

Overnights are always appealing as it

stop in Greenlandic

means we have the opportunity to go in in the evening, maybe for a meal or a drink. Not today…no alcohol is sold in Greenland on Sundays and nothing is open at all Sunday evenings. My crack research team has (as usual) found a craft brewery for a DIY tour tomorrow.