August 11, 2024 – Qatortoq, Greenland – Cloudy – Cold – High 40s

Our first time in Greenland and it is true what they say about Greenland – it is mostly ice.  Except on the West Coast where there is no ice – at least today – and so far no rain.  As you can see, Qaqortoq is located at the end of a fjord and is quite a ways from the open sea.  By the way, Qaqortoq means "white" in the local language - appropriate.

The excursions in Greenland are incredibly pricey – you could buy a used car for that price and some are at the level of a cruise fare.  We are planning to walk though the town (there are about 3000 people living here in the ice free zone.  It reminds me a lot of Norway.  BTW, we are going to cross the Arctic Circle when we leave Greenland.

I was up early – as is my wont – and in the Oceanview Café for the Early Risers Breakfast.  Turns out that most of the stuff was out early so I could get my standard breakfast.  For some reason, the same items I had on Constellation are not as good on Eclipse.  Seems odd.  The breakfast does the trick in any event.  One thing that does irk me a bit is the lack of sour cream – it was available on the first day but is MIA since. Sour cream is a key component in my standard breakfast - hoping it will return.

We will be tendering to shore today (Qaqortoq has a deep harbor but no pier).  The tenders were lowered pretty early in the morning - I could see them from the Cabin window.

We picked up our tender tickets at the Martini Bar but it was just a few minutes wait before we hopped on the tender for the very short ride to the town.  

You can tell how short the tender ride was by the location of Eclipse out in the harbor.

Once, there, the resemblance to Norway’s West Coast was reinforced.  It was a Sunday, and even though Eclipse doubled the population of Qaqortoq, many of the stores were closed.

I was looking for a café to soak in atmosphere while drinking some coffee.  Couldn’t find one but we did find a pretty well stocked modern supermarket.  I was looking for coffee even though coffee is certainly not grown here.  It’s not even grown in Denmark, of which Greenland is a part.  Stuff here is expensive since everything is shipped in.  The coffee, however, was reasonably priced and I was about to buy some when I noticed that they were selling LavAzza Coffee, the same coffee they served on board.  So, no sale.

The main street of the town

had a number of interesting sites along the way.  There were 18th Century Colonial dwellings lining the street and the hillside

and we spotted the Danish Flag on a nearby hill.

Ellen made sure everyone knew who took that picture.

There's a creek that runs parallel to the main street and we documented it pretty well.  I couldn't find the name of the creek.

Probably, the most interesting site in the town is the Mindebrønden (Memorial Fountain).  

The fountain, completed in 1932, is made of bronze and stone (it was not running when we were there).  The stone was sourced in Greenland and the fountain commemorates the whaling tradition of the country. It's hard to see in the picture but there are some whales at the top of the fountain and the water is meant to be blowholes.  There are only two public fountains in Greenland and this is the older of the two.  

We spent about an hour or so walking the hilly sidewalks of the town and taking pictures (got some good ones) before heading for the tender line for our return trip. Near the tender area, I came across a large stone with writing on it - maybe rune or Norse.  I couldn't find anything on it online.

Again, a short and smooth ride back to Eclipse.

We were having lunch, when the Captain announced that we would be bypassing Prince Christian Sund (an inside passage with mountains, glaciers, fjords, and sea ice) as the weather forecast indicated a huge and powerful storm of the South tip of Greenland.  The winds were predicted to be in the 65mph range (near hurricane and stronger than tropical storms) and the waves in the five meter range.  The ship would encounter the storm around 1 AM tomorrow morning.  To get ahead of the storm, the ship would leave as soon as everyone was on board.  To make up for our not going through the Sound, the pilot took the ship to an area of spectacular sea ice.  I remember one ship we were on in the Chilean fjords where the Captain would not sail through even the smallest bits of sea ice (they damage the screws).  Our pilot was not afraid of these “growlers” and we saw some great examples of “tabular” icebergs. 

I took lots of pictures of the sea ice - we are returning to Greenland on the next cruise but you never know about the weather.

Because of the change in plans, the sail away was early and we watched it from the Sky Lounge.

The change in schedule now meant two sea days in a row and two lectures. I was going to give one during our run through the Sound but this would work out better for me. 

We ate in the Oceanview Café – I have had good luck with the Stir Fry station and fried rice. The fried rice is as good or better than what we have been able find locally at home.

We passed on “Rock City” again as we are trying to preserve as many hair cells (the ones in your ears) as possible.  We did go to Next Stage's session, which is always entertaining.

Another one hour ahead tonight put us who knows what time - maybe "Mid-Atlantic Time",

It is also staying light until way past 11 PM so the shades are drawn tight to fool us into thinking it’s dark out there.

Seas are smooth for the moment.