Gene and Jan's Long Trip Too

Overnight the Viking Sun arrived at the small fishing village of Qaqortoq, Greenland and anchored in the bay.  At 8:55 AM we tendered ashore to visit this isolated community of 3,000 Inuits only accessible by boat or helicopter.  (The local people prefer to be called Greenlanders or Inuits and find it insulting to be called Eskimos.) Colorful wooden houses are built on steep, rocky inclines against  the coastal mountains.  With only a few automobiles, walking is the preferred means of transportation.  There are no roads connecting to other villages and the residents depend on a weekly ferry for supplies.  Locally, they fish and hunt seals for meat. During our stop we visited a local Greenlander's home to learn about their lifestyle firsthand.  While walking (uphill) to our host's home, we passed an apartment building occupied by senior citizens.  Notice the clothes drying outside their windows.  Now let me remind you that the ...

Today we were scheduled to stop at the small fishing village of Nanortalik located on the southern tip of Greenland, however, the North Atlantic wanted one more shot at us and gave us gale force winds with waves of 18 feet.   Our captain informed us the fishing village was small and he would not be able to safely put us ashore in such rough seas.  In its place, he sailed us through Prince Christian Sound, a 62 mile sea waterway and fjord system. As we entered Prince Christian Sound an iceberg slowly floated by.  Greenland is covered by a huge glacier with many tongues, some reaching the ocean where they "calve" icebergs.  This sea passage separates Greenland from its southern Cape Farewell Archipelago and is responsible for creating many icebergs. Named after the 19th-century King of Denmark, the Sound depicts all the majesty of a royal!  The narrow passageway connects the Labrador and Irminger Seas sometimes decreasing to just 1,500 feet wide...