Whoohoo!  

Sheep farm also root vegetables

Reindeer are in the north. 

It is not necessarily covered in snow here in this area (Qaqortoq). Greenland is actually further south than Iceland and quite often doesn’t have snow and ice so it was called Greenland by early visitors. 

Only one glacier in this area that provides icebergs….meaning it empties into the ocean. Most come south from the northeastern part. Sometimes polar bears come down on ice flows. 

It’s a fair sized village of approximately 3000 people. We still outnumber them. In a way I feel for them to be inundated with so many at one time.

We are picked up right from the dock from which we tendered in and driven to the airport, the newest one in the world. The road is excellent (and brand new I would say) but very windy over barren lands.

We start our helicopter ride…..

We stop for a dip in a hot springs pool in the barren mountaintop overlooking a bay full of icebergs

Next we land on a glacier.

Landed….

It’s a beautiful day with lots of huge icebergs

And then….., the captain decided to take us through what I believe was Prince Christian Sound. OMG…..Spectacular!

As I mentioned before, the stop in Nanortalik was cancelled with the excuse that it would be too dangerous to safely go. Well now, I question that line because there was barely a cloud in the sky with absolutely zero fog and no wind.

So as a substitution, the ship’s authority decided we would cruise the Arsuk Fjord.

We saw some icebergs before entering the fjord.

While cruising up the fjord we saw muskox …. 3 on the beach at one location and one at an abandoned cryolite mine. Unfortunate they were a little too far away to get any really good pictures.

More icebergs after exiting the fjord

At Nuuk we have a dock…. not tender. 30 Minuite walk into town. Surprising to me, Nuuk is quite large…20,000+ people. There are lots and lots of apartment condos… very basic, institutional with not much of the poor rundown homes that we saw in Paamiut yesterday. There are even malls and coffee places where you can get a cappuccino ….. for almost $11 CAD. OUCH!!!

Expect to be at Cape Farewell, on the southern tip of Greenland at 7-8 am in morning tomorrow so that we  can see to go around icebergs. Actually arrive around 10pm tomorrow night off Paamuit so will not have to deal with fog. 

6C expected. Looks like clear skies expected but always subject to change. Paamuit to Nuuk, then Nanortulik and finally Qaqortoq. 

The east side of Greenland is where icebergs originate… travelling at  2-3 knots southward and then travel up into the west side. Ship will stay a mile away from big ones but the smaller ones can cause big dents in the ship.

No telling if there will cloud for the eclipse but should know better 10 am the day of but ……“it will be dark” according to the captain. Time of eclipse 5:45 -6:49 pm+/-. 

There will be about 20 ships in the North Atlantic area but 4-5 near Iceland where we will be. 2 ice pilots on Board …. have all the latest information. Yes, we have search lights. 

“If you drive your car to all these places, if that was possible, then you would probably be using more fuel than we are doing now on the ship”…. quote from the captain. 

Icebergs can be as big as the ship at 2-300 metres. On Aug 5th, as we were heading to Paamiut, we saw our first icebergs. For the last 24+ hours, the fog horn had been blasting. It was too foggy to see anything but grey. Everyone was excited, going to the starboard side of the ship to take pictures.  The skies were actually clear enough to see mountains in the background. 

Noon announcement: we are now 60+degrees north …..30 kms south of Qaqortoq. It’s 15 C with winds at 20. 

Apparently they will be cancelling our port call into Nanortilik due to fog in 3 days time. I am so disappointed. My one and only excursion was to be there, was by small boat to be up close and personal with icebergs 😩😢.

7:30 tenders tomorrow August 7th. 

Piotr (Peter in Polish) is our guide.  He was atleast 2 feet taller than me…OMG!  Nice guy but we had a lot of difficulty understanding all that he had to say.  

The most famous mountain near Grundarfjörður is Mount Kirkjufell, often called “Church Mountain”. It stands 463 meters (1,519 feet). Volcanos here erupted 12,000 yrs ago but because they were covered by snow, caused them to be flat. This volcano is a pinnacle….. was carved by glaciers. You need a guide now to climb it cuz it’s dangerous…4 Brits fell to their death. 

At the same stop we saw Kirkjufellsfoss…. Same name but with the “foss” (meaning waterfall) added. 

Black sand beach.. is a caldera created by volcanic blast…. Just a drive by. 

Iceland is only 24 million years old…. young by world standards. 

They have 30 active volcanos. 

One in 1783, “Laki”, that spewed for 8 month, decimated the island. Toxic gases and ash killed 50-80% of all livestock, and 20-30% of the population by starvation. Toxic gas and ash are the worst for killing people and livestock . As well, earthquakes and molten lava (they create flat surfaces) kill. That one killed 6 million in the world from famine, crop failures, and respiratory illness and is believed to have been responsible for starting the French Revolution. There is more info on it….. check it out on internet  

When Vikings came to Iceland in 9th century, it was treed. (Sorry if I am repeating myself)

Sheep are free to roam from May to September when all the farmers come together to round them up. They are then distributed to their owners. The grass near the road is tastiest (and get in the way of the traffic) where they get their fix… lol!

Djupalónssandur, the sea-polished beach pebbles-the black lava pearls of Djúpalón-the elf rocks, and the sea

Iceland had the 1st parliament in the world. The Althing (Iceland, 930 AD): Founded by Viking chieftains as an open-air assembly to make laws and settle disputes.   “Human life” is the most important thing for Icelandics.  For example at one point in history when told they had to convert to Catholicism, instead of fighting, they chose to go with it instead of being subjected to death). 

In 1943 they gained independence from Denmark. 

We saw literally hundreds of teepees to the side of road …(“they will all be getting high on mushrooms”….lol) are here to observe the solar eclipse. 

No GMO is used in farming in Iceland. 

If someone is using an umbrella here, they are new to Iceland cuz if you have been here for a while, you know that rain and snow comes down horizontally so an umbrella is useless. 

The volcano when exploded in my 2010, went 8 km into air affected 100,000 people when all air traffic was halted. 

Bridge that “was built by God” at Arnastapi 

OMG it is expensive here….$54CAD for caesar salad ….or fish and chips, or 15$ for small fries. We decided we were not that hungry!! 

Black church, in 1816, a decision was made to rebuilt church. The first church built at Búdir was consecrated in 1703.  The Swedish-born merchant Bent Lauridesen built the church with his own money. The church was a low-rise turf church with a cemetery, and the first burial took place in 1705. Over time, the church fell into disrepair. A royal letter in 1816 made it official that it was no longer to be used as a church.

It was not until the middle of the 18th century that Steinunn Sveinsdottir, a wealthy widow born in 1777, changed that. One spring day, Steinunn was working outside turning peat that had been stacked in the tufts of the old church. Suddenly, she was overcome with fatigue, so she lay down and fell asleep.

Then a man came to her in a dream and asked her to take up the challenge of rebuilding the church at Búir. Steinunn woke up and realized that this man had been Bent, who had established the first church.

Steinunn accepted the challenge and in the same year, 1847, she applied for permission to rebuild the church. However, the church authorities refused. The King of Denmark and Iceland, gave his blessing for the construction of a new church. Steinunn built the church with no support from the spiritual leaders, now stands at Búdir. It was completed in 1848. As pay back to the church, she had it painted black. Steinunn put the door ring from Bent’s original church on the church door. Steinunn died in 1854.

There were 30,000 English and 60,000 American here occupying  Iceland during war.  Icelanders suggested that they say “they were where to protect them so it would be easier to accept”. 

Winds are not a joke here in winter. You are not allowed to drive when it is blowing 40 metres per sec. (I don’t know how you calculate that)

Sunrise 4:19 am tomorrow and 10:30 pm is sunset 

After a rough rocking-n-roll night on the seas, we arrived to the port with 30 to 40 knot winds and a 3-5 metre swell. Also the ship would have to anchor at a 90 degree angle to the shore in a very narrow port. They made the decision to cancel. The temperature is 9 C. 

Next stop will be to Akureyri….. very slowly. On the way there, we crossed the 66.33% latitude…. the Arctic Circle, during the night.

Aug 2/26-Akureyri, Iceland

We don’t have an excursion here. The last time I was here, we went to Godafoss ….. huge waterfall… spectacular, the bubbling mud pots and Dimmuborgir, the lava fields…(valley of the trolls) where the Eurasia plate and North American plate meet. Instead we just walked around the downtown area which is quite lovely with a slide down the hill for little kids. All along the street are hundreds of ladies shoes all painted up. On the way be decided to stop for a coffee and treats. 2 cappuccino and 2 treats were $30+ CAD. Wow!!!

The population for this town is bigger than we have seen at 17,000. The residential area (and I know this because….. I went for a looong walk to try to find a replacement battery for my watch and a replacement lanyard for my phone so that I don’t drop it. Not found!), is very utilitarian. Actually quite ugly homes with no evidence of loving their yards/gardens…. Not existent!

Oh my goodness!!! So gorgeous sailing into this port but OMG it certainly doesn’t feeling this is the date it says it is . It was a rough ride getting in here and now it is cloudy with much wind (so much for the hair staying where I put it this morning). But heh, it is up to 11 C…..

We will be seeing 2 waterfalls and a canyon plus a gas station for the most important stop …. It has a bathroom. 

Because we have a fare bit of driving to get we are going, today’s posting will be a lot of the humourous commentary from our guide, Thoranna, an Icelander that lives in Los Angeles in the winter. She is very entertaining 🤣. 

700 people live here in this town but with 2600 passengers on our ship, we kind of out-number them. There is also a Viking cruise ship in port as well. 

First dam in Iceland was built here . It is always dark here in winter, with lots of landslides. 

The trend for rainbow streets started here. There are only 400,000 people in all of Iceland. There has been a 300% increase of tourism in last few years so they have had to import workers from other countries.

Icelanders love golf. There are 40 golf courses in country. 

Farmers use drones to find lost sheep. 

Iceland had gone bankrupt in 2008 (as a number of other country’s stock markets took a major downturn), 2 years before the ash from Eyjafjallajökull volcano (erupting in 2010), causing all air travel in Europe to be halted for 10 days. 

Temperatures here range from 10 in summer to just around freezing in winter. 

The ground around here is old lava rock because it is far away from tectonic plate (where there is lots of volcanic activity). It was carved by ice age 12 million years ago. Iceland is growing in size by 2 cm per year because Asian and European tectonic plates are moving apart. 

Our guide pointed out that the lake area was covered by snow when she came two months ago. What reindeer are here, were imported but not many survived. 

Polar bears have to be shot if they come floating to Iceland because they are too dangerous …cuz they are hungry. 

All pines that are planted come from other countries…. are not native. Larch pine trees lose their needles in winter. When in 1874 the Vikings came, the land was covered with trees. Now only 2% of land has trees. 

Glacier rivers do not have fish in them…. only fresh water rivers do. 

Winter tourism comes because people was to see the aurora borealis. 

They don’t have last names in Iceland. Last name is combination of the father’s name and the word for daughter or son. 

There are not many animals here…. Only mink (are a major pest), polar bears when they float here on ice, horses (have 5 gates), and arctic fox, the only native animal. They are white in winter and reddish brown in summer. Bird life is amazing. Arctic “tar” (?) come all the way from Antarctica. They have a split-brain so can sleep while flying. 

Tourism is the first industry in Iceland with fishing being second. 

Energy is mostly geothermal with hydro as well. 

Poles along the road have one reflector on the right and two on left. The object is to keep within the two during winter when everything is covered in snow. That is so you don’t go off the road. 

The first of 2 waterfall is 120 meters tall called Rjukandafoss. 

Iceland was occupied by Denmark until 1944 when the Danes were themselves occupied…. by Germany. 

This road we are travelling on, is closed in May because the geese are nesting. 

Stujlagil Canyon is next stop. Studlagil Canyon was not a tourist attraction til 2006. It was discovered after a dam was built on the river and the water level dropped by 7 metres. It was then that basalt columns, in some cases a blue-green colour caused from the water. There is 239 steps down and 239 coming back up. 

We could not get down to the bottom… you have to come in from the other side. Beautiful though.

The smoking of lamb and fish because there are no trees, they use lamb turd. Make jam out of sheep’s head. Ptarmigan is a treat as well. 

8 universities in the country. 

Puffins nests are a in hole in ground (not the usual nests) is under a metre in size . They have only 1 egg each year and mate for life. It is made up of 2 rooms…. One is the bedroom and one is the bathroom… lol!  The males are dirty cuz they clean the house. They are the only bird that uses tools… can hold a stick to scratch their backs. 

One is born into the Lutheran church… is state run along with the liquor stores.  You have to renounce that religion if you want to visit another. 

I had booked a RIB tour out of the port thinking that we would be docking in Stavanger and picking it up there. Alas it was not, causing a bit of a problem. As it turned out they were able to get us onto one that left from a dock near our ship, in Sandnes. It was a bit of a rush along with confusion to get it all at the last moment. Once on board (after suiting up and putting on snow googles) it was quite a long, long bouncy ride but wonderful experience seeing magnificent scenery. Lysefjord is 42 km long. 

First stop was to see the Vagabond Cave where the water is 50 metres deep. It is a safe harbour for fishermen when the weather gets too bad, they can sit it out. The story goes that all the vagabonds/thieves would steal whatever they could in the towns and hide out in the cave (not very big cave).

Next stop was to see a couple of mountain goats. They were beautiful. Our guide said that they are taken out to that place (where they cannot escape) in the spring and brought back in the fall. 

Whiskey Falls, a 75 metre drop.  The story goes that a man who worked on a farm, decided to supplement his income on his off time, by making moonshine.  The vagabonds down the fjord would warn the moonshine maker when the police were coming to bust him. They would do that because they were the ones selling his product in town. Story goes also that the maker of the moonshine, to check that the zip line used to send the bottles down to water level, sent his wife down first …. Finding it safe 🤣. 

The main reason for this trip today was to see Pulpit Rock, a rock ledge with no guardrails, is 604 metres above the water. You can hike up to it (from some other location) but for a time, in 2017, they closed the trail cuz it was becoming too treacherous. Instead they hired some Sherpas from Nepal to fixed the trail and reopened it. 

What a spectacular trip… wow!