Today was a sea day and everybody was ready for it. There is something in the air of Greenland, maybe it’s the freshness of the air or the beautiful sunshine or the glare on the ice, that made everybody so tired after a full the day in port of Nuuk. But everybody was tired and rows of do-not-disturb-signs could be seen in the ships corridors. So today was a day to recuperate and make plans for the next two ports. We still have to call at Llulissat (pronounce lu-le-sat) and Sissimut (sis-se-mut) before the cruise ends in Kangeluusaq. Here everybody flies home with two charter planes, which at the same time bring the new guests on board.

Thus today we had the port talk for the next two ports and lectures about travel photography, whales in Greenland and volcanic smokers on the bottom of the mid Atlantic ridge. Also the ships crew was at it today, with a culinary demonstration, vegetable carving, a wine tasting class and Greek dancing for beginners. The latter is a bit of a happening as the dance floor cannot accommodate more than 10 people at the time. Plus seeing a group of septuarians trying to imitate Zorba the Greek is interesting to observe. The choir is still practising and will give a show on the last day.

The Old man, has invited me to come to the bridge whenever I want but they are so high-strung up there at the moment, as nobody has any ice experience, so I prefer to leave them in peace. I tried to find the captain to have a cup of coffee with him but at both times he was occupied. At least he sounded occupied but you are never sure, as the Greeks tend to be loud and noisy with whatever they are doing. I do not think that they would like my bridge operation at all, where everything happens in a quiet way and a serene peace is evident at all times. Only the regular ringing of the telephone disturbs it. I sailed in 1983 with Greeks at the end of the change over period from Monarch Sun to Volendam and although they are great people to party with, the different outlook on life between Anglo-Saxons and Greeks made for interesting times on the bridge.

In the evening we sailed into a fjord that houses the Eqip Glacier that is nothing else than a piece of the Greenland Icecap reaching down to the water. A soon as we entered the fjord the fog which had persisted most of the day lifted and with the evening sun shining, it was a beautiful sight. The sun was to set at approx. 21.00, but being at such a high latitude, it takes a long time before it gets dark. Although we are way past the mid night sun period.

The fjord is 50 miles deep so we approached the glacier around 9.30 pm. We stayed there for approx. an hour. The glacier has two parts with a protruding rock ridge in the middle. It does not really calve as some other glaciers do. No ice trashing down from great heights. The way it releases ice, is that the ice cap pushes relentlessly down the mountainside and the icebergs break off the way you separate sugar cubes that have stuck together. That creates the large squarish icebergs, which float to open sea.

The ship stayed at a fair distance, which gave a good overview, but you could not really see the way the bergs where breaking off. Glu-wine was served on the lido deck so we had few a few people in very good spirits milling about while looking at the glacier.

Tomorrow we are in Llulissat (pronounce Lu-le-sat) in the entrance of Disko Bay, where most of the icebergs are coming from that drift down the coast of Greenland to the south.

Note: most places in Greenland have reverted to their indigenous names. The Danish names hardly used anymore. The Greenlandic language is quite complicated so there tends to be various spellings around of the names of the places. I got the spellings I use from the chart but I have seen variations ashore to that, so bear with me if I have omitted a U, and S or an L, as the Inuit’s are very fond of stringing three of the same together.