Greenland, Disko Island Sunday, 26 July 2026

 There was massive fog again when we woke up, and it was definitely colder, high today is expected to be about 42 degrees. We are definitely much farther north. This area is called Iceberg Alley, as there are literally hundreds of icebergs small and large which have separated from various glaciers and floated to this area were they tend to stay until the melt.

This morning we had an astonishing Zodiac ride with Lars, viewing the basalt rock formations and water falls of Disko Island, the second largest island in Greenland. While I am not always the most enthusiastic about geology, the crazy angles and appearances these rocks was amazing. First we went through a cool arch, and then along the coast to see the rocks up closer, the caves, and even went behind a waterfall. It looked like a giant jenga puzzle with pieces of rock going every which way, some spread like a fan, others as spires going toward the sky, others bent where volcanic forces intervened. I will post some photos later. As we were in the Zodiac, we saw the small town where Lars lives with his family, a collection of houses similar to others we have seen, perched all over a rocky hillside with areas of green.

My knee was a bit sore from kneeling in the morning stretch class, so I chose to go on the short walk on another part of the island. It was lovely, about a mile, and we stopped at a small promontory where we had a nice coast view. Our guide Dan said that he like to take a pause on the short walks, have folks sit or even lay down, and be quiet for 15 minutes. It was brisk but sunny, so I sat down and then laid down on the tundra vegetation. It was so beautiful, quiet (although one guy did start snoring), and I could hear things I had not heard before, and even smell the vegetation. Then we picked some blueberries and crowberries and ate them - a bit tart - and headed back to the ship. I’m very glad I did the short walk, as the moderate walk Barney did turned out to be quite a slog with some serious bushwhacking, long diversions through paths going up and down and up and down, a lot of elevation change, holds in the tundra and channels of really soft area. The particular guide for his group, Rob, did not seem to have a good sense of the best path, the other group’s experience was much better. Afterwards he and John and Reuben went to the hot tub to soak, which helped a lot.

The evening was our second dinner with our second group, which went well. I redid the place tags, this time with a whale that had fins, which everyone liked. There was a good chemistry at the table and folks enjoyed themselves. I really enjoy bringing people together like this. We hung out in the lounge for quite a while afterwards, and as we went to bed, it was still bright out at 11:30pm!

Greenland, Sisimuit, Saturday, 25 July 2026

We awoke to the largish town of Sisimuit, one of the armrest in Greenland, and we getting off at an official dock. This morning, of the three options, we chose the archaeological hike. It was about three hours of serious hiking, clambering up rocks and stepping up and down two or three feet on rocks. Fortunately, Barney was always there to give me a hand, as I’ve found that going down a steep rock on my “bad” knee is OK, going up on my good knee is harder as I cannot bend back as far as I used to. We covered a loot of territory, and saw a number of remains of turf houses from the 16th century and onward, as well as graves and fox traps made of stones. The graves all had a view of the waters which was considered essential in the Greenlandic culture. we saw the dog island, where owners let their dogs roam free for the summer, so they don’t become too domesticated, and establish hierarchy which helps with sledding. After a long and quite strenuous hike, we enjoyed a nice lunch and heard about the morning town tour which visited a place called Dog Town. We’ll go there later.

In the afternoon, we boarded a shuttle bus that went between the ship, the Sisimuit Museum, the large grocery store, and the edge of town where the Arctic Circle Trail starts and where Dog Town is. First we head into town to see the Sisimuit Museum is. It is made up of eight old wooden buildings. The Old Shop, built in 1825, held the ticket office, a small gift shop, and some historic photographs.  Behind it in a open area was the most interesting part of the museum: a series of dog sleds made in different parts of Greenland, and a tent of the type used in the summer, with a below-grade entrance to the large skin tent, with an elevated platform for sleeping and a lower area for cooking, which we could go inside. Thinking about how few materials possessions these folks had, as they migrated with various game and the seasons, made us realize how little people really need to survive. The Museum also included an old Lutheran church which had been restored, a turf house replica from the 1990s, which included the two sleeping platforms, one for each family, separated by a skin curtain, the Colonial Manager’s Residence from 186 which had a schoolroom and historical photos, and the Old House built in 1756 with an extensive exhibit in Sakai culture and artifacts. 

We then caught the shuttle bus to the edge of town, to go to Dog Town. As we walked down the paved and then gravel road, we wondered, where is the facility? We were expecting some sort of large kennel with Greenland Dogs, but all we saw were dogs hanging out on various small rises, some laying in the sun, some nursing their puppies, others playing. we realized that this was Dog Town, and when I looked it up, we found that this whole area was designated for the dogs to live most of the year. They specifically do not want the dogs to be too domesticated, and we had been told not to approach or try to pet the dogs. So for a while we simply admired them from the road, and a few times a curious puppy approached us, only to be herded back by a watchful mom dog. One mom dog even followed us up the street a bit to make sure we were moving on. And then it happened: one dog started to howl, and then others joined in, until the whole little valley of dogs was howling, for well over a minute. It was magical. And then suddenly, it was over. we walked back up to the bus stop, and headed back to the ship. We went to the cocktail our and recap, then dinner, and chatted with our friends a bit about future National Geographic Expeditions - we are considering going to Svalbard - and  headed to bed.

Greenland, Eternity Fjord, Friday, 24 July 2026

 The brilliant sun rose about 4:00am, and fortunately there are blackout curtains. The sun reflecting off the water was almost blinding, and it looks like it will be a lovely, sunny day. 

We sailed up rom Nuuk where a brief stop had been made overnight to let off a crew member who was ill.   we sailed into the Eternity Fjord, and after breakfast had a wonderful lecture by Dan about human history in the Arctic, Just as he finished, some humpback whales were sighted so almost everyone left to see them. I could see the blow as they surfaced, and we once saw a fluke, which was exciting. We sat in the library area in the bow on the top deck, which gave us a wonderful view of the fjord, and I spent some time looking at the expedition catalog of future trips.

With a beautiful day - at last 55 degrees - an outdoor barbecue was planned. we got a table with a great view of the glacier at the end of the fjord, and enjoyed some wonderful food and sunshine. We even had to put on sunscreen and hats for the first time. After lunch, we had the opportunity for a Zodiac ride with Boris, where we saw a huge cliff with thousands of Terns, Kittiwakes, Gillemots, Glaucus and other gulls. We went quite close to the glacier which dropped some bits into the water. Then we went for a kayak ride, going close to the walls of the fjord and across the water, we are getting used to kayaking again and it was fun.

Another wonderful dinner, and some nice time afterwards with our friends. We are putting together another dinner for Sunday evening.

Greenland, Qoornguarsiaq Fjord, Thursday, 23 July 2026

We went to work out before breakfast in the fitness room, which was quite well equipped and made us feel very  virtuous. It was cloudy again, and rain was a possibility. After breakfast, Dan did an interesting lecture about some field work he did in an extremely remote island in the Russian Arctic, where they uncovered evidence of a group of people living there who subsisted entirely on female polar bears, the only bones found there. Hard to believe, but apparently polar bears (and other marine mammals) have a lot of Vitamin C so people in the Arctic do not get scurvy. Their conclusion was that the polar bear cubs were traded to get other items they needed, and possibly were traded on to become exotic and prestigious gifts, one had been discovered given as a gift to a leader in the Middle East.  The second lecture was on lichens and other ground lands, but I had to do some client work so was in the room doing email while listening to the lecture.

After lunch, it was time for a hike on a boggy area in Qoornguatsiaq Fjord. This is in the Sermersooq municipality, which at 205,368 square miles, is the largest municipality in the world. Vast areas of it are uninhabited of course - a municipality in Greenland is more like a state in the US, as there are only seven of them in this giant island. The hike was through a slightly melted area of permafrost so rather boggy, and several times we had to cross little creeks. It was warm so we shed a layer, and the mosquitos were vicious. I am so glad we got the mosquito nets, although they look rather ridiculous they are a lifesaver. I would have been eaten alive without the net. We saw two caribou skulls with antlers, and an Arctic Fox skull smaller than my hand. The focus of the hike was vegetation, and we saw many of the plants mentioned in the various talks over the past few days, including some bright and apparently somewhat poisonous mushrooms. This was by far the most strenuous hike we had, and I was very glad we both had our hiking sticks, we both fell only one time each.  As we were somewhat late getting back to the ship, I ran up to get Barney some cookies from the afternoon tea.  We were both quite sweaty from the hike and needed showers.  It was still quite warm outside, so we sat on the balcony, I finished my book and Barney read as well. Refreshed, we went to dinner and had a nice time, going up to the lounge afterwards for more wonderful conversation. Barney and I are discussing future trips, as this is as far as had planned anything. There are so many interesting places to go. 

Greenland, Bratthild Farm and Tunulliarflik Fjord, Wednesday, 22 July 2026

 We are up early and ready to go well before the 8:30 departure time. We find out this will be a et landing so a quick changed is needed. We hike with our group around the tiny village of about 80 people, up a steep hill to where there is a large statue of Leif Erickson. His father Erik the Red journeyed from Iceland in 982 CE and settled in this area with his family. It would have been welcoming, with large flat area under some hills, plenty of grass for grazing, and a good harbor. Although Erik the Red did not like Christianity, his mother did (Norway and Iceland were converting to Christianity) so he allowed her to build a small church in the settlement, and the remains of the church and multiple other buildings were all over the lower area of town. We also went into a replica longhouse, where 20-30 people would ahve lived; it had a central cooking and heating area, the walls would have been lined with elevated areas for sleeping, a weaving loom was set up at one end, and a small private room was perhaps for the newly married. A small room above was for maidens, who would pull up the ladder after the last one entered, and bring it town in the morning, as girls were married in their teens. Leif inherited the land from his father and was a chieftain for the area. he also famously journeyed to the New World, to an area he called Vinland, returned to Greenland, and died about 1025. Norse settlers remained in the area and left after about 400 years. The reasons why are not fully known, but probably have to do with the cooling of the climate in that period and the inability to feed themselves and their animals. We also went into a small house that had belonged to a man named Fredrickson who married an Inuit woman and had 7 children. The house was filled with family photos, some furniture, two parlor organs, some cooking equipment, and a display about the family. The sun came out during our hike and we stripped off our outer windproof jackets, it was probably at least 45 degrees but felt warmer due to the hiking. When we came in, the culinary team had made some adorable polar bear cookies.. 

After a nice lunch, we had an interesting lecture about how Viking ships were made of wood, which complemented the lecture we had on Monday about how Inuit kayaks are made of small amounts of wood and sealskin (kayak is an Inuit word). A lovely charcuterie afternoon tea was nice, and we came back to the room for a short rest. The evening included some wonderful scenery as we sailed out of Qassiaresuq Fjord. Before the evening recap, we spent some time in the Lounge with John and Reuben, and Reuben amazed us with his ability to do all sorts of interesting AI images with Olaf bears: a polar bar DJ, an Uber Eats driver, one in a hula skirt, one dressed like Elvis, and one next to a pyramid in Egypt. He is incredibly creative. After dinner, we watched a film made in about 1930 called the Wedding of Palo, about a young Greenlandic woman named Naravana, who is being courted by two men in East Greenland, one of whom is named Palo. She and her family and the others in their settlement live in the traditional way, in sealskin tents, hunting in kayaks, eating seals and whales and fish. The scene of the men bringing back some dead seals and her slicing it open and expertly trimming the blubber and eat from the skin was amazing. The man who made the film was half Inuit, half Danish, so he had insight into the culture. Quite something to realize how people were living here only 100 years ago.

Going to sleep to some gentle rocking, which was nice.

Greenland, Halsey Church and Qaqortoq town, Tuesday, 21 July 2026

This morning we went to Halsey Church, the oldest and best-preserved church in Greenland, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The church is made of local stone, with three doors and about six windows, plus a keystone arch over the main window over what would have been the altar. The rood was long gone, it was probably made of wood. It had a special feel to it, and I decided to sing “Nobilis, Humilis” there as it is a 12th century polyphonic piece about St. Magnus, a Norwegian saint. As we waited for the next group to leave the church, we spent some time looking out over the beautiful vista, seeing why this area was settled with farms and enough wealth to build a stone church, as it had plenty of green for herds to graze. Right before I sang, a mosquito flew into my mouth and I was choking on it, and somehow we had forgotten to bring our water bottle. I coughed a bit and tried to rehydrate, so the first time I sang was only so-so, and then I was able to get myself together for a better version the second time around, when no one was inside. I learned later that folks could hear me outside, softly. There were other ruins there, a longhouse and animal enclosures, all made of stone. I keep thinking about the people who sailed here, looking for a good spot to land with water and grazing and areas flat enough to build a house and farm. How brave they were.

Back to the ship, a nice lunch, and we had a briefing about cultural interactions with Greenlanders. In Greenland it is illegal to take a photo of a child without their parent’s permission, even in public places, and people in general don’t like being photographed. If someone squints, it means no, if they raise their eyebrows, it means yes, and because elders are highly respected, even if someone does not want their photo taken they might hesitate and appear to agree in order not to upset an elder.  In the afternoon we went to Qaqortoq, a town of about 2,000 people, the 6th largest in Greenland. We get off the Zodiacs near a large container port, and we see cranes and construction equipment all over. This is the arrest settlement we’ve seen since Iceland. There are brightly-colored homes and apartment buildings, and we visit a ceramics workshop, a wood-carving workshop, and another shop selling artwork and carvings. Barney selected a tiny polar bear carving made of animal horn which is legal, while anything made of seal, walrus, whale, Arctic Fox, and other animals are illegal to export and definitely illegal to import to the US. We walked around the town on our own, saw the red Lutheran church and a rock club, as well as some beautiful carvings in the granite that runs throughout the town along the roads. There are enormous staircases that run 8-10 slights up the hill, which I gather must be preferable to driving or walking up a longer winding road. We had some samples of dried cod and lamb and Greenland beer which were all good, and saw many wildflowers everywhere, as it seemed warmed than where we were earlier.

In the evening we had our invited dinner. I had made little place tags for everyone with a drawing of a whale on each, and Reuben and I collaborated on the seating so people would be next to interesting people to talk to. It was a lovely event and very successful, and folks liked the little name tags, I saw a couple of them on room doors as we went to our rooms later.

Tomorrow we’ll be up hiking early so we went to bed fairly early (for us) and slept to the gentle rocking of the ship.

Greenland, Annikitsoq Fjord and Prins Christian Sund, Monday, 20 July 2026

 We woke up to heavy fog again this morning, but it lifted as we sailed into Annikitsoq Fjord. The morning plan was to land on a rocky beach and walk for a bit, then come back and kayak. The rocky beach rose steeply up the hill (we decided to skip the 5 mile very strenuous hike), with fresh water pouring down in a nearby small waterfall plus the somewhat flat land a bit above the beach, it was not hard to imagine that this might have been a good location for some of those first settlers. In fact, a collection of rocks we saw is an archaeological site, about which we’ll learn more tomorrow. For now, there is so much to learn about this place, the people, and the history. Eva will be doing a cultural lecture this afternoon, which should be interesting.

The hike featured our first encounter with a major “vampiric” level of mosquitos. When Lisle said “vampiric” he was not kidding. I have never seen so many mosquitos in my life. Luckily we had purchased head nets, which I first thought were a frill, and then I realized they were an absolute necessity. Without this on the walk I would have had at least a thousand mosquito bites, they were so thick. The net saved me. After the hike, we went back to the ship via Zodiac and turned right around to kayak for about an hour. I always enjoy kayaking, and each time I do it, it reminds me that  want to do more, and we can start by kayaking on Lake Merritt and in the estuary.

Also found out that the huge glacier we saw yesterday was called the Thrym Glacier. 

Reuben and I put together a list of the people we want to invite to a dinner at the big table for 14 and started talking to folks to invite them. It will be tomorrow evening, and should be fun.