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.

Greenland, Timmiarmiit Fjord, Sunday, 19 July 2026

We awoke to a view with no horizon, the fog was so heavy and low we could not see the difference between sea and sky. Slowly it lifted, and there were plans for various hikes on land. However, the scouting party deemed it not possible - the heavy fog meant visibility was low for the Zodiac drivers and most importantly, for being able to spot approaching polar bears. So the morning was spent with a wonderful lecture with the staff archaeologist (retired from University of Alaska and former Chief Scientist of the National Park Service), who worked with a group that discovered the foot prints of people from 21,000-23,000 years ago in the White Sands National Park in New Mexico - almost 10,000 years earlier than what was originally thought to be the earliest date for human in the Western Hemisphere. The way they were able to date the various footprints of people, giant sloths, and mammoths, to figure out who came by first and who came later, was fascinating. While were at lunch, the expedition leader let us know that there were three polar bears, a mother and two cubs, up ahead of the ship.He warned everyone to be extremely quiet, no talking on deck, no loud sounds, no slamming doors. We saw the polar bears swimming across the fjord past a large iceberg, and then they went up on land and they were frolicking in the greenery, the cubs even rolling around on their backs. It was breathtaking - the first time I have ever seen polar bears!  We may see more later, but at least we saw some.  What a thrill.

After we resumed lunch, we realized that there would not be any off-ship excursions today, so we were marveling at the giant mountains and glaciers and icebergs all around us. The fog had lifted so the viewing was amazing. We went all the way to the end of the fjord, where we encountered a gigantic front end of a glacier, 1.5 miles wide, 45 meters above the water and 300 meters below the water, truly immense. By this time we had been oohing and aahing all afternoon at the scenery, and we sat in the observation area on the 8th deck for quite a while, reading and watching the incredible scenery. Then we had a lecture on polar bears which was so interesting … the live solitarily, not in groups, the females have 1-3 cubs every 4 years or so, the cubs are about one pound when they are born, and they can nurse for two years. Adult males can be over one ton, and the females about 2/3 of that. They are apex predators who mostly eat seals, but also will eat greens and berries and fish … pretty much anything during the fall, winter and spring when they bulk up, as the summer means almost no food due to the lack of sea ice, and they can go up to 8 months without eating.

The evening recap featured talks on the undersea exploration, phytoplankton and water sampling, and a preview of tomorrow in another fjord where we hope and expect to be able to hike and/or kayak. After a nice dinner with some new folks, we chatted with Boris the naturalist, who gave us some very helpful information on visiting Svalbard, and also about Baja for whale watching. During the conversation, Reuben spotted a polar bear off the stern so we all ran out of course; the bear was only just visible next to a large iceberg, as seen through a photo taken with a telephoto lens. With my eyes only, I could not see it. Polar bears will likely be elusive here, as we have to keep quite a distance from them. 

Greenland, Skjoldungen Fjord, Saturday, 18 July 2026

In the early hours (the sun rises at 3am and sets at midnight) we were still in heavy fog, where no horizon could be distinguished. Later we awoke to a fairly smooth sail into this enormous fjord with towering, fog-shrouded mountains on either side. After a quick workout and a nice light breakfast, I did a lot of laundry, socks and underwear, as we are now 7 days into our trip. Thankfully we have an excellent travel clothesline of braided nylon with tiny little clothespins.

Lars did a wonderful introduction to Greenlandic culture, taking us through the history of the Independent, Dorset, Viking, and Thule immigrations over the past 5,000 years. There were periods we]hen no expel lived here for a few hundred years, as when the weather cooled people moved away, when it warmed, they came over from Canada and Alaska. Almost 90% of the people in Greenland are Inuit, descended from the Thule people (including Lars), the rest are mostly Danish and some other Europeans.For a few thousand years, the early inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, living in sod and ice houses, with everything made from the animals they hunted. Metal tools came to them much later, as did the somewhat forced Christian conversion during Danish rule. Lars himself is part Inuit, part European, and he noted that he endured some teasing because of this. He also highlighted to delicate tattoos that women had, which symbolized various milestones such as starting to menstruate, being married, and having a child, and how these were coming back.

The scenery outside had become quite stunning, glaciers, waterfalls, enormous icebergs, and mountains. The scale is enormous, and as we went up the fjord, the mountains got taller and the icebergs even bigger. An afternoon Zodiac ride took us closer to several waterfalls, an area with Iceland gulls and Eider ducks, some caves, a small rocky beach, and gave us views of an enormous, 100-foot-tall face of the glacier. It was brisk out, about 42º, and during the ride we were met by another Zodiac with some of the culinary staff in it who had hot chocolate and various liqueurs. Yesterday and the day before we returned from Zodiacs to cute little sugar cookies decorated as terns or seals, very creative and appropriate.

Boris did a wonderful lecture on cetaceans, whales of all types, including his imitations of whale sounds. Next was the polar plunge, jumping into the freezing water here, just above the Arctic Circle. Barney convinced me to do this, as he had done it in Antarctica while I took photos. I told him I would do it but only if he held my hand so I would not chicken out. We saw the crew setting up the Zodiacs with the underwater platform between them, which we would climb onto after jumping into the water. It looked a bit intimidating to me, but I was committed. We got our bathing suits on, wrapped up in the white fuzzy robes, and went down to BaseCamp. There were already a number of folks shivering in the cold, standing in line ready to go, while the ship’s doctor stood by, defibrillator in hand. I realized there was no way out, so we got in line, I watched the people in front of us, and when it came time for our turn, I grabbed Barney’s hand and we jumped together. I screamed, it was astonishingly cold and I felt so disoriented I did not know which was was up, but somehow found my way up to the platform where helping hands got me up out of the water, sat me down to catch my breath, and then I saw Barney and knew we were OK. We dried off with towels and the ship staff had brandy and other shots available for revival. We decided to go up to the hot tub up on deck 8, where the warm water brought us back to normal temperature. After that, the dry Nordic sauna completed our temperature reset, and we took showers to rinse off the salt water and got into dry clothes. 

At dinner a major topic of conversation was the polar plunge - only 27 of the 110 people on board did it. The captain himself dove into the water and swam around a bit, because he is that kind of man. We had a delicious dinner, and went out in the still-bright sunshine to sit around the fire pit and take photos of the stunning scenery. Tomorrow we go to a new fjord where we expect to do more hiking and perhaps see some wildlife. 

Greenland, Similiiaq Fjord, Friday, 17 July 2026

Overnight we sailed to Greenland, and we awoke to brilliant sunshine, mountains, and truly immense icebergs. The captain promised it would be as spectacular as Antarctica, and he was right. The bizarre and unearthly shapes of the huge icebergs captivated us, I can’t even remember how many photos I took as these icebergs looks different from different angles due to how they weather and shift in the water.

We headed up Simiilaq fjord, again surrounded by mountains and glaciers and very little greenery. One breathtaking columnar iceberg looked like an immense penis (which was noticed by everyone), and the captain made sure everyone had a chance to photograph it. We landed in the Zodiacs on a deserted rocky beach, where we could walk fairly freely. We had to stay inside a perimeter defined by the staff, who carry firearms as there is a very small but real risk of polar bears. We walked from one end to the other, observing some interesting animal poops (which we later learned were from geese) and where a large pool of water perfectly reflected a large peak. After we returned to the ship, we kept our gear on, as we went out soon on a zodiac cruise. Since we were the last in line and only 10 people can go in a zodiac, we were all by ourselves with Boris the wonderful naturalist we met in Antarctica. This was a real thrill. We went to a rocky cliff where Iceland Gulls were nesting, and the Glaucus Gulls were flying around, ready to steal eggs; they are predators, somewhat larger than the Iceland Gulls. We went by a large iceberg which had a loud popping noice going on, as the air bubbles came to the surface. We also saw a rather unique iceberg which had rolled over, so part of it was the blue that is usually beneath the water and part was the typical white. Another iceberg had two huge holes in it, water had poured through the first hole and then created a second hole. It was such fun to have a truly knowledgeable person guiding us, and he told us about some of his (and Eva’s) other expeditions they’ve done in Arctic and Antarctic area, Alaska, and also Baja, and he said they might also do some wildlife trips in Africa; they are based in Colorado.

In the evening, we attended the Cook’s Nook Zero Waste dinner, a 7 course special dinner that everyone is invited to once on the trip. It was designed to showcase parts of food that are sometimes thrown away, as a model of zero-waste cooking. We started with tiny canapées featuring such unusual ingredients as potato glass (frozen then dried water that potatoes have been cooked in), leftover bits of mushroom made into confit, and kale and potato croquette. Then we had the trim ends of Albacore tuna, with artichoke three ways, crispy, confit, and mousse with Leon ponzu foam.  Then a tomato asparagus broth with tomato caviar, which the soups-chef explained they make by combining chopped tomato with agar-agar and cold oil, then pressed and shaped into tiny pearls that look like caviar and burst when you put them in your mouth. Something the chef was very proud of was the cauliflower 8 ways: caviar, grilled steak, tempura, pickled, puréed, foam, remoulade and a “scallop” made from the base of the leaves, all of which were quite good. A berry sorbet was the palate refresher. Then we had a black cod filet with a quinoa chip, carrots with hazelnut dukkha, then my favorite, duck breast with a Demi glaze on beetroot carpaccio, confit duck ravioli (delicious) with a burnt apple purée. Dessert was an apple “rock” a shell made of hardened apple Joyce filled with apple cremeux, with apple caviar, apple chips, an apple biscuit, and Pink Lady sorbet. 

We ended the evening in the lounge as usual, meeting up with our friends and joined by some new folks who were delightful. Tonight we sail a but farther Dow the east coast of Greenland. 

Dynjandi Waterfall, Iceland, 16 July 2026

Because the weather in our location in Iceland has been so wet and overcast, the Captain changed the plans, and we headed back south a bit to the Dynjandi Waterfall.  We spent some time on the bridge, where the captain told us that no other ships had gone into some of the fjords we will go to, they were not even mapped until they did this a few years ago. He likened the coast of Greenland to Antarctica, with huge glaciers and immense icebergs everywhere, and said it would be so much more stunning than overcast rainy Iceland. He and the expedition leader, Lisle Gwynn, decided that the early departure made sense. The change of plans meant that we would sail for Greenland this evening instead of on Saturday, and have an extra day and a half in Greenland.

Meanwhile, we headed up yet another magnificent fjord, surrounded by mountains and green hills, and took the Zodiacs to the rocky beach. The huge waterfall was visible from a long ways away, it is immense and quite wide at the top, very different than the Yosemite waterfalls. It is also a major tourist attraction, and when we arrived there were tour buses pulling up every few minutes; by the time we left I counted 30 in the parking lot. People of all ages including young children were making the hike. It felt a bit like the Mist Trail in Yosemite on a busy day in summer, with some people in muck boots or hiking boots and others in thin sneakers. The rocks and gravel were wet so the footing was sometimes a bit tricky, and one steep section had very tall granite steps to navigate. The overall rise was about 300 feet. There were multiple viewing spots for photos and still some people would stop in the middle of the trail to take their photos. With a huge, loud waterfall like this one, it is tempting to only look up, but looking down to see how the immense amount of water is flowing toward the sea was equally impressive. On the way down, we had a chance to see some interesting plants and multicolored lichen on the granite rocks.

Back to the ship and we enjoyed the towering walls of the fjord on the way back to the sea..  This was the Captain’s welcome reception so he introduced all of his crew leadership, and the naturalists were all dressed up a bit, the women in nice troops and the men in sport coats, not something we’ve seen before. Most of our dinners have been with John, Reuben, and Jenny, as well as other folks who join us, this evening it was Anne (underwater diver from Sweden) and Carla (biologist from Colombia), who shared some wonderful stories. John and Reuben are incredibly fun people who attract other fun people, and after dinner we all go back up to the lounge to chat, sometimes joined by the naturalists who are always interesting. This is rocking  and rolling a bit, but it should be nice to fall asleep to.

The Western Fjords, Wednesday, 15 July 2026

 The ship was rocking and rolling all night, so neither of us slept well, but we were not seasick, only unsettled. After learning how to navigate being in the bathroom together at the same time (it is small), we headed to the 8th deck for a light breakfast. We saw Jenny there, Barney had berry pancakes, and I had granola with fruit. I was not feeling great and definitely had something digestive going on, though the only thing I ate that Barney did not yesterday was a tiny cheese and vegetable sandwich during the welcome session. Definitely had to do something about that, and then went to the morning briefing, which included introductions to all the naturalists, and more about visiting Vigur Island where we will see Arctic Terns and possibly Puffins. Tried on my boots which were too small, and exchanged them downstairs; Barney’s were fine, as were both of our waterproof pants, so we are ready to go.

By lunch, I was definitely not well, so I had a bit of soup, some bread, and a banana, and hope this would clear things up. Then Barney did not feel well … shades of the Antarctica trip! We both took a nap as our Vigur Island trip was expected later in the day. The National Geographic expedition team always has a plan B and a plan C. So, plan B was a dry landing on Vigur Island to see the birds. But the storm moved and the water was very choppy, so it turned into a wet landing, meaning muck boots and waterproof pants, so plan C. The expedition team went to the site and apparently the dock etc., were underwater with the storm waves so it would have been a scuba landing, so plan D is now to go farther out the fjord and see if there is some better weather. I appreciate that they are so careful about safety, and flexible with options. 

Meanwhile, the expedition team went back to Vigur Island to bring the owners to the ship to talk to us. The couple met doing scientific work in Antarctica, came to Iceland for some additional research, fell in love, and decided to stay. They had a little boy, now 8 years old, and at some point, Vigur Island came up for sale. The island had been inhabited for centuries, mostly because the huge numbers of birds - tens of thousands of various species - deposit enough guano that the island is covered with lush green grass for grazing, very different than the surrounding rocky coast. The harvesting of down from Eider Ducks had also become a big project on the island, as well as some modest amount of tourism. Apparently, the island is incredibly well-known in Iceland, an iconic symbol of the rugged west. The previous owners, whose family had it for five generations, had offered it for $2.5M, but after having several offers, accepted  a lower offer from the couple because they wanted the scientific work and the agricultural work to continue, rather than have it be developed as a tourist location. The woman gave an incredible talk about their adventures and their life on the island, how the Eider ducks shed their down so they can warm the eggs, and then the down can later be gathered, cleaned, and sold as the finest kind of down available. After the talk, we went in for dinner, and expedition leader Lisle told us that the seas had calmed and we might in fact go ashore for a wet landing. After a quick dinner, we all suited up and headed out in the Zodiacs at about 9:30 p.m., still light because the sun goes down around midnight.

The island was lovely, green and slightly hilly, with some houses and other buildings clustered at the south end. We walked along the shoreline and saw our first Puffins, perched on the rocks, with fish grasped in their beaks just like in almost all the photos of puffins. We also saw hundreds of ducks in the water, somehow swimming in concert toward one area or another, probably alerted to the presence of food. There was a small windmill on the property, used for grinding grain, considered the oldest still in Iceland. Windmills get torn apart here by the wind, and next to the windmill, there was a children’s slide.  Farther on, we walked into the land of the Arctic Terns, who were nesting and thus very aggressive toward anyone walking nearby. We were told to take a three-foot-long stick with us and hold it above our heads to deter the birds from swooping down on us, but not to wave it around, only hold it. The hundreds of birds were indeed unhappy that we were there and did regularly dive bomb us, as well as each other. One did hit my head and Barney’s too, though not hard, still it was a bit of a shock and felt like being in Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds”. Afterwards, we went into a barn where the down was cleaned and stored, and the finished down was indeed incredibly soft. Eva, one of the naturalists, said that the Terns are by nature aggressive, even when she had been 50-60 feet away from a nest they would still dive bomb her. Another building has been set up for tourists to eat, and they had a lovely tart that folks could have a piece of, as well as water, and there was a tiny gift shop where I bought some Iceland flaked sea salt.

Back to the ship, still light out at 11 p.m., and so glad that we got to see this interesting and unusual place as our first landing. Tomorrow we backtrack a bit to near where we were going the first day, but this time to Dynjandi Falls, an immense waterfall about 300’ high which we will be able to hike to.