Catching up

A few days ago we arrived in our second port in Greenland, Paamiut. It was another tender port. When we looked out of our windows we saw that we were very far from the town. In addition it was very windy and cold and pouring rain. We opted to not go ashore.

We had a short stay there with the morning excursions cancelled. In addition, because a cargo ship was in port and had to leave, we were told to leave as well. I am sure it was disappointing for those with tour tickets, but we were fine having what seemed like a sea day. We took advantage of the time to go to one of the lectures.

Our next day was the port of Nuuk, Greenland. We had a tour, but it was exceptionally foggy, so the views were were supposed to be seeing were not that easy to see. Our guide was a 20 year old college student. She studies in Denmark, but comes back to Nuuk in the summer to be with her family. Nuuk is divided into 3 parts. The buildings are very colorful. In the old days the colors of the buildings indicated what they were used as. For example, yellow was medical, red was a school and blue was shops.

The population of Greenland is mostly Christian. The total population of Greenland is about 56,000 and Nuuk, the capital, has a population of about 20,000. There were even traffic signals! Fishing is still a major industry, but the town has large industrial areas as well. Most of their electricity is water powered. The weather here is very harsh. Most of their food has to be brought in by ship. Most people hunt or fish to provide food for their families. Most families have boats but not all have cars. There are no roads that connect the cities so to get around you need a boat.

All the political parties of Greenland are against becoming part of the United States. In addition, they are a protectate of Denmark, not owned by Denmark. Our guide said that they want to be their own country, but do not have the financial resources to do that.

Some of the sites we visited was the old harbor where we saw the Mother of the Sea statue. All of the city, with the newest area often being cut off in winter by snow on the road. The new international airport and the main cemetery and University. We passed by the prison, which allows the prisoners to go out during the day. Our guide said that they are trying to rehabilitate the prisoners, not punish them. Most of their crimes are minor, drugs or family related offenses. Serious offenders are sent to prison in Denmark.

When got back on the ship, all the pool furniture had been lashed down because we were going to be sailing in bad weather. Even some of the furniture in our suite was tied down.

Our next day was a sea day. It was terribly rough and both of us were under the weather. We spent most of the day in our suite and had what little we were able to eat brought in. I took the following video from the TV bridge cam.

We were glad when we got out of the very heavy weather.