The photo above was taken from a website. It is courtesy of the Danish Foreign Ministry and is of uncertain vintage.
We wake up to dense fog and choppy seas. We are due in to Paamiut, Greenland at 10am. We are scheduled for the “Walking Tour of Paamiut,” which is pretty much what is available. Oceania is very careful to note that the excursions in Greenland won’t be led by a professional guide but a resident of the community. That’s okay with us. Sounds fun, actually. Perhaps we’ll hear some anecdotes that might be “off the record,” so to speak. Some unguarded moments that a professional would be able to avoid.
As usual, we eat in the GDR and have all morning because our excursion doesn’t begin until 11:55am and only lasts 1 ½ hours. In a town of only 1,300 residents, that should give us an adequate introduction. In fact, it should give us a very good look at a classic small Greenland fishing village.
Archeologists have found significant evidence that There have been human beings living her since 1500 BCE, and a trading post established by the Danes since 1742. Unfortunately, the population has recently been rapidly declining – by 31% since 1990, to be exact (Wikipedia). The fact that there are no roads that will take you anywhere else in the country might be a disincentive to living there, especially for young people or most immigrants from Europe or the U.S., who may very well not be ready for such isolation. Ferry service is available, and air service to Nuuk is apparently available on very small aircraft.
Hold the presses!! The captain comes on the ship-wide public address system right at 9am with an announcement. Uh-oh. This is never good. And sure enough, his news is that our visit to Paamiut has been canceled. The weather conditions we have seen since we got up are forecast to continue all day. Because this is a tender port, the sea state is considered to be too rough for these boats.
That’s too bad, but understandable. Weather changes rapidly in these parts, as we have seen. The good news is that we 1) get more opportunity to nap, 2) that Steve can work on his blog, and 3) Cathy can probably get through at least one full book today. We spend an hour or two in Horizons, located in the bow of Deck 10.
Our sea days often fall into a pleasant routine, and today is no exception. Nothing worthy of noting … at least that we can remember at this point (writing this post five days later).
