Two days at small Inuit Greenland towns, and a day at sea. Both towns were added to the itinerary after the passage to the initial four towns we were supposed to visit became impassible to due icebergs. In both cases, the number of passengers leaving the ship was more than the town population. So that certainly does change the dynamic. People were friendly, and I'm sure the dock-charges largely support these communities, but it has to be tough to have your town flooded every day, and have thousands of strangers walking by your front steps.
For both towns, after exploring most of the town area (which would take an hour or two), I found a a hiking-buddy or two, and went exploring the rugged landscapes away from the town.
Day 17 (Paamiut) - about 1300 residents (10th largest town in Greenland).
Greenland has midges. Like mosquitoes, but they don't bite. But they do get into your eyes, ears, nose, mouth and anything else that is exposed. And there are a lot of them. At the dock, they were selling head-nets, and my hiking partner for the day spotted me the $5-USD (no credit cards) for one. At first, I thought it might be silly, but as soon as we got away from the breeze on the docks, the bugs were relentless - and I saw that a number of the locals were also wearing them.
Pretty inlets. The buildings were colored in vibrant tones (each color historically represented the profession of the residents [black=law enforcement; green = medical ...]. Clearly a very tough place to live.
The town seemed depressed on a number of fronts. Many of the buildings are weathered/worn, the fishing industry is declining, and the town is shrinking year-over-year. As mentioned above, the number of cruise-ship visitors from our vessel dwarfed the town's population. And the visitors wanted to see the whole town. Unfortunately, there was a funeral happening that day, and they were trying to conduct a service at the church, with cruise-ship strangers continually pushing into the back of the church. Not a good situation.
Took a walk with two others towards the 'airport' (landing strip) and then hiked the boulders towards the coast. Very scenic. Pictures will follow.
Day 18 (Qaqortoq) - about 3000 residents (4th largest town in Greenland), and seemed much better able to hold the influx of foreigners. Large enough for a grocery store and two well-maintained soccer pitches. Although only 3x larger than Paamiut, it felt 10x larger. After exploring the town, walked halfway around a lake and back (I did become concerned that if we got 80% around, and found a missing bridge, or a wash-out where we could not hike, and had to turn around, getting back to the ship in time would be tight). All the folks walking the lake did the counter-clockwise path; the clockwise path, which might have allowed us to go all the way around and still see people on the 2nd half of the loop, would have some initial unsightly scenes that we chose to avoid (a landfill and an industrial stretch with a large number of shipping containers).
Fortunately, it was a much windier day, so the bugs were generally not an issue. This was good. Because I forgot my net. Or at least I couldn't find it. Searched my bag a half-dozen times. Still couldn't find it. Until taking the tender back to the ship (I had put it in a spot where I wouldn't forget it. And forgot. A zippered pocket. In my pants.).
Both towns had beautiful nature, but it would be a challenge to spend a long duration here. The terrain is really rough. Cities are not connected by roads - roads are mostly for transportation within the confines of the town. Transport/commerce between towns is by boat or snowmobile. And the bugs. And multiple months a year with no light. And the bugs.
On to photos!
Day 17 - Paamiut.
Getting off the ship at Paamiut. We had been warned before getting of the ship that there was an active insect community in Greenland, but until this point, I thought the warnings were probably overblown...
Nothern Iceland has Iceland Gulls. Except in July. So all of the Icelandic gulls I have seen to date are by Icelandic by residence, and not by species-name. But I saw one here (A Greenlandic gull by residence, that is an Icelandic Gull by name):
And more gigantic dandelions. 24hrs of sunlight does something to some of these wildflowers...
There was a shop in town that a lot of the passengers were talking about visiting. I found out later that it was for processing game. They also seem to make house calls for deliveries. Took this photo, though I did not have the full story until much later in the day.
Some of the vibrantly colored houses:
A couple of views from the just outside the edge of town:
Not much grows here, other than some grasses/lichens/wildflowers. No trees or bushes. Greenland is very, very rocky. And the rocks have depressions and pock-marks. Some are a few millimeters across. Some are many meters across. That makes for some nice photo opportunities.
But every one of these depressions fills with water. And they don't drain. Perfect for bugs. And back here, just outside the edge of town, they were countless and relentless. Zoom-in if you need to.
With this many insects, and so much green, I was expecting more wildlife, but did not see much. Lots of Snow Buntings, though. Many were gathering food for their nearly full-sized chicks.
And with the grass, lots of poppies:
Then a walkabout farther from town. Again, all rocky outcrops. Grasses. Lichens.
Continuing to explore the rocky finger out to sea, and the walk back:
Another Snow Bunting feeding its chick:
Twisted and tortured rocks:
One of the other birds here is the Common Raven. The ones here are loud, can make a human-like scream that sounds the same as the screaming-goats, and are afraid of nothing:
Back to town, and headed towards the ship. One more Iceland Gull:
Day 18 - Qaqortoq. 3 Q's, no U's.
Morning:
Nice shelter
A lot of artwork etched into the rock faces, throughout the town.
A view of the town from above:
And so much Lupine, and Alpine Azalea, and other wildflowers, especially as I began the walk around the lake:
Some parts of the trail were easier than others. Some was on mud. Some was boulder-scrambling. Some was trying to keep the feet dry. This section fell into that last category:
A look back at the town at the far end of the lake (about the half-way point):
An interesting rockface.
This is the reason I thought it would be good to turn around. Might be able to make it past here, but who knows if we might encounter something less secure on the way back...
Instead of continuing around the lake, we hiked up the slope along the creek/stream/river (primary source for the lake). What we did not realize at first was that we had entered a funnel. The entire lake was surrounded by high rock cliffs. Except the outlet by the town, and the inlet at the creek/stream/river that came down a 'more gradual' slope to the lake. So all the air along the lake (gentle breeze) became a gale-force wind in this channel. Here is me looking awkward trying to maintain balance, standing on a rock, with my back to the wind.
A look up the slope at the creek/stream/river. Unfortunately, the photo does not portray the slope very well.
Maintaining balance while walking was becoming too much of an issue, so we started the trek back. A couple of the photos here do a better job showing the depression we were in.
A rock of many lichens:
One new bird today, the Lapland Longspur. Saw a few. Here's a male and (separately) a female:
And one more Snow Bunting:
On the way back to town, a Sauna.
And a field of daisies and three colors of poppies:
And as the ship moved out to sea, a couple more massive bergs (photographed during dinner through the window). As we watched the 2nd iceberg, we saw large chunks falling off - and as it rotated, the arch appeared to collapse:
Day 19. July 17th. Sea Day. No photos.
One item of note. Jana and I celebrate our 32nd anniversary today (2x2x2x2x2).
In fact whole ship celebrated our anniversary with free gelato (normally there is a fee). Huge lines. Much rejoicing.
Oh. Jana is now telling me that the free gelato was already on the schedule.
In a couple days, we hit the South coast of Iceland. More then.
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