Thursday 16 th
of July 2015
and our Guide gave my door a knock at 6 o'clock. Time to get out of bed. As mentioned several times before, the only thing getting easier by the years is to get out ofbed in the morning. And I don't mean that I swing myself out of bed. No cartwheels out of be in the morning, that part is getting harder by the years passing by.
I just mean the waking up part, that is what's getting easier. Anyway, I had prepared most of my luggage yesterday so I only needed to enjoy a few of my Choco milk that I bought the first day arriving to Qaqortoq. 3 slices of freshly made bread and 2 cupsof tea for breakfast and I was ready to get down to the port and Artic Umiaq Line's ferry Sarfaq Ittuk that will take us to Nuuk.
I loaded my luggage in to the Hummer and I took my seat up front with the Driver and we took off leaving Hotel Qaqortoq behind.
We arrived to the jetty 2 minutes later and there were some passengers lining up at the gate next to the gangway. The first thing I noticed was that most of the passengers was wearing the mosquito net. And I was soon realising why! I was lucky to have my mosquito net in my pocket.
Checking in to the ferry
Hotel Qaqortoq
Fishing boat in port of Qaqortoq
Fishing boat in port of Qaqortoq
More passengers for Sarfaq Ittuk
More passengers checking in for Sarfaq Ittuk
Last glimpse of Qaqortoq
We're finally leaving Qaqortoq
We're finally leaving Qaqortoq
Qaqortoq disappears behind us
We boarded Sarfaq Ittuk on deck 3 and my cabin was on deck 4 so I had to climb the stairs with my luggage. But I was very pleasantly surprised with my cabin. A 4 bed cabin and I'm alone sothere are plenty space. There is a TV with hundreds of movies to choose from and that is very good as I expect it to be a wee bit boring on board. We're going to spend 30 hours on the ferry.
I was on the bridge for a chat with our Captain and he promised to make public announcements if they spotted any whales during the trip. Of course not if it was 2 o'clock in the morning. I left the bridge and well,there wasn't very much else to do as I had covered the whole ship. Back to my cabin.
There was an announcement on the PA system and we went to the aft saloon for a meeting with the ship's Guide.
We will make some stops on our way to Nuuk, quick stops but there will be a chance to come ashore for a walk around 23:00 tonight when we arrive to one village. First stop at 16:15 and they will bring ashore and take on board passengers with a small feeder boatfrom a village with 108 inhabitants.
Only stopping for a few minutes so no chance to get ashore. He told us a little about the places we were going to stop at. And when he came to our destination, Nuuk, he went on about this city.
The Guide at the seal skin factory had told us that Nuuk was like New York. OK, I have heard that there is atraffic light, but nothing about Nuuk being like New York.
He told us about a hectic night life during the weekends. I asked what time the club were closing. They had one club and they closed at 3 o'clock. Well, Friday tomorrow when we arrive and maybe time to bring out Charisma Man
Yeah, why not? When in Nuuk, I will for sure never come back here and I can as well take the chance to explore the night life. And as one of our fellow passengers said: We will never comeback so if we make tits out of ourselves it is never mind.
But of course, it is nicer with Charisma Man than the Obnoxious Man.
I have not had any beer for a long time. When we came back to Reykjavik after our tour I really felt like going to make a fool out of myself on town. Going for my transformer and they played some good music on the radio. And good music and I won't mindsitting in a bar. But I had to wake up early to fly to Greenland.
Anyway, I made some inquiries about whale watching in Nuuk and we were going to meet in the restaurant at 11 for some information and tours to do in Nuuk and Ilulissat. Now I realise that they have re arranged our last days of the trip and we will stay for 2 nights in Ilulissat after Nuuk. Then we will stay in Eqi for two nights.
Suddenly I heard a bang and we had a huge iceberg outside the window. I run up on deck and we had just hit an iceberg blocking a small strait between 2 rocks. DARN! I had missed the event of the day! This is what I would have wanted to see
We have to hit an iceberg to get through
I was disappointed when I returned to our meeting in the restaurant. Time were soon 12 and it was time for lunch. I went to my cabin to continue with my movie after lunch. Suddenly the PA systemgot started. And I didn't listen because it had been on no stop since the lunch as they have had a drill on board.
But I could hear the end of the message, a Humpback Whale on our left side. I thought, what the hell, I finish the movie instead. A minute later and I changed my mind and I went on deck just to see the fluke disappear. I went on the weather deck and it was beautiful weather. And it was a beautiful landscape with rocks and icebergs.
There was soon a new message, a Humpback Whale on our left side next to the rocks.
A Humpback Whale next to the rocks
A Humpback Whale next to the rocks
A Humpback Whale next to the rocks
A Humpback Whale next to the rocks
They want me to take a picture
Arsuk
Approaching Arsuk
Launching the boat
I could see a village around 15 thirty and that must be Arsuk where we are scheduled to stoparound 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
I don't know how many houses there is in Arsuk, but it looked to be around 20 houses scattered around the small bay. And the ship coming to the village must be the only exciting thing happening around here.
Looked like the whole town was down at the water front and we had some boats coming out to say hello to us.
And there wasn't very much happening on board Sarfaq Ittuk as most of the passengers were hanging over the rail looking at the action. Our MOB boat was soon on the way ashore and it didn't looked like there was any passengers leaving.
But it looked to be a full boat back from Arsuk. Maybe people going to enjoy the traffic light and the night life in Nuuk this upcomingweekend. I'm pretty sure there isn't any traffic lights in Arsuk.
The stop in Arsuk didn't last very long and we were soon on our way again. I spent some time on deck looking for icebergs but it was getting kind of cold and I went down to my cabin again. Well, before going to my cabin I went to the coffee shop to buy some cookies. Too many and I will skip the dinner tonight.
Here is not much to do on board and I watched my second movie during the afternoon. And we will have to spend all the day tomorrow as well as we won't arrive until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. So I really hope we see more whales tomorrow to kill time with.
Here we can see how it looks inside the houses
Houses in Arsuk
We're on the way again
I went to the restaurant just before they closed for the dinner, but I was still full from my cookies. I took a last walk up on to the weather deck to see if there was any whales. We passedbetween some mountains, beautiful, but no signs of any whales. And I was soon on my way back to my cabin again.
Gorgeous weather, well, that last few days have been beautiful and the sea is almost like a mirror. But there is an annoying rolling due to some swell. But it was no problem, just a wee bit annoying as I didn't had any real proper place in my cabin to update my web page at.
OK, let's hoe we can see some whales tomorrow. I was down to up load my latest pictures. I had bought internet, 30minutes for 50 DKR. About 7 US and internet has been very expensive here on Greenland. Well, the second place without shower was OK. 24 hours for 200 DKR.
I went to see the guy in charge of the internet again as I could no connect to the internet. He wanted to give me my money back but I told himthat I wanted to try connect again. Now he said that I had to be in the restaurant as it didn't work in my cabin. I told him that I was connected to the network but there was no internet access.
I will try tomorrow again. I spent the evening with a movie on the small TV in my cabin and I was lucky to fall asleep around 10 o'clock. The bed is not the most comfortable. I live in a 4 bed cabin and I had taken all the pillows from the other beds and it was kind of OK.
Arrival tomorrow afternoon and if you have any interest in Nuuk you just have to click HERE
to find out a little about that place, it can turn out to be an exciting place, traffic lights!