We are headed to Greenland and have a sea day between the islands, one of several on this itinerary. Boris and I love sea days. It gives us a chance to rest after several days of touring, explore the ship, and take advantage of the on-board entertainment. I will admit to reading a fair share of books and napping on these days as well. This trip will be a little different because I often spend sea days by the pool reading or listening to music. It currently is a little chilly for that, although some guests just snuggled up with the plaid blankets the cruise line provides up on deck. I snagged one of the blankets to use while sitting on my balcony.

On these extended voyages, some cruise lines, like Celebrity, have guest speakers who give lectures that put what you are seeing in context or speak on topics of general interest. They are usually featured on itineraries with multiple sea days. Our guest speakers were Dale Erhart, a former Canadian jet fighter pilot and instructor (think Top Gun) and Brent Nixon, a marine biologist. We went to both lectures on the first day they spoke.

Although it appears Mr. Erhart does a lot of speaking on cruise ships, I was underwhelmed with his presentation and it appeared he was having to stretch to come up with enough material to lecture over six sea days. Mr. Nixon was the opposite. He was obviously a seasoned performer with a multimedia presentation. He knew exactly where to stand so he didn’t block the screen. He spoke mostly on the wildlife in Iceland and Greenland, from whales to bears, but his first presentation was on the northern lights.

He told us that we are currently in a cycle that will peak next year so it is a great time to try to see the lights. You need a clear night and darkness. He told us to step outside on our balcony around 10 pm (when it gets dark here at this time of year) and if you could see stars the conditions were right. He told us to turn off all the lights inside the cabin and on the balcony porch. Best viewing is between 11 pm and 4 am. I toughed it out until 12:45 am, but couldn’t stay awake any longer. The northern light were visible that night at 1:30 am. A man sitting one table over from us in the dining room got pictures. Mr. Nixon recommended the following website for information on the northern lights: www.gi.alaska.edu.

The other thing happening onboard was that we were going to begin slowly gaining back the time we lost due to the time difference. It will usually be in 1-hour increments, but there will be two, half-hour changes to accommodate the way the province of Newfoundland, Canada interprets the time zones. I love getting an extra hour of sleep!

For our first sighting in Greenland, we won’t actually be stepping off the boat. We will be touring through Prins Christian Sund. (Yes, that is how you spell it.) Gaining that extra hour, I easily had time to get to the dining room when it opened for a sit-down, served breakfast and afterwards went up to the Sky Lounge to enjoy the view while reading and staying out of the room so our cabin steward could clean. We had thick fog this morning. I got a spot right at the front windows and quickly realized this would be a great vantage point for our cruising through the Sound if the fog cleared. We were not scheduled to reach the mouth of the Sound until 4 pm. Visions of our view of the Panama Canal crossing aboard the Azamara Onward swam in my head.

I texted Boris and told him he had to help me save these seats. When he finally came up, I took a short break and went down to the cabin and got my computer, chargers, camera, an extra camera battery, airpods, and a carrying tote. I already had my ipad and phone with me. I was ready to camp out and camp out I did. The captain was going to open the heliport in the front of the ship if the conditions were good, but I wasn’t sure how cold it would be. Boris came and went. I only took breaks for the the bathroom and to go get myself some lunch. By 2 pm, Boris realized he better stay put. I told him to be prepared; depending on the timing, I might not be go down to dinner that night.

About 3:00 pm the rescheduled entertainment show in the main theater got out and people started to realize the value of my spot. The room was filling up. People asked if I got there at 2:30 pm to get this seat. I wanted to laugh. “I have been here since 8:30 am.” I think people thought I was crazy until I was able to sit down for the entire viewing and take pictures with my zoom lens. I hadn’t missed anything I really wanted to do during the day anyway. The temperature inside was perfect and the Sound was the highlight of the cruise. What a hidden gem. Words cannot describe how glorious it was. Boris had insisted that Greenland be included in the itinerary and boy was he right!

The first thing we saw? Icebergs!!!

“Named for King Christian VIII of Denmark, this dramatic fjord separates the southernmost islands from the rest of South Greenland, a land of jagged mountains and green pastures where sheep farms border icy fjords and Norse history intersects with modern communities. Prins Christian Sund presents beautiful scenery for cruising, with mountains reaching 4,000 feet, glaciers inching toward the sea, and tidal currents the limit the formation of ice.” Celebrity Today from Celebrity Cruises.

Other than the small weather station we saw when we entered the Sound, we never saw another building throughout our journey. Prince Christian Sound (English spelling) is 60 miles long and connects the Labrador Sea with the Irminger Sea.. It is actually rather narrow at some points, onl 1,500 feet wide. At some points, the steep, jagged-topped mountains can reach over 3,900 feet.

Perhaps the only thing more beautiful than the jagged-peaked mountains were the many glaciers we saw throughout the Sound. Some of them run straight into the water and break off forming the icebergs we saw floating around. It is important to note that icebergs are larger under the water than on top of it; in fact only about 10% of the iceberg is above sea level.

We went into a small offshoot fjord and came right up to a large glacier wall. When it is warmer, it is common to see small broken pieces of ice in the water. Today is a foggy, cold day so the water was clear of “debris” and we were able to get closer. Towards the bottom you could see the very blue ice. Later the captain pulled back to where the fjord was wider and did two 360 degree turns of the ship in the fjord so regardless of where you were watching from on the boat you got a fabulous view of the glacier wall and the surrounding fjord.

Boris was ready for dinner after the glacier wall and most of the guests left the Sky Lounge. I stayed for a while just to enjoy the rugged beauty of the landscape. Knowing our assigned table was next to the window, I went down to dinner abandoning the seats that had served me well all day. I usually change clothes and do my hair and makeup for dinner, but i just went straight down, tote bag with equipment in hand.

We continued to travel down the Sound all evening. After dinner, I went out on the balcony of our cabin and got lots of wonderful pictures. It was definitely worth the cabin upgrade to a balcony room just for this spectacular day touring the Sound. The skies were still cloudy, but the fog was almost gone by the time I was watching from the balcony. I just loved the jagged peaks of the mountain tops and the “baby bergs” floating in the water.

Since we were in the Sound, the evening entertainment had been rescheduled to 2 pm in the afternoon and 10 pm that night. The shows are normally at 7 and 9 pm each evening. We left the Sound and were back in the ocean just before dark. I spotted an “ice stage” (my name), a flat sheet of ice on the water, just before we left the Sound.

The light was almost gone when we exited the Sound. Tomorrow I will actually get to set foot on Greenland during our visit to the fishing community of Nanortalik.

–Natasha