Yesterday evening the Captain come over the speaker to advise the current situation with visiting Narsaq. It was reported by the port authority in Narsaq that there was a lot of icebergs in the Fjord that leads us into Narsaq. There was another entrance into the Fjord that the captain advised may be an alternative option. (The captain ended up using this option)
He also advised that the harbour itself had a lot of ice and that he had three options and he would not be able to make decision until he sighted the harbour. The option were…..
(a) Use the small wharf to dock (much smaller than our ship)
(b) Use tenders to ferry us to the shore that ended up being a "no go" as the harbour is too deep for the length of our anchors.
(c) Last resort, turn the ship around and continue our journey - this was the final choice.
The captain made the right decision because as soon as the ship reached Narsaq (after three hours negotiating the Fjord at around 4 knots) we could see a blanket of ice in front of the ship that would have been impossible to negotiate.
Narsaq, with a population of 1,500, could be easily seen from our ship. I recall from one of the lectures, that Erik the Red (a famous Norse viking) settled here over a thousand years ago and established this famed Eastern Settlement, creating a thriving agricultural community. Narsaq is now driven by fishing, sheep farming and increasingly tourism.
It is quite beautiful as we cruise gently through the Fjord. The icebergs are once again a challenge for our ship as it weaves in between the larger ones. We are told that the icebergs that are very blue and the ones that have a lot of soil imbedded are the ones the ship needs to avoid. The smaller ones can be gently nudged out of the way. We see glaciers, a farm (presumably sheep) sitting on the side of a hill and lots of icebergs that made a lovely foreground to the soaring ice topped mountains.
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