July 29, 2023 Paamiut, Greenland

Zuiderdam was anchored outside the inner harbour of Paamiut, Greenland by 7 a.m., The sky was lightly overcast, the temperature was 6° C and a wind from the north at four kilometres per hour. There were a few small icebergs floating nearby. From our stateroom we could see the light grey colour of the shore rocks.

After breakfast with Ellen and David, we walked to Billboard Onboard Lounge to obtain tender tickets. We were told that there was about 30 minutes before our number would be called which gave us plenty of time to get our backpack, jackets, hats and gloves. Today we were wearing our insect repellant infused shirts and pants and took our head nets to cover our hats and faces from insects. People who were not wearing nets to cover their faces were walking around fanning their faces to keep away the mosquitoes.

Greenland is a part of Denmark. Paamiut was formerly known as Frederikshåb. It has a population of about 1,300 mainly Inuit people. Paamiut means “those who reside by the mouth (of the fjord)”. It is located on Kuannersooq Bay which leads into the Labrador Sea. The main industry is fishing. According to recent historical data, the Native Kalaallisut were the first people who settled in Greenland about 3,500 years ago. The Norse arrived in the late 900s and based the economy on whaling and fur trading. The area is known for its soapstone sculptors.

The tender boat ride was about 12 minutes. The water is a gorgeous green blue fed from the glaciers further inland. The tender boat passed a four meter high iceberg which was reflecting blue light. The only tours were walking tours but we opted to just wander around the town. We meandered on the asphalt streets admiring the colourful buildings. Most buildings were wooden sided, painted in primary and secondary colours with white trim. We walked through a park featuring a sculpture of whales tails and a staircase with large tusks framing the entrance. We looked around the small Royal Arctic Harbour dock where small icebergs could be seen. The was a large Inuit mural on the side of a building. The local elementary school had a colourful tile wall. We passed two soccer fields, close to schools, that were level and covered in artificial grass. Along the way we found the cemetery established in 1721 with its may white crosses making the grave sites. Paamiut has a Norwegian style red wooden church, built in 1909, just a five minute walk from the dock where the tenders arrived. We browsed in the grocery store. A 42 gram Kitkat chocolate bar was about $4 Canadian. At a café, its sign read that 5 Danish Krone was worth one America dollar or one Euro, but only 4 Danish Krone for a Canadian dollar. There were Kellogg and Nestlé brands and many Danish and European brands. There was a boarding school on one of the ridges with dorm names – Siberia, Canada and Alaska. They were all painted a medium grey.

We climbed a hill along a street then took several wooden staircases to the top for a great view of the town and the bay. Near the top there were no more stairs, the final 30 meters required balance to navigate boulders and soft ground for a great view of the town. Then on the descent it took care to get back to the staircase. Back at the bottom near the town centre there were some 19^th century stone buildings dating from 1839. The Supply Storage (1866) building was yellow as was the Colonial Administrator’s House (1839), now a museum. In the museum was a shelf of six small handcrafted “bears” made from sealskin by a local woman about 50 years ago. The original barrel maker’s workshop built about 1885 was painted red.

When we lined up to take the tender boat back to the ship, we had been walking around Paamiut for over two and half hours. We had only walked 6.5 km or 12,057 steps. The clouds were thinner and the sun shone making it feel warmer than 6° C.

Back on board we climbed the eight flights of stairs to Lido Market, the buffet, for a light lunch followed by a stop at the ice cream kiosk. With no afternoon activity to attend we went up one more deck to the Crow’s Nest for speciality coffees and took in the view of the rocky terrain, small icebergs and the green blue water of the bay.

At 5:15 p.m. the captain announced that just one passenger was not checked in as returned. If that person was on the ship, they were instructed to contact Guest Services. The scheduled departure was 7 p.m. The captain was anticipating icebergs closer to Nanortalik tomorrow. He also announced that the bow open area on Deck 4 would be open for passengers to watch the the departure and cruise for the early part of the evening. Shortly before 6 p.m. the ship was underway.

We had dinner with Cee Kaye and Brad at our regular table in the dining room. The table is by a window and we watched as icebergs passed, some as small as a coffee table. We all decided that we would grab our jackets and go to the bow after dinner. It was a cool 5° C, sunny and windy at the bow. We were the only people there. There was a small sailboat about a kilometre away and an iceberg another kilometre away. We didn’t spend much time at the bow, even though we wore jackets and gloves as there wasn’t a lot to see.

The show this evening was a ventriloquist comedian that was very entertaining. The next time change will be after Nanortalik since Iceland’s time zone is two hours ahead of Greenland.

Total steps today 16,672 which converts to just under ten kilometres.