July 31, 2023 Sea Day #4 Prins Christians sund (Prince Christian Sound)
Sea Day #4 was travelling from Nanortalik, Greenland, to Ísafjördur, Iceland, taking two days including today’s passage through Prins Christians sund (Prince Christian Sound). Overnight Zuiderdam passed Greenland’s southern tip, Cape Farewell. Today we cruised in Prins Christians sund at the southern tip of Greenland. The bow opened to passengers at 6:30 a.m. to begin the eight hour navigation of the sound. The speed through the sound was six knots (11 km per hour) to 8 knots (15 km per hour) which made a very shallow wake. The temperature was 7° C, with a light wind and fog hanging two meters above the water.
We saw Cee Kaye and Brad, among several hundred passengers on the bow, accessed from Deck 4, after 7 a.m. We needed long sleeve shirts, a cardigan and windbreaker plus gloves to keep warm, but, a toque was not necessary. We climbed to the Crow’s Nest for cappuccinos to take out while we watched the scenery. The ship’s location then was North 60° 2 minutes and West 44° 29 minutes. The rock face was fascinating as the ship glided along the wide waterway. There were small and large chunks of glacial ice floating past. The fog got thicker blurring views of the shore. As the fog rose slightly, thin waterfalls became visible. As we ate breakfast with David and Ellen more unique views appeared, especially the ribbon of cloud separating the mountain peaks and the floating glacial ice also known as bergy bits. The first small settlement, Appilattoq (apple-at-tock), was passed while we were eating breakfast.
After breakfast we returned to the bow where, around 10:15 a.m., staff served small bowls of Dutch pea soup to people on the outside decks. It was delicious. The temperature rose to 11° C when the sun burned off the fog. We walked around the Promenade Deck to avoid the direct sun of the open bow, with many stops to take pictures. From 8:30 a.m., the cruise and travel director, Tjalling Riedstra, gave a three and a half hour commentary assisted by two Danish marine pilots, who had been onboard since Corner Brook. Later we passed one of the weather stations, just a small cluster of red buildings. Just before noon, Zuiderdam and Atera passed going in opposite directions, exchanging horn blast salutes. Atera was a smaller ship carrying about 800 passengers. Atera was once the Holland America Lines ship, Princendam, before they sold it to another cruise line. During the morning on the Promenade Desk there were several mini bars, each staffed with a parka wrapped barman. The limited selection included the Captain’s Special which was Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur, Kahlua coffee liqueur, whipped cream and coffee.
We had a light lunch at the “Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social” on the indoor pool deck choosing a scoop of Chocolate Fudge ice cream and a scoop of Coffee ice cream. Then we met David and Ellen in the Crow’s Nest on Deck 10, where we introduced them to a game of Five Crowns. During the game the captain announced that a helicopter was arriving for a medical evacuation. It would lower a basket to the outdoor pool deck and hover there until the patient was secure in the basket and raise it into the helicopter before leaving to the nearest hospital, probably Queen Ingrid’s Hospital in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. People were asked to stay away from the area for 30 minutes. We saw the grey helicopter circling the ship as she exited Prins Christians sund. In all the years we have been sailing up until last year we had never experienced a helicopter medical evacuation on a cruise and now this is the third one in just over a year. The ship’s location was North 60° 3 minutes and West 43° 4 minutes. Zuiderdam had entered the Irminger Sea part of the Denmark Strait for about a 40 hour voyage to Ísafjördur, Iceland. Tomorrow will be another day at sea.
This evening was dressy attire for the evening. There was a special 150th Anniversary dinner menu in the main dining. Unfortunately, Brad was unwell, so neither he nor Cee Kaye joined us for dinner. Larry and I both enjoyed the main course beef tenderloin with shrimp newburg, accompanied by slices of cooked parsnips, carrots, asparagus and potato and for dessert Dutch Apple Pie with old fashioned vanilla ice cream.
The show in the World Stage was In Tandem by the ship’s dancers to recorded music, a high energy performance. Just down the hall in the Explorers Lounge was the Classical Duo, Andrew and Manuel, who played a 30 minute duet of German composers music followed half an hour later by 30 minutes of Rachmaninov works. The music was a pleasant backdrop for reading our books in the Explorers Lounge Annex. In between sets David and Ellen spotted us in their dressy clothes coming from dinner. David still had not found the reading glasses that he had lost early in the day. Guest Services had not yet received them.
There was a shallow swell to the water, although no rough seas are expected for the next few days. Zuiderdam was travelling at a steady speed of 17 knots ( 32 km/hr). We spent the rest of the evening working on a blog entry and reading.
Total steps today: 15,781
- Top left corner is Cape Farewell, Greenland, looking up the 20 degree longitude is Iceland which intersects with 65° latitude. Ísafjördur is a little to the left of North Cape which is almost on the dotted line that represents the Arctic Circle.
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