Cruising Prinz Christan Sund (Greenland)

Day 28, 17 August

Last night was a busy sea night with the swells causing our movements to again be erratic, tacking along corridors, awaiting for the ship to drop in the direction of walking before proceeding, being wary of swinging doors and identifying the new creaks. Rather fun. Then another time change. Arising at 0530 (new time, 6:30 yesterday time and 7:30 day before yesterday time) the outside was foggy and the fog horn was blasting away.

At 0825 the Rotterdam and its sleepy passengers entered the Eastern end of Prinz Christan Sund (Prince Christian Sound) and immediately into clear conditions. Calm, sunny and surrounded by mountains. The temp was in the high 30's for starters. Many crowded onto the foredeck to watch the advance up the sound. A running commentary was provided from the bridge.

Entering the Sound

a glacier

There are many glaciers, “bergy-bits” and waterfalls. Twice the Captain stopped the ship and rotated the ship 360º to give us all a full perspective of the scenery and glaciers.

another glacier

Falls

another glacier

view from our cabin

At noon we turned a corner and the channel ahead was smothered in fog. On came the fog horn again. Now and then I could see mountain tops above the fog, next to the ship. The echo of the fog signals reverberated down the many channels echoing back in a long diminishing “honnnnnnnk”. Quite eerie knowing we were in a narrow winding channel, surrounded by rocks and a chill in the air.

fog ahead

clear behind

rounding this rock into fog

Sealing village

more of the sealing village

Past the small sealing village where a couple of people came out to wave and shout to us. (Probably begging us to take them with us) The ship gave them a couple of honks as salute. So far, with exception of the fog, this is a repeat (but in reverse) of the passage we made through here earlier in the voyage. But, going in the opposite direction the scenery looked a bit different. Our Captain and pilots gave us a treat of adding a new leg to the transit. After emerging on the West side, the ships cargo relocated to the showroom to enjoy the Indonesian crew show. This is a special event for the cargo and the Indonesian members of the crew for today is also Indonesian Independence Day. Being yet in fog, the fog horn accompanied the crews' singing and instrumental music.

the blue berg

Having time to spare after the transit, the honking ship went up the foggy coast a bit and cruised up the Davis Strait, at he end of which is the pier for the gold mine which we saw. Then the course was reversed which gave a different perspective to those who were peering through the fog but we went to dinner and missed that part. Twice we passed tomorrow's port of call and finally went out to sea, covering a large box course during the night offshore.

our route in the Sound

Days route before leaving for sea

The noon report: 60º 09.85'N, 044º 08.13'W. Course varying westerly in the channels of the sound. Speed 6.2k. Wind SW 5. Clear. Some fog higher. Temp 45F, 7C. Humidity 85%. Distance from Isafjord 695nm. Distance to Nanotalik (next port) 109 nm, Total voyage 6,993 nm. Sunrise 0517. Sunset 2044.

A few minutes later we were in fog.