8/31 - 9/5 more of the same

 The days are following the same pattern.  Larry and Adrienne do the shore expeditions and Val, Maggi and I watch with the binoculars and a drink from the dome.  Everyone is happy.

Great walrus haul out place

Many many many beautiful ice bergs and ice caps. The land here is vey stark but fascinating to see.

There was one hike to see Dino tracks.  (Up a hill, across large rocks - I passed.)

One afternoon we were in a sheltered bay, so it was time for the polar plunge.  65(crazy ) people participated.

Each person had a belt on that was teathered to the crewman who pulled them promptly to the platform.  A couple of young guys had polar bear  suits.

Our new friend Kitty.  This was the second time that she has done this.  She said that she came over to thank me for the cake -but I know that she wanted to brag about doing the plunge.

Maggi, Larry, and I took a tour of the Bridge.  I was posed at the helm with strict instructions not to move it!

There was a little window in the floor on each side so that they could look down to see how close to the dock they were.

Maggi and Larry celebrated their 43rd anniversary on Sept 4.  They were serenaded with Falling in Love With You.  Another chocolate cake was shared.

The second to last night the crew performed. Some were really good, but all were cheered on.  There was a raffle  and an auction.  The auction was really for people who planned to take other excursions.  Adrienne won a  stuffed polar bear in the raffle.

The last night was the Captain’s reception.  He introduced himself and the crew.  Then we had strange blue drinks and munchies.

The last dinner was special too.  I had froi gras to start.

Then Venison steak

Then chocolate soufflé.

After dinner everyone scattered. Our suitcases had to be outside the cabin by 2am and we had to be out of our room by 8.  I think we were all ready to move on.

8/30 MY BIRTHDAY

 This was another travel day, so they fill it up with talks and film and other good stuff.  I now know a lot about polar bears and animal senses.

We were given a tour of the kitchen.  First my old friend, Nuno explained about the logistics of supplying ships  in the Arctic and Anarctica.  You can’t just run to the corner Costco.  Menus are created a year in advance.  Another problem is the ship can only hold so much at a time.  Very very complex. They actually have a computer program that keeps track of what everyone orders at dinner and your gender and age, so they can calculate how much of each type of food they need.

We had snacks and champagne and then met the baker who was making Bao for tonight’s dinner.

I think everyone had the Bao as an appetizer.  It was good but not as fluffy as the ones I’m used to.

The kitchen is down a flight of stairs from the dining room.  Nuno held my arm so I wouldn’t fall Then put me in a corner so I could brace easily.  I told him that I was very  happy with my new room.

Tonight was my birthday dinner.  The dining crew gathered round and sang Happy Birthday.  There was special champagne.

This was a chocolate mousse cake.  We asked for extra plates and shared it out to tables around us.  The problem was that there were 3 birthdays and 2 anniversaries in our immediate area, so Larry was going quite far to give it away.

I wore Chuck’s UCLA sweater for warmth on this trip.  It was large but cozy.  A happy memory of him. (For those who don’t know - this is a cashmere sweater that we had custom made for him in Shanghai. He loved it and wore it almost 24/7. )

8/29 village visit

 Today we visited the only place with people on the east coast of Greenland.  I can’t tell you the name because it had about 15 letters, none of which made sense to my ear.  Anyway, it had 300 people.  It was a “wet landing” which means when the zodiac comes to the shore, you step out into ankle deep water.  (If you are lucky.  If a wave comes then, it might be deeper. I managed to time it right both coming and going.)

Maggi and I in the zodiac.  Larry loves to take pictures.

An Inuit woman demonstrated how they knit.  From what the leader was saying I thought it was going to be really exotic. Just continental with beads.M

She was making wristlets to sell.

The supermarket had something of everything. Lots and lots of snack foods.  Frozen prepared stuff like pizzas, hardware, clothing, After the first picture, he said no more. We tasted dried musk ox - like over cooked beef.

Maggi with the village behind her.  

The big excitement for the tourists was the man feeding the sled dogs. He threw large chucks of meat at them and they gulped it down.  There were two little puppies that were still with their mothers, those he hand fed.

On the way back to the ship, I was in the front of the zodiac and it was getting rough.  We bounced which did bad things to my back.  I stopped in the medical office and they loaned by a cane with 3 feet.

At the beginning I could barely walk without it.  The problem was that every time the ship rolled, my back would clench to try to keep upright and that set it back again.  The good thing was that I could sit and knit and sleep well and had a good excuse not to go hiking around on uneven rocky or mushy ground.

8/28 more about the ship

 Our ship has 152 passengers and what seems like 9,000 crew members (really they say only 130). I felt really cosseted the whole time.  Just mentioning that you  needed something and it was there.

Breakfast and lunch were buffet with too many choices.  You could also order from a menu at breakfast so if you wanted pancakes or fried eggs you could get them.  Lunch had 2 kinds of soup, a stirfry station, a carving station and fruits, veggies, cold cuts, pastas, etc.

The ice cream station was Larry’s favorite.

Dinner was ordered from a menu (again with too many choices.)

The plan most days was breakfast, an excursion, lunch, a talk or nap, an excursion, a recap of the day and the plan for the next day, dinner and a little. Entertainment in the dome.

Everything was included, so if we were sitting around drinks and snacks were constantly offered. The crew got to know everyone’s preferences. The Glenlivit neat became my cocktail of choice.

8/27. Big Excitement

 Someone had a heart attack during the night.  We turned around and sailed back toward Iceland where a helicopter could fly out and meet the ship.

This happened during breakfast  so we  all watch from the deck. We never found out what happened.

When we get to a place where they think we will go ashore and “explore “ the team goes first and looks for polar bears.  If they feel it is safe then they set up a perimeter with guns and start ferrying groups out.We are in the Penguin group which means that today we will be last.  This afternoon there were 6 (we all counted) bears.

The leaders were really excited.  Sometimes they don’t see any bears.

In this picture there are at least two bears.  LOOK CLOSER! One of them started walking along and looked like it was just strolling along - really was doing about 5 miles an hour.

Needless to say we just did a zodiac expedition where we stayed in the boats and went around checking out the glacier and a seal.

8/26 Education day at sea

 First and foremost we were told that this was NOT a cruise!  It was an “EXPEDITION! Basically what happened was that they had a general plan, then they modified that plan as conditions changed and weather reports came in.  This meant that we really went to where the good weather was. 

We had lessons in how to enter and exit the zodiacs (very carefully holding on to the strong person’s arm at all times) we tried on our parkas (which we will keep) and our boots (which we won’t)

Every stateroom has binoculars. The red things are smaller life vests. (As we were putting these on, crew members stood by to zip and put things over your head and dress you like a toddler.). The red life jackets blow up and a light turns on if they hit the water. Some stupid woman didn’t follow directions when getting back in the zodiac on a “wet landing” and fell in the water so now we all know how they work.

The sea was very rough at night.  Many people were wearing patches behind their ears.  (I still belong to the “cast iron tummy” people and never had a problem.

8/25 Last day in Reykjavik

 We started the day with a visit to Perlman.  This is a natural history museum and I highly recommend it. 

Maggi in an ice cave. Much safer than the ones in the cave that collapsed.  (I think we may have seen them walking up to the glacier.)

                                                                                                                                                                Northern lights show (we saw some our first night on the ship for a brief  moment.  They actually made a loud speaker announcement at 2 am and I rushed to my veranda to see.  After that we were too far north.)

Puffin cliff.  We were after the nesting season, so this the best that we could do.

We took a cab back to the hotel and then to the dock which is where everything went wrong.  The tour company had sent several notifications with corrections about where our ship was docked.  None of them was correct.  Our cab driver threw us out at the address but it was a Princess cruise ship and our little ship was nowhere to be found.

Larry was still hobbling so Maggi and I scoured the area to find the ship.   Maggi found it and they said that they would send help immediately.  Immediately took a long time.  It was cold and very windy.  Finally Nuno came with a tiny car that would take one suitcase and two people. Larry had to ride. Nuno came to where I was with the other people and started a loooong explanation about how it wasn’t their fault.  I cut him off and said “I don’t care whose problem it was, I want it solved NOW.  The rest of our little group walked to the ship with Nuno dragging my large bag.  I was upgraded from the cheapest cabin to a suite!  He was really nice to me the rest of the trip.

8/24/2024 South Coast Tour

 This going to be a quickie because today was a National Cultural Day and there were fireworks that started at 11, with the best viewing spot being the bar at our hotel.  I had made a reservation for the 5 of us.  Without this we would not have gotten in.

The South coast tour started with the usual 1 1/2 hour drive out of Reykjavik.  We saw 4 different waterfalls and a glacier.  

The best waterfall had a bride getting her picture taken with it in the background.  The photographer was crouching in the stream to get the good shot.

We lucked  out because the sun came out and there was a rainbow in the mist.

The Black Sand beach was really finer volcanic rock. There was a cave and warnings because it has “sneaker waves” that come out of nowhere and can drag you in.

We just bought sandwiches from the supermarket and ate in our rooms since we were going to watch the fireworks.

Maggi and Larry went to the emergency room since he was hobbling badly and Maggi was really worried.  It was just a torn muscle, so they gave him a compression sock and told him to ice and rest. They got back just at the end of the fireworks.

Tomorrow we board the ship, so I don’t know how  the blogging will work.  Be patient.

8/23 Valley of Tears all day tour

 Waterfall Day!!! A minivan picked us up at 8:30.  Our guide OTTO was wonderful.  Full of information and very chattty, but also kind. (He had to boost me into the van several times, and always held my hand when I got out, so I didn’t do a faceplant out of the backseat.). The waterfalls were quite far out of the city.  We drove for about 1 1/2 hours before stopping for a pee break.  Then another while on “good gravel” roads to our first waterfall.  (“Good gravel” is New Mexican for scraped once after the snow melts and then left to have pot holes and rocks all over. In other words, very rough ride!)

Hjalparfoss was our first stop.  It was a long hike down (which meant a long hike up) so Maggi and I decided to just take pictures from the top. The rest of our intrepid band surged on.

These rocks crossing the stream were their downfall.  Larry, who prides himself on being part mountain goat, tried to jump from one rock to another, slipped and ended up with one wet foot and a pulled muscle in his leg.  He managed to hobble to the top and had trouble walking the rest of the day.  Adrienne said she cried for 10 minutes before managing to make her way back across.  Val fell on his face and at first we thought he broke his nose. (After the trip they went to Urgent Care and they just glued the skin on his nose and put a bandage on it.)  Otto was really worried about Val, and really happy that Maggi and I had stayed behind.  He did pick wild blueberries so we could all taste.

Stopped at Hrauneyjar for lunch. I had  a BLT and the rest had the special burger.  (Otto also cleaned up Val and put a temp bandage on his nose.

Our next stop did not involve climbing, Otto took my picture with the Gjain falls in the background.

The water was so lovely and blue. 

On we went to the Valley of the Tears. We stopped to see some sheep - Otto baaaed and they looked up and baaaed back.

Iceland is a very hard and bleak looking country with amazing beauty.  Tucked into volcanic rocks are tiny  plants and moss.

The trail to the overlook was not as steep, so I took a chance and hiked down to take some pictures.  Val and Adrienne made it, Larry and Maggi didn’t.  The red dot is me.

The falls were glorious, but my legs were tired when I got to the top and poor Otto was pushing and Maggie was pulling to get me back in the van.

We just went to the bar and had another fabulous New York Sour and the Nachos.  Then to bed.  Hope that Larry and Val are up to our tour tomorrow.

8/22 Dinner

 One note. The reason that I am posting in short bits is  because the blog is not letting me see the page past a certain point.

Val and I both have CPAP machines that need distilled water.  It is not carried in the supermarket, because I had tried 2 of them.  The second one said that the pharmacy just around the corner was our best bet.  We found the pharmacy on our way back.  We had to ask the pharmacist to get it from the back.  It comes in 500 mL bottles, so we bought 4.  My machine took 300 mL.  I think we need to get more for the time on the boat.

We went to the bar for Happy Hour to decide where we wanted to go for dinner.  I had a New York sour.  Really tasty.

We wanted a light dinner so picked Icelandic Street Food.  The choices were limited to soups and stews, either in a bread bowl or with bread on  side.  (The bread on the side was the rounds cut from the bowls. 4 of us had the Fisherman’s seafood soup and. Maggi had cod and mashed potatoes mixed together. (In French this is Brandade de Morue.) We all really enjoyed our meal and loved that it was served IMMEDIATELY.  Really, Larry and I ordered at the counter downstairs and followed the first 3 bowls up the stairs.

Walked back to the hotel and separated to rest our weary bones.  I walked 12,293 steps.