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We were up at 6am today. Clay skipped his morning treadmill
time. We were scheduled to sail into Disko Bay about 6am and it is supposed to
be an impressive place to sail in and out of. Since we are in Silk Road without
open windows at 6pm, our sail away time, we were eager to see it this morning.
The low clouds/visibility were with us again and besides icebergs everywhere we
really couldn’t see much. We went up to Lido for a quick breakfast. It is 37F
and raining. The predicted high is 40F or 41F and it should continue raining
all day. We are ticketed for a complimentary community visit at 8am and a
Scenic Walk to Sermermiut at 12:30pm. We are contemplating staying ashore if
the tour people tell us it is possible. We got back to the cabin to gear up for
zodiacs and rain all day with a lot of walking in the cold and wet. We were
watching the nav map and bow cam and it looked like we were making loops in the
bay at about 4knots. We were not slowing down. According to Reflections, tours
should have begun departing at 7:20am. Clearly that was not happening. Clay
decided to go downstairs and see what was going on in Stardust, our meeting point.
He showed our 2 sets of tickets to the woman manning the door and she told him that
all tours except Icefjord Scenic Cruising are canceled. He came back and told
me if I was quick that I could change and make the 8am combined yoga class. Or
I could do laundry today. I was exasperated after getting ready quickly and
early in all those layers so I just sat on the bed. He asked what I was doing
and I told him I was waiting to hear from the captain. He told me there is a no
public announcement policy. I agreed Crystal has a written no announcement
policy, but Captain Birger doesn’t, he makes plenty of announcements. Sure
enough at 8:04am he came on the speakers. He said that there was a pretty solid
wall of ice blocking the entrance to the harbor. He said Shackleton had been
monitoring the ice overnight here and thought it was building up due to an
unexpected wind and advised against going in as we might not be able to get
out. He said he had still searched the ice wall himself for the past hour
trying to find a crack that could be used to tender us in and out but hadn’t
found one and also had to consider that he had to get us back out by day’s end.
He said they had canceled all excursions except Icefjord Scenic Cruising as
they had been able to arrange for the local boats that were scheduled to do it
to come out and pick up at our tender dock instead of in town at the dock. He
said they had arranged a ferry boat or something like it locally to come out
and pick up all the overnight and overland excursion guests. He said once he
found the right spot that he would put the ship into dynamic positioning mode
and we would spend the day here. They spent the next 2 or more hours
precariously trying to get passengers over into various local boats with and without
success. They dropped one of our lifeboats/tenders and although there was still
a lot of bouncing they matched up at a level and they then took passengers in
our tender to a ferry. I watched a bit of terrifying passenger transfer from
tender to ferry as the boats bobbed up and down, not in sync! I followed that
ferry until it disappeared at the harbor ice wall. The captain said he had us
to within 7 miles of either the ice wall or the dock in harbor, I’m not sure
which. We are at 69 degrees 12.81N and 51 degrees 27.96’ W if that helps. During
that 2 + hours, they got the Cineflex up and running, put on a slate of 3
lectures and added art, knitting, needlepoint and bridge. They delivered an
updated daily schedule to the cabins. At about 11am, another ship wide
announcement was made that they could not transfer passengers to local boats
and had decided to run all the Shackelton’s zodiacs from the ship instead for
scenic ice cruising. I can see them now. They are not going to the icefjord.
They are cruising here in Disko Bay up to the ice wall across the harbor. That
is not like seeing the Jakobshavn Glacier calving. It is one of the most active
tidewater glaciers in the world, so this is hardly a fair substitute for those
who paid to cruise the icefjord. I am disappointed but they are bobbing around
in the rain on zodiacs, paying extra to see what I can see from here.
Hopefully, they explained to each ticketed tour participant what they were
substituting and gave them an option of being refunded instead. I know the
local fleet must be really unhappy. They had enough boats out here around the
ship this morning that you’d have thought they emptied the harbor to answer the
call to come out and shuttle Serenity’s passenger back and forth to the
icefjord. I assume that they’ll have to be paid something for coming out
whether they get paid in full when it didn’t work out or not. Clay went to use
the treadmill and I have done the laundry for what should be the last time this
trip.
We went up to Lido for lunch as it offers the best views and
best selection. You can order from Trident or Tastes to eat in Lido which
increases the selection. So from up there and Palm Court and the detailed
navigation map outside Palm Court, we have a better idea what we’re seeing. It
does look as if we are 7 miles offshore not from the ice wall. The other thing
is that we might be well outside the entrance to Ilulissat harbor and closer to
the point of land that separates it from the icefjord of Jakobshavn Glacier.
The ice wall appears on the map and it extends across both bodies of water.
That said the zodiacs aren’t rounding that corner. They are loaded chockfull
and run out to the wall, around and among the bergs and down or up the wall a
mile or less and then back to the ship. Port side drew the view again today as
we are facing the view and the tender action. Starboard side today got open
water and a random distant iceberg. It was 37F this morning and predicted to
warm to 40 or 41, but it has dropped to 34F by 1pm. It is still raining, the
cloud cover is heavier and lower and the chop on the bay has increased as the
day has gone on. It is 1:15pm and the captain has just come on loudspeakers
again and announced that due to deteriorating weather and sea conditions he has
canceled all further zodiac activity. He said once the zodiacs out get unloaded
and back on Shackleton that we will depart early for our next port and hope for
better luck next time. The captain said that the port side should have a view
of the mouth of the icefjord for the next 15 to 20 minutes as we sail south
down the coast.
Well, we have 2 more ports in Greenland. Hopefully we’ll get
to set foot on land somewhere in Greenland. Whale blows were spotted just beyond the
icefjord mouth. We were on our way south by 3pm. Thankfully although Disko Bay
was unexpectedly rough, when we arrived back out in Davis Strait it was calm.
We had the 5pm recap & briefing where they described all I have written up
here with some additional details and explanations. We heard some more about
Sissimiut and learned that we will depart from the Shackleton there. The
expedition portion of our North West Passage cruise will end in Sissimiut. We
are told we can expect to go ashore there even though the local tour operator
has canceled a hike due to snow that accumulated there recently. Fingers
crossed.
Dinner is shortly in Silk Road and hopefully it will be as
good as last time. It was. Bed gift when we got back to the cabin was ironic. A postcard of the colorful houses of Greenland, which we haven't seen. On the plus side, it had 15DKK postage attached, so I'll mail it to Mom. It made me wonder again though about Crystal not printing and delivering milestone certificates. Like crossing the Arctic Circle on a ship makes you a Blue Nose. What about completing the North West Passage? I guess it is not exclusive enough. Crystal's motto is "All exclusive" and that just rankles. Forgive me but it is written on my keycard right by my name and photo like it has something to do with me or that I approve of the concept even. Anyway. Hoping for a better day tomorrow and first visit to Greenland, a new country for us.
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