Vikings, Icebergs, and Glaciers with Iceland ProCruises

Day 8 finds us sailing into Narsasuaq, a town of about 140 people. Oddly enough one of the two international airports is here – a relic from an old US military base. There was one flight out today to Copenhagen.

We motored across the bay in Zodiacs to Qassiarsuk, a village of 40 people. The villagers are sheep farmers in this picturesque fjord, which is on the tourist maps for its Viking heritage and ruins. Eric the Red made Qassiarsuk home, his son Leif was born in the settlement, the first church in North America was built here – yes, Greenland considers itself part of North America and not Europe. Not sure that was taught in our geography classes or whether that information simply did not stick with me?   We had a charming local guy who is part Danish and Inuit as most of the locals are. He explained there’s American in the mix also as we had (and still have) military stationed on the island. He does local tourism in the area then goes up North to train and mush dogs in the winter. All of the local guides we’ve had speak impeccable English with a very light accent as they’ve studied abroad in Denmark.

After racing back across the bay to the Ocean Diamond, I had a quick 5-minute break before jumping on a local boat for the Qoroq Ice Fjord trip. Our Danish driver and another well-spoken local guide weaved in and out between the icebergs in a stunningly beautiful fjord. We stopped about 9 miles from the Qoroq Glacier, part of Greenland’s huge inland glacier, as there was too much ice to navigate as well as for safety reasons as the glacier is constantly calving. They fished a chunk of iceberg out of the water, broke it up into glasses with Martini vermouth for an “icecap”. Utterly charming to have a little aperitif with ice possibly 10,000 years old! The sound of stillness along with distant waterfalls as we sat in the scenic bay was one of those rare, peaceful moments in the outdoors that make you glad to be alive and marvel at Mother Nature. It was tough to select only a few of my favorite icebergs from the hundreds I took!

By the way, there is no tipping the local guides for excursions – all payments are handled by Iceland ProCruises, which is nice to not always be dipping into your pocket for money. Always a big question, there is a recommended tipping sheet for the Ocean Diamond crew and IPC staff delivered to your cabin. (kiki)