Day 21

-
September 20, 2019

 A SEA DAY

Every day when the ship is hundreds of miles from shore it is fascinating to see so many petrels skimming a foot or so above the waves close to the ship. Maybe they expect a handout. It seems they only go to land in order to breed. How about that?
This will not be news to our sailing friends, but for us landlubbers one of the most useful websites when cruising is www.windy.com. The Viking Sun uses this navigational aid. It provides data about current and predicted wind, wind gusts, waves, swells and more.

 We are heading toward the southern tip of Greenland. Check this out:
https://www.windy.com/59.879/-41.089?47.097,-24.464,4
The tabs on the bottom, "basic, wind, etc." as well as the tabs on the right side of the page, "radar & satellite, wind etc." provide a wealth of information in colourful pictorial form. 
You can see the remnants of Hurricane Humberto off the coast of Nova Scotia and the current status of Hurricane Jerry which is approaching the Caribbean. Simply amazing! What a wonderful world we live in today.

 Speaking of weather, the Captain announced this afternoon that unfavourable weather conditions would make tendering too dangerous so our stop in Nanortalik, Greenland tomorrow has been cancelled. 
GREENLAND (NANORTALIK)  ("the place where polar bears go") population 1,300, does not see many cruise ship guests.


Ah well, we are assured that the other Greenland stop at Qaqortoq, is still on the agenda. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 182

-
FEBRUARY 28, 2020 DARWIN, AUSTRALIA We all recognize that life is an adventure - there will be surprises. Coronavirus is an unexpected development and this voyage has already made adjustments. Further adjustments are possible, even likely, during the two months remaining on Viking's World Cruise.  At a time when authorities must be " seen to be doing something " about the chances of a pandemic, fear can provoke overreaction and more surprises. Karen and I have taken a cautionary attitude about how matters could evolve. We believe this is prudent. Consequently, we have decided to defer the remainder of this voyage to a later date.    With that in mind, a fitting tune is Sophie Zelmani's  " Going Home ". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrIG3K40-8A
Read more

Day 11

-
Image
September 10, 2019 EDINBURGH - They say Scotland gets a lot of rain. Tell me about it! Arrived here in the fog and that became a steady drizzle. But at least it wasn't cold, around 16 degrees.  The rush hour (good planning) bus tour of The Queen City was mostly about crawling from stoplight to stoplight. Incredibly dense traffic made worse by many downtown streets being closed to accommodate the filming of Fast and Furious Nine - we saw the support trucks, an army of them, dozens. The main attraction, of course, is the Castle on the hill. Very impressive from below, but almost inaccessible due to the overwhelming crowds and the discouraging wait times - where did all these people come from? I'm told that tourism gridlock is becoming the new normal in cities like Paris and Rome. Meanwhile, on the Viking Sun there is so much space, even in the restaurants, one never feels pressed.  After returning to the ship from downtown, wouldn't you know it, the sun came out.
Read more

Day 72

-
Image
NOVEMBER 11, 2019 SALVADOR DA BAHIA, BRAZIL For a city that I've never heard of, Salvador da Bahia is a surprisingly large metropolis. Three million people live in this sprawling, modern city. It seems as though there is a catholic church at every street corner, a bit like Starbucks. The photos I took today all disappeared as I was downloading them, so I borrowed a few from the Internet. This is part of the old town where we walked - it was crowded.  Most of the city is on an escarpment above the water. In order to access the escarpment, there are three funiculars and this 73 meter Elevador Lacerda which was built in 1873 - it costs 4 cents to ride up or down.  Also in town is the cruise ship, World Odyssey. You might recall that this ship operated as a floating condominium at one time and sailed wherever the owners decided. I guess that concept passed its expiry date for the ship now sails under its new flag "Seminar a
Read more