Amazing Azamara – Day 14 – Sisimiut, Greenland

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Day 14 — Friday, 15th August
Sisimiut, Greenland

Good morning, dedicated readers! We’re in Sisimiut, Greenland, where we arrived ahead of schedule last night at around 8pm. We’re still with our great mates, Ralph & Karen having already enjoyed the sights and sounds in parts of French-speaking Canada – Montréal and Québec. After a few more days here in Greenland, we’re heading for Iceland.

Do try and keep up! 😉

Thirteen down, just ten to go! 😉

Day 13 – No Nuuk! Tuesday 12th August

Days 10/11/12 – Next Stop, Greenland Monday-Wednesday, 11-13th August

Day 9 – Havre St Pierre, Quebec Sunday, 10th August

Day 8 – At Sea Saturday, 9th August

Day 7 – Saguenay, Quebec Friday, 8th August

Day 6 – More of Quebec City Thursday, 7th August

Day 5 – Quebec City (1st Day) Wednesday, 6th August

Day 4 – All Aboard! Tuesday, 5th August

Day 3 – Montreal (2nd Day) Monday, 4th August

Day 2 – Montreal (1st Day) Sunday, 3rd August

Day 1 – Montreal Bound! Saturday, 2nd August

Sisimiut? Never heard of it!

Sisimiut (population approximately 5000) – pronounced sis-ee-me-oot – is also known by its Danish name Holstensborg or Holsteinsborg, and is the capital and largest city of the Qeqqata municipality. It’s also the second-largest city in Greenland after Nuuk (that’s the location we didn’t visit yesterday!) 😕

We’re here for just half a day until 2pm local time. After quite a few days at sea, we wanted to get some (very!) fresh air, and so we booked on the two-hour Inuit Historical Hike ($89US each).

Those of you with good eyesight will have spotted the ‘s’ word bottom left on the tickets – STRENUOUS – and it was to live up to the description! It was just a pity we didn’t know that beforehand!

We were all dressed for the part! It looked cold through the safety of our porthole, but actually walking around the town revealed it to be much colder – even more so than the official forecast, err forecasted. Hats, gloves and a thick coat (or two) were a must, as we listened to our Guides, explaining the walking route.

It began gently enough as we wandered from the Ship towards the rugged terrain.

Initially, it wasn’t the most picturesque of surroundings (but good to see that even the shipping containers, like the dwellings, were painted in bright colours!)

The scene out across the water was about to change… 👍

For me, the most memorable was the variation in rock colour. Even today, where the weather was best described as ‘dull’, revealed a very colourful landscape.

Beautiful! 😍😍

The group now split into two as the rocky terrain revealed itself in all its ankle-twisting potential. The group division was easy: those related to mountain goats versus those preferring more solid foundations. As Ralph & Karen forged ahead with some of our party and one of the Guides, we ‘took one for the team’, and heroically opted to act as ‘back markers’ to look after the slower ones in the group! 😉

Eventually, as the ‘Goats’ disappeared into the distance, we continued our role of observers, before our group, daunted by the climbing ahead, agreed unanimously to head back to the Ship. It would mean retracing our (difficult first) steps, but we all felt that it was the better option. ‘Wimps’ or ‘sensible sorts’? You decide! 😁

It wasn’t just us, the explorers, who needed grip either! Looking at the tread on the local runaround vehicles clearly showed that tyres are taken very seriously out here too! 👍

On a more serious note, for us as walkers, it WAS quite treacherous terrain once we got off the roads. Back in the H&S-obsessed world of the UK, this area would have been covered in safety barriers and signage to warn unsuspecting travellers that, in the end, ‘gravity always wins’ (and it was a long way down!).

What we could all agree on was that Sisimiut was stunningly beautiful! And although this simple town, with its main industry being (surprise, surprise – fish!), was nowhere as sophisticated as many of the places we’ve seen on our many travels – it didn’t matter – it has left a long-lasting impression!

As enjoyable as it was (well, apart from the terrain) we all felt that there had possibly been some mis-communication about this trip and how ‘easy’ it was going to be to get to where we were going. I’m also not sure the title: Inuit Historical Hike accurately described the experience, as none of us came away any the wiser about the Inuit than we were before we began.

Some things transcend national borders, and in spite of the massive differences between home and here, one thing remained universal… Potholes!

Back on the Azamara Quest, we headed for the Mosaic Café and our daily coffee fix (oh, and the ‘cookie of the day’ – white chocolate). We briefly met up with Ralph & Karen (with their ankles intact) and compared photos.

Say Goodbye to Sisimiut

It had only been a short stay in Sisimiut, but I think we saw the best of it. I can imagine that on warmer days with the typical stunning blue skies that are characteristic of this area, it might have added even more impact to many of the photos, but it was still an experience of a lifetime. 😀

2.15pm: The Ship’s bow thrusters fired-up, signalling we were casting off and on our way to our next Port.

Whales! (The Sequel)

2.42pm: A quick alert from Whale-Spotter-in-Chief, Ralph, revealed we had a sighting off the starboard bow. I’m on a roll… if a role counts as TWO sightings this holiday! 👍

We’re not sure of the species, but we think it was, again, a Pilot Whale. The sighting was all-too-brief, but here’s the shot, courtesy of Ralph.

5.15pm: We dropped briefly into the ‘Piano Bar’ aka The Atlas Bar for our daily dose of alcohol before heading to Aqualina. In a change to the usual live music, we enjoyed Vlad, from Ukraine, on the trumpet.

Please! No more food!

6.35pm: Well, it is beginning to feel like that! Those of you who are no strangers to the ‘cruising thing’ will already know that one thing they are NEVER short of is – FOOD!

Another fantastic experience – we could get used to this, although our bank balance might have other ideas! 😕

Good Vibz…

10.25pm: We ended the day in the ‘Dining Room’ listening to the very relaxing sounds of the resident Band – Vibz!

Tomorrow…

We dock in Paamiut, Greenland around 1pm. It’s a tiny town with a population of around 1000. There are limited things to see and do, but I’m sure we’ll make the most of it.

Photo Reel
All our pics so far
(and none of my chat)
HERE

Night-night! See you on Saturday! 💤😴💤😴