North to the Volcano Island

 

Friday, June 28, 2024, we leave the heat and humidity of South Florida behind and travel northeast to Iceland. First we fly on JetBlue Airlines new Airbus 220 from Sarasota to New York Kennedy.  There we transfer to venerable Icelandair for the 5-hour flight across Maritime Canada and Greenland to Iceland, arriving there about 6:00 a.m. local time on June 29.

 

A volcano has been active off and on near Grandvik and near the Keflevik airport since last October.  Currently it seems to be settling down. However on an island that seems to have more volcanoes than humans it pays to be alert.  Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the North American geological plate is sliding slowly under the European geological plate.  There is a place on the island where you can scuba dive and touch both continents at the same time.  It costs $900 USD for 2 tanks.  We aren't going to do those dives!

After spending a day recovering from no sleep on the flight from New York we board the Norwegian Star for a short 12-day trek across the North Atlantic to New York City. We visit three other ports in Iceland, two in Greenland, then St. John’s Newfoundland, Saint Pierre et Miquelon (the last outpost of France in North America), and Halifax Nova Scotia before arriving early on July 13 in New York.

 

This will be our fourth time on the Norwegian Star, a 965-foot-long behemoth that has been in the Norwegian fleet since 2001. In October 2015 we braved 40-foot seas on her as we traversed the North Sea enroute from Copenhagen, Denmark to Miami on a 14 days transatlantic repositioning cruise. In January 2023 we were on the Star again for Norwegian’s inaugural 14-day cruise from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Antarctica. We enjoyed the ice continent so much we returned there on the Star in February 2024. Now beginning on July 1, 2024, we are sailing over hopefully calm waters of the North Atlantic on our fourth and likely final time aboard the Star.

We pass just a few miles south of the Arctic Circle while along the north coast of Iceland. Although we are past the solstice and a little south of the Circle I have a feeling we will enjoy the Midnight Sun every night we are that far north.

 Tiny Qaqortoq is the fifth largest settlement in Greenland with only 3,000 residents

As with most cruises we aren’t shelling out an arm and a leg for many shore excursions. Instead we usually take off to explore on our own.  On this trip however, we spend a few hours in Qaqortoq, Greenland taking part in a “Taste of Greenland” excursion. The cruise website tells this about the excursion

 Heighten your appetite with a walk through Qaqortoq to sample Greenlandic and Inuit cuisine at a local restaurant. You’ll spend about 25 minutes along the immensely scenic route through the heart of South Greenland’s largest city – still a compact, charming place where gardens flourish, colorful historic homes line the streets and public artworks celebrate the region’s rich cultural history. But then, there’s no better way to get a true taste of a culture than by its food. The offerings at this excursion’s designated venue change frequently but typically include traditional Greenlandic and Inuit dishes featuring high-protein meats – a diet meant to sustain early locals through harsh, physically demanding winters. Greenlanders have been whalers for some 4,000 years, so look for a taste of that to be served – perhaps thinly sliced like carpaccio or quick-cooked like veal to seal in its flavor. Lamb is also popular here, raised naturally and allowed to range the upland pastures freely. Other traditional specialties might include dried seal, grilled Arctic char or smoked reindeer. Tasty local crowberries, which look like blueberries, are used liberally in sauces and desserts. No worries: you’ll burn off any excess calories on the walk back to the ship.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Enjoy a leisurely, scenic walk through Qaqortoq’s downtown – alive with color and charm.
• Visit a local restaurant specializing in traditional Greenlandic dishes made from regional ingredients.
• Enjoy a tasting likely to include whale meat along with dried seal, smoked reindeer, or free-range lamb.
• Discover the flavor of Greenland’s answer to blueberries: the crowberry.
• See a few more sights and shed a few calories on the pleasant walk back to the ship.

This should prove to be a welcomed change from onboard food for lunch that day. I’ve eaten whale blubber and seal meat at Barrow, Alaska. Fairbanks was he location of my first Arctic Char dinner, and the best caribou (called “reindeer” here) in the world is at Fast Eddy’s Restaurant in Tok, Alaska so Qaqortoq has a high bar to cross!  With luck there is a craft brewery in town which will be a nice surprise.

Departing Greenland, we pass through the Greenland Sea to Newfoundland, then visit Saint Pierre et Miquelon before a day at sea and a visit to Halifax. Although British Columbia has its spectacular mountains and northern Manitoba and Nunavut have extensive tundra, there is no part of Canada more beautiful than Nova Scotia. My second time in Halifax was in December 1989 while chasing after a rare bird. I slept in my car in a cemetery near downtown. This time I’ll be in a real bed in much more comfortable surroundings.

Opportunities for new birds for my life list are non-existent on this trip although I will probably add some new birds to my Iceland and Newfoundland lists. Plus get to begin a list for Greenland and for Saint Pierre et Miquelon. An Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross which would be new for my North America list, was found earlier this week in the Greenland Sea off Canada. Chances of it being anywhere near the path of our cruise are almost non-existent but you never know.

 
Following 12 days at sea we take  the AMTRAK Northeast Regional from Penn Station to Rhode Island to visit a friend of Cathy’s from childhood and his wife. One day there we take the ferry from Point Judith over to Block Island.  After Rhode Island we board AMTRAK again first to South Station in Boston (mentioned in a Jimmy Buffett song) then to Portland Maine. After a quick obligatory run up the side of Mount Washington in New Hampshire we will be attending the 10^th anniversary celebration of Barreled Souls Brewing Company in Saco, Maine. We met Lori, the mother of the brewery owner, on our first trip to Antarctica and she invited us to Maine for the party. I’m particularly looking forward to a bottle or two of  “The Dude Abides,” a beer whose name will resonate with fans of the movie The Big Lebowski.

After 23 days on the road, we return to the heat and humidity of Florida just in time for the beginning of the peak of Hurricane Season!  Our return is on Delta Air Lines who has changed the itinerary and times 23 times since I made our reservations last December!

 

The Norwegian Encore will be our home away from home for 35 days from Seattle Washington to London England

Next up after this trek to the North Atlantic, we sail out of Seattle, Washington aboard the Norwegian Encore in mid-October on a 21-day journey via the Panama Canal to Miami. We did this cruise on the same ship in 2023 and enjoyed it so much we are doing it again. However this time when we arrive in Miami we are not stepping off the ship.  Instead, we stay on the Encore for 14 more days with stops in the Azores, mainland Portugal, France, and jolly Old England. 

The stop in France is at La Havre which holds some historic importance to me.  During World War II my dad guarded German prisoners of war at Camp Polk (now Fort Polk) near Alexandria, Louisiana.  Not long after the dust settled on D-Day 1944, my dad was sent on a ship to La Havre to pick up a load of more German prisoners of war and transport them back to Louisiana for the duration of the war.  My dad didn't talk too much about the experience (he was 100 percent Norwegian so its not surprising he didn't talk much) but I look forward to hanging out for a few hours in a French town he visited 80 years earlier.

The best part of ending in England is we get to fly Icelandair home from London Heathrow with a connection in Reykjavik before continuing on to the Mouse in Orlando. It’s not often we get to visit the Volcano island twice in the same year!