Come From Away or Welcome Home?

We have crossed the Davis Strait and it has been a rough ride. As we sail back into Canadian waters, our first stop is Red Bay, Labrador. While waiting for Canadian Customs and Immigration officials to clear the ship, I get a real sense of pride seeing the Canadian flag flying proudly, albeit at half staff due to the Queen’s passing. This picturesque and quaint village at the end of the Trans Canada Highway is a prime example of how to welcome foreign visitors to a country you are proud to be a citizen of. The importance of first impressions to foreign visitors is paramount in my mind. I mention to several of the 140 residents how impressed I am with the cleanliness and upkeep of their homes and properties. I know they are proud of the efforts that they make. They respond that they do make it a concerted community project to help one another to keep the town’s appearance pristine. It is a pleasant walkabout of the former whaling station with it’s whaling museum, interpretation centre and local café. The weather is cooperating, and it is just so pleasant to be passing by the way, from away. I’ve heard of the Strait of Belle Isles before but never realized it is the corridor of water between Labrador and Newfoundland. We sail into Corner Brook, Newfoundland and we are welcomed by the singing of a lone cowboy dockside. You can hear the twang in his singing voice, and you know you have landed on The Rock. We’re only here for the day and I end up taking a bus tour which I thought was to be a hike to Gros Morne National Park. I don’t like taking excursions with 50 other people on a touring bus, but I make the best of it. There definitely is lots to see and the drive along the coastline and the diversions into some of the local waterside communities is an enticing invitation to come back soon. A visit to Newfoundland would not be complete without a photo of the Neufie Bullet. Our guide is a locally retired government worker and to my disappointment he didn’t know any Neufie jokes, so I had to tell him one about the Neufie and the Quebecer. I’ll tell you another day. Well, the trip is winding down and we sail into Halifax tomorrow. Not to bore you with a long synopsis but it has been a very educational and eye-opening experience. I will definitely have another perspective when talking about Inuit issues and the Canadian north in future. I now will look at many of the problems and concerns with a new purpose and understanding. I'll drop over 'round by and by.

A Trip to the Gym…….Groenland Style

As we made our way to the next stop, down the west coast of Greenland, we find ourselves in Sisimiut. I never thought I would say this about Greenland, but I could come back here. The shear beauty of the country and uniqueness of the ice makes for an extremely appealing destination. The clean fresh air and the good and healthy lifestyle would make for a great weekend getaway but unfortunately a little too far for even a long weekend. I’ve opted for the hike and Jennifer has decided on a cultural hike/walkabout tour. My hike was supposed to be two hours but ended up stretching into about 4 and no one was complaining. However, my muscles this morning are telling me otherwise. What an inspiring and motivational outing. It was classified as a level 4, and to start out I thought it was really only a level two. However, that only lasted for about halfway when the steep incline started to become apparent. Walking through the valley, it reminded me of the Scottish Highlands and that was confirmed when one of my fellow hikers, who is Scottish said it reminded him of the northern west coast of Scotland. No wind and relatively mild temperatures with panoramic vistas made for a rewarding and memorable outing. I didn’t know when we would get to the top, but it was well worth the effort as the view that sprawled before us, overlooked the town and the Davis Strait to the west. Unfortunately, there was no bus waiting for us at the top, but the romp back was rather quick in comparison to the trek up. As I made my way back through the town center, the character of the town was indeed warm and welcoming. It was easy to find the ship and it was good fun to see Jennifer outside of our cabin on the balcony as we exchanged greetings and camera pictures of one another. The captain was doing a dockside inspection prior to departure and was very agreeable to allowing me the opportunity to snap his photo.

A Whale of a Tale

It was a rough overnight sail across Baffin Bay and our first visit to Groenland. The destination is Ilulissat and we were questioning why we would be coming to such a remote town. Greenland has a total population of 55,000 and Ilulissat is the second largest town with 4,500. The answer is quite simple. The glacier field of Ilulissat is a world heritage site and to me anyway should be considered one of the natural wonders of the world. After an initial walkabout of town with Jennifer, I have two missions needed to completed today. One, to hike to the Icefield Centre and overlook the icefield from the safety of terra firma and two, take an iceboat into the actual icefield and approach the face of the glacier where the calving of the ice takes place. Words cannot express the shear grandeur and awe-inspiring amounts of ice and power this natural phenomena has to display. I’ll let the pictures try and depict the scene but really one has to experience it firsthand to get a real feel for what it is all about. While I stood on the cold and windy boat deck, the iceboat navigated the ice field for the better part of an hour. I had my camera ready in the event of some ice calving. However, low and behold I was lucky enough to capture a humpback whale swimming near one of the icebergs and actually got a shot of it’s tail when it dove. I think the captain and I were the only ones to see it, as he circled back and cut the engine to follow the whale’s direction, but alas it was not meat to be. This certainly was a highlight for me and you’ll have to scroll down to the final picture to see what I was fortunate enough to experience.