After a great three days in Iceland, guests were ready to begin the second half of the expedition and explore the beautiful west coast of Greenland. We started off our sea portion with a bang—a fabulous show of northern lights shortly after sundown. It was the best aurora viewing many had ever seen, and we spent time on the upper deck marveling at the curtains of light dancing above us. We felt lucky to have our National Geographic photographer and photo team available to help us appropriately capture the moment.
We sailed north through the evening and continued our transit through the morning.
Just after we finished meeting the onboard naturalists in the lounge, we spotted a humpback whale out the window. The captain immediately turned the ship around in hopes that the whale would resurface. We brake for whales! Luckily, the animal was playful and spent time surfacing near our ship. Nothing beats whale watching from the bow while drinking a hot cup of coffee.
As we ate lunch and peered out of the dining room windows, we could see the quaint town of Sisimiut drawing nearer. Sisimiut sits just north of the Arctic Circle and was founded in 1756 as a trading station. It was a little gray and drizzly outside, but that didn’t stop us from getting off the ship to explore a new area! Some guests participated in naturalist-led town walks while others refined their photography skills with our photo team. Our time in Sisimiut ended with an incredible demonstration of local kayak-rolling techniques.
While everyone was ashore in the afternoon, our undersea specialist team went diving at the mouth of the bay to capture some underwater videography. The video was presented at evening recap, and many of us were surprised to realize that below the dark waves lived myriad wildlife in an array of colors. Bring on tomorrow!
