Saturday, September 22, 2012

Thursday, September 20

Last night the seas were mild and we slept well. We make it to breakfast about 8:30AM and have just placed our order when the Captain comes on the PA to announce the first Arctic tabular iceberg on the starboard side. Sure enough in the sea mist we see the great white sheet! We are to enter Prince Christian Sund about 10AM, so after breakfast we head up to the Observation Lounge with jackets, books and cameras to lay claim to a pair of good seats. We luck out with two chairs in front of the windows. and see a couple of more icebergs.
The seas are picking up a bit and it looks like rain. We don’t know how much we will be able to really see, but we are set up.

About 10AM, dead ahead, we see a narrow cut between mountains that are covered with low grey clouds.
Soon we sail into the narrows and are enveloped in the mist. The Captain comes back on the PA and tells us we are in the Sund and will be sailing through it for about 6 hours. And, by the way, the caviar and vodka party at 11AM will be in the Observation Lounge due to the rain.

By 11AM the lounge is packed and getting rowdy with people over indulging in the "goodies".
About that time the Captain announces that we are in front (about a 1 ½ mile away) of our first glacier and he will stop the ship for 20 minutes or so.
Also, he is sending the motor launch out to get some glacier ice for the sky bar. At this point it is really nasty outside and we can only see a small red dot as the men look and try to load a chunk of ice.

By noon we are moving again with a fresh chunk of glacier ice on board and the lounge thins out as people move on to lunch. The sky seems to be lifting behind us so we go back to Seabourn Square and go out on the back deck. Soon it is clear behind us and we have a nice view of the Sund.
While we are back there, we sail past the largest glacier in the area...it is 20 miles up a wide fjord and we can still see the ice in the distance...some glacier.
The Channel is filled with ice bergs, bergy bits and growlers from the mammoth glacier. We are treated to a rainbow at this point also.
The weather is very changeable and it starts raining again. We take this opportunity to go back to the suite and have lunch...room service of Caesar salad and pizza.

The sun comes out again and we have a couple of glacier sightings

and some wonderful views as we finish our westward course
and turn southward through the last section of the Sund.

 
The scenery is beautiful and remote. Believe it or not, we pass a small village of about 150 people. Their homes are right on the water and the mountain rises up right behind the village.
About 4PM the Captain announces that we are leaving the protection of the Sund
and will have some rough seas for three to four hours as he moves around the tip and finds a protected fjord for us to spend the night out of the rough water. Right on cue the waves begin to crash against the bow and we start rocking and rolling. It is cocktail time some where so we head back up to the Observation Lounge and have drinks with some friends that have staked out a claim to the left side of the bar.

It is Russian Night in the Colonnade. We had tried to eat there on the Tuscan night and it was too crowded, but we get there earlier tonight and find a table. We order the beef stroganoff which is different than what we are used too but OK. They have not used noodles and very little sour cream. It is served with potatoes. For desert we have the strawberries Romanoff, also a little different, but it is very good. So good Carolyn has two!
 
By now the ship has sliped into the sheltered waters of a fjord and is not moving much. We step out on the balcony to check for stars. Unfortunately it is still cloudy, but the big search lights on either side of the Bridge are playing from one side of the fjord to the other on ice berg patrol! The captain may not get much rest, but it is going to be another restful night for us!

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