Greenland is an amazing place. It is very difficult to describe the landscape. Most of the island (around 80%) is covered by an ice sheet. Most of the terrain along the coast is mountainous, with a bit of green on some of the rock face and quite a lot of snow. It is striking and uninhabited and wild. Aside from the whales we saw on the way to Greenland, we haven’t seen much for wildlife. A few birds, mostly large gulls.
Our first port stop, on Saturday, July 25, was at a small village called Paamiut, on the southwestern shore of Greenland. There is no pier or dock, so the ship is anchored offshore and rescue boats are used to transport passengers on shore, which is called “tendering”. Dave wasn’t feeling up to it, so I tendered to shore to see the sights on my own. It was a cold (42) rainy, windy, foggy morning, so boarding the tender boat from the ship was kind of challenging; but the remainder of the 5-minute trip to shore was a breeze. Each tender boat holds approximately 80 people, so the only discomfort is the waiting for people to get on/off.
Paamiut was very small and not at all “touristy”. Basically, we walked around the town and looked at the striking countryside and the brightly painted—but weathered—houses. The population of the entire island is under 60,000, so the villages are small and remote.
In the village the streets are hilly and mostly branch out from the waterfront. There are no trees that you can see. In the town, though, there is a smattering of wild green grasses and some lovely wildflowers.
I walked into the grocery store in Paamiut and was reminded of the small-town grocery stores that I remember from back in the 60s and 70s, where they have a small variety of basic grocery items, with a few hardware items (pots, pans, towels) in stock as well. There isn’t a Walmart or a Costco. Everything must be brought in by boat.
Luckily, the weather cleared somewhat during the day, and after we were all back onboard the ship, we set off for Sunday’s destination: Nanortalik.