Friday – August 11, 2017
Temperature in the morning was 48 degrees. Light breeze of 5 knots; calm seas. Cloudy skies with a bit of sun peeking through.
Today is another day at sea as the Rotterdam crossed the body of water between Greenland and Iceland. There wasn’t much wind so the seas were calm last night and most of today. The motion on the ship is constant and hasn’t been too noticeable.
Several interesting back-to-back lectures were on the schedule today. This is great for us because we like to hear knowledgeable speakers talk about a variety of topics. The first lecture was given by John Nixon who talked about The Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable 1857-1866. He described the history of laying communication cables across vast oceans and continents between 1864 through 1960. He had been employed by one of the cable companies.
At 11:00 o’clock we heard, the geologist, Jim McParland describe the geological features of our next port: Iceland: Its Natural History. Iceland is a “new” island with many interesting places to see: geysers, volcanoes, earthquakes, hot springs, etc., which are still active.
The next lecture was Ask the Greenland Ice Pilot presented by Torben Jacobsen. He was one of two “Ice Pilots” who boarded the ship in Qaqortoq, Greenland and rides with us to Reykjavik, Iceland to pilot the ship through ice and icebergs. They were helping the captain during our cruise through Prince Christian Sound. He is a Master seaman and a Danish Navy trained ship’s pilot who has worked in Greenland for the last six years. Lots of interesting information!
We had a late light lunch then went up to the Crow’s Nest. I went to a Magic Workshop given by magician, Marc Oberon and Jeff wrote in his blog. Marc demonstrated and explained several “easy” magic tricks which he said he took out of children’s magic books. Two of the tricks he claimed he learned from passengers on cruise ships. “Magic” is always fun to watch; even when it’s explained!
Later in the evening, we caught the 9:30 show of Not Really 3 Tenors. This was an amusing and entertaining variety act of three singers and comedians.