I may be riding on the most expensive pizza delivery truck in the world. We were cruising through Prince Christian Sound in southern Greenland, approaching the village of Aappilattoq, a town of around 200 people. The Captain came on the PA system and told him we were stopping to deliver pizza and coke to the town. As boats from the town came out to meet us the ship lowered a tender full of pizza and coke and headed for town. (That is what they asked for, as well as cigarettes.) The Captain said it was an isolated town and they deserved a treat. He also said that they were researching its landing to see if it would be an appropriate stop for a cruise ship. We were there for about an hour, in an incredibly beautiful place, sun playing with fog, ever changing. The tender made two trips and as we left the Captain came back on and said that if the weather were good we would make an unscheduled stop here on Tuesday to give “those who are fit and have good walking shoes” a brief stop to visit this isolated community.
Prins Christian Sund is a channel that allows you to go around the southern tip of Greenland without braving the seas and winds around Cape Farewell, which is a notorious stretch. I’ve read several whaling journals. Some of them have pen and ink drawings of Greenland drawn while transiting this passage. I looked at the drawings of the jagged and pointed peaks and thought “this is an exaggeration.” With these pictures, you can judge yourself. The southernmost sea outlet for the Greenland Icecap is into this sound and when the Captain first greeted us more than a week ago he said we may not be able to make the passage because of ice. Bergs calf and sometimes run aground in narrow places. But in the week intervening it cleared and we made it through in ever changing weather.
