SLEEP DEPRIVED WITH BODY CLOCKS two hours off, I didn’t eat much for dinner and slept fitfully despite the gentle rocking of the ship. I did eat a good breakfast and was on deck as we docked in Sisimati, the northernmost ice-free port and the second largest (pop. 4500) “city” in Greenland. While the Vavilov tanked up with fresh water we walked around town, a poor man’s Luneburg, taking photos of the bright houses. The weather was spectacular, a rarity we are told for this part of the world. This is the last place we can dock — all future landings including our departure at Churchill will be via zodiac. And the weather is set to change — high winds are forecast for tonight so Connie and I split a Transderm-scop seasick patch. Hope they are still up to the task after all these years.
We’ve met most of the staff and several of our fellow passengers. Only Aaron was on our Antarctica cruise but all of the staff seem friendly and competent. Mammalian megafauna, not birds, are the draw in the high Arctic so we have had to seek out fellow birders. We’ve sort of teamed up with Marilyn from Australia, who confided her life-list is 7 shy of 6000. Most impressive!
