After returning to the ship at Red Bay, Captain van der Wal informed us that we would not be going to Cartwright (in Labrador, north of Red Bay) where we were scheduled to be today. I was looking forward to getting a peek at Labrador even further north, but apparently this year there is an abundance of icebergs and that, combined with a poor weather forecast, made it difficult to go on-shore with the tenders.
Apparently, a change of itinerary is not unusual, especially on this northerly cruise, and for ports of call without a cruise terminal, when you must depend on decent weather for the tenders. Last year, the visit to Nanortalik (Greenland)— our next destination— had to be canceled due to icebergs. As of now, Nanortalik looks good, but that can still change. All the destinations after Greenland have cruise terminals, so we are not likely to miss those.
First Iceberg Sighting at Red Bay
As we sailed out of Red Bay we saw several icebergs. One we could see from afar looked more like an ice island. The ship steered well clear of it. While navigating between icebergs, our ship went into a dense fogbank. I appreciated the navigation skills of our crew. Fortunately, the technology is a lot better than in the days of the Titanic.
The ship initially followed a more easterly course to clear “Iceberg Ally” (a.k.a. the Labrador Current) as quickly as possible. We did that around 10 AM this morning, and then we turned more north towards Nanortalik, where we are scheduled to arrive Saturday morning.
Photo © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.