06.09.2023 Sissimiut Greenland and What's in the Water

 Dreadful drizzly and cold day, Morgan and I have opted to stay in the warm today and are sending the Master and Missus out to look at the place and report back. There is a mountain here called the Lady's Bonnet because of its shape, but you cannot see any mountain tops today. The Roald Amundsen is actually docking in the harbour today so everyone will be able to walk off the ship. It will be serviced while here e.g. all waste removed and some supplies to come on board. 

Master and Missus sallied forth in the cold drizzly weather and managed to find the museum and  souvenir  shop. It was terribly crowded in there with our people and others from another ship, so Missus bought some cookie cutters and then they came back to the ship for a light lunch. Time was a bit tight as they were going on a coach tour of Sisimiut in the afternoon. The coach picked them up on the dock side. They had an interesting Danish guide. The tour took them all around the town. Sisimiut is the 2nd largest town in Greenland and had celebrated its 200th anniversary in the 1980s. There was a nice  bronze statue of a fisherman pulling out Halibut. They were taken to the highest point of the town were they could see all around and take pictures. They visited the Sled dogs, where the bus stopped and people got out to photograph the dogs. (I think someone picked up some fleas and one got onto Missus and she was bitten on her leg that night, but that's another story). In Sisimuit there is a very interesting college which teaches the making of the traditional Greenland Costume. It takes 5 years to become qualified. The traditional costume is made out of Sealskin. They have to learn how to prepare the skin, and be able to cut and sew the skin. They have to make a Man's, a Woman's and a child's costume before they graduate. They have a lot of winter weddings in Greenland as they like to wear Traditional dress, which is too hot in summer! I barely believed Missus when she told me her next story. They needed to make their church bigger so they cut off the Choir and then pulled it out 10m and then filled in the open space with more Nave. Missus showed us a photo of the church in two pieces, Morgan and I were agog.

                   Halibut Fishing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Sisimiut in the 1980s

The Greenland Sled Dogs at the dog centre in Sissimuit

Missus told me a story about this ship we had seen, while we were in Sissimuit. It is called the Ocean Explorer, a small Luxury cruise ship run by Aurora Expeditions.  It was moored in the bay the day we were in port, a safe place for it to be! Because, when we got home to England we read that it had gone round to the East Coast of Greenland and had got well and truly stuck in the sand and mud. It was there for a few days and eventually it was refloated with the help of a Fisheries research vessel and the Coastguard. It has gone to another port where they can send a camera down to view the bottom to see what damage there maybe. Some Americans on board our ship knew someone who was on board that ship. What a story to tell.

Also, in places we have stopped at a boat full of 'Citizen Scientists' has gone out to sample the water.  Back on board the water has been looked at for microscopic organisms. There is concern that vital small organisms in the water are not as plentiful as they used to be. These creatures are a vital part of the oceans food chain. At Sisimiut there was very little in the water, a lot less than they were expecting. These water samples are also going to be sent to a lab for further testing. The sea is also becoming more acidic because there is more Co2 being taken up and dissolving in the water. Emily, one of the scientists set up, the samples in a Petri Dish on the microscope that was linked to the screens around the science centre, so that we could all see the samples. The water had been taken from two levels, near the surface and from 7m down. We saw a Copepod Larvae that could be either a sea urchin or a sea cucumber, it is not easy to tell at this stage. Dinophlagelates which are a Phytoplankton that photosynthesise, a single Diatom, these are usually found in chains this was a golden brown colour. In each sample there was only one or two of these creatures there should have been a lot more. One creature we did see was a tiny Jelly fish, these can tolerate acidification so therefore could become more prolific, they are however not nutritious.

Diatom

Young Jellyfish 

Quite an interesting day.