Great X-ray

Today, I visited Dr. Einhorn and he indicated that today's X-ray is the best he has seen of my chest.  He feels that I continue to make great progress.  We will continue with the Avastin infusion every three weeks and will keep everything else as-is.  I no longer have any headaches now that my blood pressure is under control.  I have started to have some minor spots of very dry skin similar to what Jill has experienced - but they are simply a matter of using some cream.  I am back to the office pretty much full days - when I don't have doctor appts or other follow up stuff.  

Last night

Well...this is it - the last night. We've had all the fun, seen all the places, done all the things on this cruise. It has been another great cruise.

The last two sea days have been very relaxing. We've done basically nothing other than eat, sleep, play trivia, and watch entertainment.

Unlike many onboard who have commented that they are ready to get home, we could stay on for another cruise. But, I guess we must return home and I must do at least a little work.

Tomorrow AM we sail into NY and should get to see the Statue of Liberty if the sun is up and if we are awake. And, then if all goes well, we will fly home and be in Indy by mid-afternoon.

I can't wait for the next cruise and the next trip updates. Take care.

St Johns, Newfoundland

Very nice day in St Johns, Newfoundland. In the morning we walked into town - only a few hundred yards. Found a nice shop with Newfoundland-made sweaters. Jill got three - one very nice cardigan made of spun wool. All are wool and should be nice and warm for her.

In the afternoon, we took a tour of the Memorial University Botanical Gardens. Again, very nice and we had quite informative guides. Hopefully, I got a few good pictures. And, they served us yes and scones.

Upon departure, the ships in the harbor did an interesting "harbor concert" with all the boat sounding there horns to say goodbye. In signal hill (where Marconi received the first wireless radio signal) there was a Canadian Mounty during a three-shot goodbye signal to our ship. Obviously, they make quite a to-do about this here. They even held a ceremony to award our Capt the key to the city. Apparently, this is the first time for the Veendam to visit St Johns. Someone at the knout shop told me they only get a dozen or so ships per year.

St Johns was definitely one of the nicer stops on this cruise - and, unfortunately, it is our last port. Now that we have sailed, we have two full days at sea before we arrive in NY on Sunday.

Newfoundland

Today we anchored off St Anthony, Newfoundland. Another very small town.

We were to do out whale watching but we cancelled. We've had enough of small boats on the bouncy waters and cold temps. Apparently, the people on the tour that we cancelled saw whales and seals - but they said they froze and the boat they were on only had a very small inside protected area. That wouldn't have been good for us. It would have been nice to see the whales - but not at the expense of freezing.

Instead, we just took a tender into the port and walked and shopped a little. Jill got a locally knotted wool headband/ear cover and hand-knitted, wool/lined socks.

The Capt has announced that he expects the wind to pick up this afternoon and the seas will likely get choppy by the time we depart at around 2:30ish.

We have been invited to a dinner with the Capt and the Hotel Mgr tonight and we plan to attend. We went to a special luncheon a few days ago just for suite guests and the food was great. Expect the same tonight at this dinner.

Tonight we sail to St Johns, Newfoundland.

Greenland

Today we stepped onto land in Greenland. We anchored off Qaqortoq (ha-har-tock) and took tenders into the dock. Once there, we walked across the street to the store - and I really mean "the" store.

The attached pics show the entire town. Don't know if it shows up in the pics but the houses are mostly very colorfully painted in bright colors - bright blue, yellow, red, etc. Total population of 3500 in Qaqortoq. The town is on the southern end of Greenland.

After a few minutes walking around, most people turned around and returned to the ship. Lots of people bought souvenirs at the store - so I imagine our visit provided a nice boost to there economy. Jill got a mug and small reindeer - so we made our contribution.

There certainly isn't much to do - but most people just wanted to say they had been to Greenland. And one guy claims he saw a tree!!

Oh and of course, Jill won at the slots again last night!

Greenland

The wind has really kicked up as we go thru this narrow passage. Very high waterfalls with the water blowing in the strong wind.

A iceberg just passed that that was about 3X the size of one of our lifeboats. Sure wouldn't want to do a "Titanic" by hitting one of those.

Just got back from lunch. The passage has widened and has a few more icebergs. The misty rain has increased - so I am not sure how many more pics I can get. But, I'll give it a try if something good comes along.

High mountain peaks, fog islands - that's what we're seeing now. Still just about all grey rock. Haven't seen a glacier in a while but we still see the occassional waterfall. Haven't seen wildlife of any kind all day.

We've finished our scenic cruising through the fjord. I have included a photo of the white caps and waves as we re-enter the open ocean. The Capt says we should expect lots of rolling tonight. And, we'll see what the seas are like to determine if we are able to get into our Greenland port tomorrow.

Greenland

We are now entering Prince Christian Sund. Only about 20% of the ships are able to do so - due to problems with wind and waves. Luckily, we have only light wind and pretty smooth water. It is kinda foggy - but at least we're here.

It is cold - maybe low 40's. Light rain right now. The entrance to the fjord is all rock - grey rock. Some green - I imagine it is lichen.

The iceberg pic attached is the first within the fjord. This iceberg is about 70 feet above the water. Only about 10% of an iceberg is above the water.

Info tidbit - almost all of Greenland is covered by an ice cap that is up to two miles thick.

Brrrr, it feels like it is getting colder. We are observing from our verandah and I can only stay out for a few minutes - I am wearing a heavy Shetland wool sweater. They are reminding everyone to watch their hats because there are winds gusts of up to 40 knots.

Right now we are passing through a narrow passage. The Capt had said that he would need to make a decision as we got closer. Had to determine if there was too much ice blocking our way - he decided to continue.

Another tidbit, the rock here is apparently the oldest on earth. Glacier coming. I'll try to get a pic to attach.

Greenland at sea

Yesterday was a simple day at sea. No real news. Don't remember if I let you know that we finally won trivia on Friday night.

We will be cruising fjords in Greenland today. WOW!! We haven't gotten there yet - but the captain woke is at 7:45 to let us know that we were passing icebergs. Two so far and both are as big as our ship. Capt estimated the bigger one as at least 300 meters long and taller than our ship. We are passing the icebergs at about a half mile away but they still look huge. If I have figured it out, pictures should be attached.

To keep the emails smaller, I will send multiple updates today.