July 31
Last night and this morning, we were unable to access the ship’s Internet- even at its slower speed, we tend to depend on it, so I will hopefully find wifi on shore. 

I went up to the Internet cafe and talked to the a manger there who said there is interference win the signal so no one can access it. Here is the info that I had read on the monitor there and asked him to print for me so I could include it in the blog:

At home the Internet data travels only until the closest local exchange which is no longer than a few miles from your home. The data travels through high speed optical fiber.

At sea the Internet data is transmitted over a slower wireless signal from the ship to the satellite 22,236 miles above the Earth. The data then bounces down to Earth, then back up again and finally back to the ship.

Depending on the latitude we’re sailing at, this can mean a trip of up to 100,000 miles for that Internet page I am waiting to load, that is a distance equivalent to a trip 4 times around the globe! So no wonder it sometimes is so slow, with that info at hand, I feel lucky to be connected at all!

We are in Nuuk, Greenland’s largest city and capital. It is also the world’s northernmost capital. It has a population of 15,000 which also makes it one of the least populated national capitals in the world. About a quarter of all of Greenland’s population lives here. As I wrote before, our hiking excursion was cancelled, so we will explore on our own or hire someone on shore. We were so fortunate to have a lovely, sunny day yesterday which they said happens only about 30 days a year. Today it is again very foggy. We are at the port, but they cannot operate the tenders safely since it is so foggy, so we are relaxing.. They say the fog may lift later.  

Ah, Internet is back, but the fog has not lifted! We just received an invitation to a coffee for the around the world guests and they say we will have other special dinners with the officers, cocktail parties and other gatherings. The experience is so wonderful so far and looks to get even more exciting. Once we reach Europe, we have ports almost every day, you will see by the itinerary.

Looking forward to meeting Edmee, an ICF colleague, in Amsterdam!