Nuuk, Greenland

This morning we flew to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland to meet up with our ship, the Viking Polaris and the rest of our cruise passengers. Greenland has hundreds of small islands all along its coast line which you really don't notice just looking at Google Maps. We just had time to get checked into the ship, take our luggage to the room and have a quick dinner before our first excursion.
We booked a private boat tout to Puffins Island. It is about an hour from the pier just across from our ship. The small boat company took us about an hour through many of the islands until we finally arrived at a small round island that is a Puffin nesting ground. There were at least a thousand Puffins living there in the small mud caves that they dig into the side of the island. In each of these tiny caves they live, make a nest and hatch their eggs every year. The Puffins mate for life and return to this island every year. It is only one of many islands inhabited by Puffins. They leave the island, fly to the ocean and dive for fish to feed their offspring. We are visiting late in the season, so we did not see any hatchlings. They are already grown enough to fly off on their own. We spend a lot of time circling the island viewing the Puffins in their nests, flying overhead and going back and forth from the island to the sea fishing for food. Soon they will migrate out to the ocean for the season and will return next season to start another family.
It was a great experience seeing an untouched piece of nature.Read more