Day 172 – Sail the North Atlantic Ocean

We left Iceland last night and are sailing the North Atlantic Ocean today on our way to Greenland. We will be at sea for the next two days.

Since we are crossing the Arctic Circle today, Viking Sky conducted a Blue Nose Ceremony to mark this nautical milestone with a time-honored seafaring tradition. Since I had missed the ceremony when we crossed the Arctic Circle on our last segment, I made a point to attend the one today.

On Viking, the tradition includes a plunge into an icy bath (the jacuzzi filled with ice cubes), a symbolic blue nose (blue icing), and a warming shot (Aquavit). It was fun to watch the officers set the stage and fill the jacuzzi with tubs and bags of ice. 

Preparations for the Blue Nose Ceremony

More than a dozen passengers and two Viking vocalists took the plunge, and then Hotel General Manager Marcel painted their noses blue. He, and all the others, seemed to be having a lot of fun. I had no intention of getting into that freezing water, but I was able to “cheat” and dip my fingers into the pool to earn my blue nose.

Hotel General Manager Marcel Was Painting Everyone's Noses Blue

After all that fun, Tim and I watched another of Russell Lee’s lectures on “The Mystery of the Celtic Sprites.” I had never heard of the Lewis Chessmen, a collection of carved walrus tusk chess pieces from the twelfth century, that were discovered on the Isle of Lewis in 1831. We learned what these artifacts could tell us about the Vikings.

The Mystery of the Celtic Sprites

After enjoying cherries jubilee and bananas foster topped with vanilla gelato at the Flambé and Hot Dessert Station, it was time for another lecture. Dr. Jeffrey Morton talked about “Greenland: Jewel of the North Atlantic” and helped us understand Greenland’s complicated relationship with Denmark and its move toward independence.

Greenland: Jewel of the North Atlantic

As I write this in real time, the seas are getting rougher, and we were told to expect very rocky conditions with high waves tonight. It’s so strange that we have had more bad weather in the last week than in the previous five months.