I went to the gym at 0630 as it was light and I was awake. While rowing away on deck 6 I saw a zodiac rendezvous with our sister ship where they swopped gear. Then it was full steam ahead to Sisimiut, the second largest town in Greenland @ 5500 - the total population is 55,000. We docked alongside and disembarked for 2 hour walking tours of the city. We had lovely sunny weather and at times felt slightly overdressed in our warm clothes but every now and again a cool breeze put the warmth in check.
The bright houses were green, blue red and yellow and in the past the colours indicated their function today eg green was telecoms and blue fishermen, today it's a matter of personal choice.
There were also a lot of pure Greenland working sled dogs chained up having their summer rest - some were at their owners houses while most were at the end of town in the dog yard - no doubt because of the smell - the puppies running round were cute albeit we were under strict instructions not to touch the working dogs - I avoided both!
The final stop was back at the museum for a tasting of their food - whale meat, seal and whale blubber, small fish and reindeer meat stew - not easy to be a vegetarian - I looked but avoided trying anything and the smell did not whet John's appetite so we made our way back to the ship.
Fishing is still a big part of their lives and we passed the boats in the harbour - this is also hunting season and we did see one man walking through town with a rifle - reindeer or musk oxen would have been on his list. There was also a shop that sold the hunters products be they sea or land based as well as the more normal supermarkets.
When we retuned alongside our ship was a big fuel carrier piping on the fuel for the rest of the voyage - first time we have seen a ship refueling.
We relaxed onboard and after our mandatory zodiac briefing we were treated, by a local kayak champion in a traditional sealskin covered canoe and seal skin suit, to a demonstration of rolling and critical canoe skills required by hunters if their canoes are overturned by walruses etc. Kayaks are still used today and are a key part of family life.....we saw several at the kayak club on our city tour.