JodockWorldTravel

August 1, 2025

Today is our third day at sea. We were originally scheduled to have one day at sea after Halifax followed by a stop in Newfoundland, but one of the passengers had a medical emergency on the way there and because of the limited healthcare available in Newfoundland we had to return to Halifax so he could get the care he needed. It’s a long way from Canada to Greenland by ship, so we had to forego Newfoundland. Fortunately for us, we had the pleasure of visiting St. John’s, Newfoundland back in 2019, so we don’t feel like we totally missed out. Those of you curious about what you might have missed might want to check out our post from that visit: https://jodockworldtravel.com/2019/07/04/puffins-and-gannets-and-whales-oh-my-st-johns-newfoundland-cIvanada-06-29-2019/

So in lieu of a post on Newfoundland you’re going to get an introduction to Greenland, that geographic oxymoron, 80% of which is covered by an ice sheet second in size only to Antarctica. Two-thirds of Greenland lies within the Arctic Circle and it is only 500 miles from the North Pole. I wonder if Santa vacations here? As the least densely populated country in the world it would be a great place to get away from it all!

Greenland is the world’s largest island; most of its communities can be accessed only by water. Three times the state of Texas, with a total population of fewer than 60,000 people, it is actually 3.5 times smaller than Australia, but Australia’s classification as a continent takes it out of the running for biggest island. Does anyone know why Greenland is NOT a continent? We were curious about that ourselves, so we looked it up. While there are no “formal” guidelines on what it takes to be a continent there are several generally accepted qualifiers. First and foremost, you must have your very own tectonic plate. Greenland shares its North American tectonic plate with, several countries, including Canada and the U.S. A continent must also have its own distinct flora and fauna; the flora and fauna found on Greenland are unique, but many are found elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. Finally, a continent should have cultural characteristics not found anywhere else in the world. Greenland’s indigenous population, the Inuit, have also made their home in other Arctic regions, like Alaska and Canada.

Perhaps Greenland’s most well-known claim to fame is that it is the home of Erik the Red, famous for having named the Island and for being the father of Leif Erikson, credited with having been the first European to set foot on North America’s shores, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

Erik the Red was originally born in Norway and earned his nickname because of his fiery red hair and beard. Some say it was also related to his somewhat…passionate… personality that led to some fairly violent tendencies that got him banned from both Norway and Iceland. It was during a banishment from Iceland that Erik came upon Greenland and decided to settle there. Upon the end of his exile, he returned home to recruit others to help him settle this new land. Hoping to make the idea of leaving their homeland more appealing, Erik named the new country Greenland. It worked! In 985 Erik the Red sailed with 25 ships from Iceland to Greenland to establish the colonies of Qaqortoq and Nuuk. We will be visiting one of those colonies tomorrow, Qaqortoq.