Our charter Greenland Air jet touched down in Kangerlussuaq at 15:40. We disembarked the plane into 14˚C brilliant sunshine. Could this really be Greenland? We just flew over the second largest ice sheet in the world (the views were spectacular)! There is 2.6 million km³ of ice in Greenland. Shouldn't this be a cold place? It seemed more like landing in Phoenix Arizona than the second largest ice machine on earth. In the summer Kangerlussuaq is the warmest inhabited place in Greenland. In the winter it is the coldest inhabited place.
We walked the 200 metres across the tarmac and into the small airport. The Expedition Team from the ship was there to greet us and to show us to three waiting motor coaches. It was a short twenty minute ride to the ship. The road we travelled is the longest road in Greenland. In all of Greenland there are only 150km of roads! This road ended abruptly at the head of the fjord.
We were each issued a lifejacket and shown how to put them on. We hopped in the Polar Cirkel boats and enjoyed short ride to the ship. Once on the ship we were issued ID cards and then shown to our cabins. Then it was time for a delicious buffet dinner. By the time we finished dinner and returned to our cabins our luggage had been delivered.
At 20:30 we all dressed warmly for a mandatory safety drill outside on deck 5. Following the drill we were invited to the Observation Lounge for the Captain's welcome cocktail. The Captain gave a speech and then introduced us to key members of all of the departments of the ship. We were then introduced to the team from Kontiki and the Expedition Team from Fram.
It is an absolutely gorgeous evening to sail down this long and very beautiful fjord.
It will take about 9 hours for Fram to travel the length of Kangerlussuaq Fjord. It is the third largest fjord in Greenland. It has been a very long day but now our adventure in Greenland begins!
