A Photo Essay of Today

I strolled out on deck at 07:30.  It was a gorgeous day.  The sun was shining. Northern Fulmars glided effortlessly over the sea.  Occasionally a seal popped up and then dived again almost immediately. There was an Arctic edge to the cool freshness off the air. The Arctic.  We were now well above the Arctic Circle and headed for a full day in Sisimiut.
There were lots of things for people to do upon our arrival in Sismiut. There were multiple historic hikes to Tele Island, several excursions by boat to the ghost town of Assaqutaq, a museum to visit and on a beautiful day like today it was fine just to stroll about town on your own.

Some of the photos of today include a lot of small fish which are called Ammassat in Greenland (you might know them as Capelin). This is the time when Ammassat are spawning in huge numbers. They seek out sandy shallow areas and come right up onto beaches during spawning season. The small fish are then easily collected in nets. In these photos someone has put the Ammassat on rocks to dry.
Our day in Sismiut ended with a really terrific demonstration of kayaking skills by a local Greenlandic gentleman.

The Land of Perpetual Daylight.

As our aircraft approached the west coast of Greenland we began our descent.  We passed through the final layers of soft, white clouds when suddenly we were looking at  another layer of white far below.  It was the Greenland Icecap, the second largest field of ice in the world covering 1,710,000 square kilometres (660,235 sq. mi).  It's an amazing amount of fresh water locked in ice: 2,850,000 cubic kilometres of ice (683.751 cu mi.)  Such an enormous volume of ice is difficult to comprehend.  As far as you could see, ice sparkled in the sun.   It was beautiful!  Approaching Kangerlussuaq the ice gradually gave way to rock and moraine.  On our final descent we could see the MV Fram at anchor at the head of the fjord and then with a bump and a roar of the engines we touched down.  Greenland at last!

A short walk across the tarmac brought us to the airport terminal where several members of the Expedition Team escorted us out to four waiting motor coaches.  It was another beautiful day in Kangerlussuaq.  In fact Kangerlussuaq consistently has the best weather in all of Greenland.

In about twenty minutes we arrived at the end of the road at the head of Kangerlussuaq fjord and the real beginning of our adventure in Greenland.  In short order we were issued life jackets and then made the short ride in the Polar Cirkle boats to the MV Fram.  Once onboard we were issued ID cards and escorted to our cabins.  Our home away from home.

Around 16:00 we lifted anchor.  Before us lay 190 kilometres of beautiful scenery to cruise through before reaching the head of the fjord and plenty of daylight to see it all.  We are now in the land of perpetual daylight.

At 20:30 we had a mandatory safety drill which was followed by the Captain's Welcome and an introduction to many of the key personnel on the ship.
To visit Greenland is a dream for many people and now, for many people, that dream has just become a reality.

 

Ilulissat - the place with icebergs

… and now we know why it is called like that. When we looked out in morning, we were surrounded by icebergs, countless and of more than thousands of different shapes. The Disko Bay is a terrific ice world, full of magic and myth. And today was a special day with sunshine and a beautiful blue sky.

The first boat trips to the icefjord started at 9.30 am and lasted 2 ½ hours. All our guests were happy and returned with a special smile on their faces. And so it was the next four boats, all the people were very glad and this trip was really one of the highlights, or maybe the highlight of our cruising.

Most of us made the hike to the icefjord. It was hypnotizing to sit on the rocks and simply stare at the ice.

Ilulissat is the tourist capitol of Greenland. If you had not already found a souvenir, you would certainly find it here. Ilulissat has gotten several nice boutiques with beautiful Greenlandic handicraft.

The day ended with the fabulous and very entertaining cruise-show, which was big success!

A lot of white dots

Neptune, the master of the sea, welcomed us when we passed the Arctic Circle and were baptized. After this special event it was time for visiting Sisimiut, the second largest town in Greenland. The beautiful mountain landscape was doted by snow fields. Even in town there was still snow and private boats were still on shore.

Sisimiut is a very busy fishing town, so because a huge trawler was unloading its catch of prawns the same day as we arrived, we had to use our Polar Circle Boats to get to land, as there was no place on the pier for us at the same time. It was actually for many of the passengers quite a thrilling experience to sail in these fairly small and fast boats which can only take 8 passengers at a time.

Shortly after arriving we started with our excursions, one went to the abandoned settlement Assaqutaq. Assaqutaq is situated close to Sisimiut and was closed in the 70ties. It is now partly used as a place for summer education. A very beautiful place and strange at the same time with the empty and warn down houses among colorful buildings still in use.

Others took the walk back in history to the Tele Island, a place right on the outskirt of Sisimiut. There you can find the foundations of both old Inuit dwellings dating back to the 15th century and buildings made by some of the first Danish settlers in the area.

Before we left Sisimiut two men in kayaks came to the ship and gave us an impressing show of their skills in a kayak. They showed us a variety of ways to do the kayak roll, which still to this day is essential if you go out kayaking in the ice cold Greenlandic waters.

Nuuk York...

Compared to the rest of the towns and settlements in Greenland, Nuuk is very different. The young people in Nuuk like to refer to the town as Nuuk York!

And it was surprising that a town of some 16.000 inhabitants could bring such an atmosphere of being a big little city.

This must be due to the fact that Nuuk is the capitol of Greenland and thereby have most of the facilities one expects to find in a capitol.

We arrived quite early and the first buses started the trips to town. The city sightseeing tour was exciting especially the stops at swimming hall, which looks like a wave and that is the meaning of its name, Malik. Nuuk is a big city and keeps on growing. Down town some of the old residential blocks from the 1960s will disappear the next years. The final stop was at the National museum which most of us visited. But one of the nicest things to do was shopping, because in Nuuk are a lot of fine shops and cafes.

Others went on a boat trip into the Nuuk fiord, where some were lucky seeing some whales.

It was real interesting day and final ending was the amazing ice and fruit carving by members of the kitchen in the Observation Lounge.

The first day in paradise

The morning started like the evening ended, again fog but above the thin layer of clouds you could see the sunshine. And when we approached the harbor of Paamiut the sun shined. It was exciting to get off the ship after three sea days. The colorful houses and the beautiful church right in the middle of the old town looked beautiful and invited us inside for visits. We enjoyed the view from a little tower on the hill, admired the church, which is built in the style of a Norwegian stab church.

The people of Paamiut had only been given notice one day ahead of our visit to the. So with that in mind it was amazing how much they were able to arrange for our stay in the town. All the shops or places of interest had gotten a little paper sign stating what could be seen inside, in Danish, English, Greenlandic and German. In the community house some of the women in town had put up small tables showing their skills in how to make products and clothes from sealskin and pearls. The town choir had a beautiful concert in the church and most of them had put on their national costumes.

Everywhere in town we were greeted by smiling faces and as much as we enjoyed our visit in town we also were a spectacle for the people of Paamiut as they do not normally receive visits by cruise ships. We were the first and probably the last ship this summer to visit Paamiut.

Fog, fog, fog…

Yes, at this blog we like to use the same three words when we have had an experience that has filled a lot of the day. And we must say that the fog was somewhat present all day.

All through the night Fram more or less bumped her way through the huge amount of ice. We were all night on our way and our fine ship stood her test and definitely proved that she is ice proven and worthy of being certified to sail the Arctic and Antarctic seas!

But despite of the hard work of the ship and of our captain and officers on MS Fram, we were so delayed by the ice that we had to give up going to Qaqortoq. Later in the day we also had to give up going to Qassiarsuk as we could get stuck in the fiord if the ice would close the mouth of the fiord.

Besides listening to the various lectures, time was also spent at the little cafeteria or the panorama lounge, where some played cards, others backgammon or maybe just reading a book or making new friends onboard the ship.

And again two interesting lectures about Greenland, whales and as a surprise a movie about ice. In the evening we heard about our next destination, the town Paamiut, which we would reach at noon the next day. The last highlight of the day was the Chilean buffet and a dancing night in the fog.

 

Ice, ice, ice…

Yes, sometimes you get what you want and then a little bit more!

The day started beautifully with the sun shining all over the gentle waves. A nice change from some of the more cloudy and rainy days we had had in the North Atlantic.

It was another sea day, so our lectures were once again busy explaining the history of Greenland and the introductions to our first visit in Greenland in the town of Qaqortoq.

We also learned of the many various forms of ice we could encounter here in the Greenlandic waters and Janus told about his experiences during a 10 month stay in a very small North Greenlandic settlement.

Late in the afternoon we saw the first ice and shortly after entering the ice we were greeted by the first seal lying on the ice barely noticing us. It lifted its head, looked at us and then went back to sleep. Probably it was the seals first encounter with humans!

Late in the evening it started getting a bit more intensive with the ice. Around 10 pm Fram bumped into the first piece of ice in order for it to move, so we could pass through. Some 20 minutes later we bumped into the next ice flow and looking out from the windows we were more or less surrounded by ice.

It was a thrilling experience to stand out side on the deck and look at the ship muscle its way through the ice with its searchlights scanning to find a way through the immense masses of ice.

The ice was thick and combined with the fog it was hard to believe that Eric the Red had gone through the same conditions with just a small wooden ship in his endeavor to reach Greenland more than a thousand years ago.

Around 1 a.m. most of us went to bed to the sound and movements of Fram banging fairy gently into the ice flows.

Waves, waves, waves ….

... and again a day at sea on our way to Greenland. Denmark Strait was quite bumpy in the morning, but we were all very experienced and the lecture halls filled up. Katja gave a lecture about the Way of Life of the Vikings and Sabine about the History of Greenland. Our photographer Barbara showed some hints and tricks for perfect photos and Klaus informed about ice and glaciers. All the lectures were repeated in the afternoon and meanwhile the sea calmed down.

In the observations lounge was waffle time. And what happened outside? The sky was like a silver blanket upon a dark grey sea. From time to time we were accompanied by some gulls.

The highlight of the evening was the Fashion Show with our international mannequins, the crew and staff members, hosted by Peter.