Sisimiut – Here we come!

Today we visited Sisimiut, Greenland´s second largest city. The city was founded as a colony in 1764 by Hans Egede and he named it Holsteinsborg, after the famous missionary, Johan Ludvig Holstein zu Ledreborg. The first people that were living in this area have been the people of the Saqqaq and Dorset Culture. So you can say that the region was settled at least since 4500 years.

Hans Egede has been the first Missionary in Greenland. He hoped to find the descendents of the Vikings and he has been very disappointed when he “only” found the Inuit in Greenland. As there have been no Vikings any more he brought the Christianity to the Inuit.

Other missionaries tried to establish a settlement at this place before. But the Dutch whalers that had a station in this area prevented this for many years. During a huge pox epidemic in 1801 the colony was nearly lost as almost the whole population died.

When you are walking through Sisimiut you can still see the colonial center. The Bethel Church is the oldest well preserved church in Greenland.

Sisimiut, the name means the settlement next to the fox´s den, is a very modern town with 5200 inhabitants. Sisimiut is a central business center and an important shipping base for western and northwestern Greenland as it has the northernmost year-round ice-free port. So you can find the world´s largest factory for deep water shrimps in the harbor.

Sisimiut is the first town with Greenlandic dogs on our trip as we are north of the Polar circle, the so called dog equator. These working dogs have been never ever mixed with other dogs and belong to the world´s oldest dog breeds. 

During the night we made our way under the beautiful light of the midnight sun in the direction of Qeqertarssuaq. Around 24h we saw our first icebergs.

A busy long day!

It is the changeover day again, a hard and busy day for everybody. In the morning it was time to say good bye to our passengers and later on it was time to say hallo to the new incoming guests.

Good by my dear friend!



Let's go to the Icecap

For all passengers it was a long day. Those that were leaving the ship had time for a trip to the icecap in these huge “Tundra busses” and a nice BBQ in the evening before they flew home. Incoming guests arrived in Kangerlussuaq in the afternoon and were brought to MV FRAM directly.

Let's be prepared for the first Polarcircel Boat Cruise

The crew used the time to clean the ship during the whole day so that everything looked very nice for the new incoming guests. Of course the crew is cleaning everything all the time, but on a changeover day without any passengers aboard there are more special things to do. So it is a hard day for the crew too.

After a first delicate dinner buffet and the mandatory emergency drill for our guests our Captain Arild Hȧrvik welcomed everybody in the observation lounge. The expedition leader Karin Strand introduced us later to her expedition team.

During the night we sailed through the Kangerlussuaq Fjord to the open sea to our next destination Sisimiut.


Captain: Let's go!



The "Way of Life”

Today we had our last day aboard. In the morning we got our final lectures and information from the expedition team and after lunch we had our very last landing before we will leave MV FRAM tomorrow.

We spent an enjoyable afternoon in Itilleq and we got many good impressions of the “way of life” in this small settlement. Look at our pictures and you can share our experiences with us.

 

Our Day in Disko Bay

We expected to spend our day in Ilulissat, but today we should learn that ice is not always nice. Especially when you have too much ice, ice is not nice. Ice can turn your itinerary completely upside down. So we had to accept that we could not reach Ilulissat as the ice belt around the city has been too dense. At the first moment it was not so easy for us, but we all came to Greenland to see and to learn about the Greenlandic nature and now we had to recognize that the nature is always the winner. The only thing we can do is to accept it.

Of course our Expedition Leader had prepared a plan B. And so we made our way to Qasigiannguit that is also called the Perl of the Disko Bay.

We explored the city guided by our lecturer staff. We visited the museum area and we have been very astonished that such a small city has such an amazing museum.

Later on the Qasigiannguit Choir gave us an unforgettable concert in the nice church of the city.

After dinner we enjoyed the very famous MV FRAM crew show. A big thank you to the crew that you gave us such a wonderful evening!

An icy day with a surprise

The midnight sun was just too magnificent and one did not want to loose a moment! Tired eyes were however clearly gone in the fresh morning air when we made an extra landing at Qulissat on Disko Island. Qulissat is an old, now abandoned mining settlement. It was founded in 1924 as a coal mining town and in its heydays had 1200 inhabitants. The mine operated for 48 years until 1972, when the economic base of the settlement collapsed, leading to its abandonment. We landed at the beach- and figured out soon that the place was not so abandoned after all: two retired men live here at the moment to spent their summer months. We walked through the settlement, Birger talked about the life in a small community, Miki found an old open house with a toy collection from the good old days and so everyone enjoyed the morning stroll…

We said that there was not much sleep in the morning. In the evening, suddenly you could hear people running to the outside decks, grabbing their cameras and just disappearing! “A bowhead whale straight ahead” was the announcement! A bowhead whale? Our geographer Friederike nearly fainted as she has been coming to Greenland for over 30 years and had never seen one! But there it was: always close to the ice, it moved its 100tones with ease. Characteristic for a bowhead whale is the large head which takes approximately 1/3 of the entire body proportion!

When we reached Arveprinsens Island it became clear that there was a lot of ice ahead. Even King Neptun, who suddenly appeared on our very own deck 5, was speechless. We had hoped to reach the glaciar Eqip Sermia in the late afternoon for some hiking, but this was clearly no option today. But- icebergs, a beautiful surrounding and a calm sea can only mean one thing: Time to get dressed warmly in our thermal suites and out we went with the Polar Cirkle boats! To sit on water level and then suddenly having the ice so close and from a different perspective was something one will not forget.

A day in Uummannaq and Ukussisat north of Nuussuaq!

If you struggle at home with the right pronunciation of all these Greenlandic names you can be sure, it is not so easy for us too. But we try to do our best and our Greenlandic lecturers do a good job to teach us.

 



Uummannaq is the town with the huge heart shaped mountain as its landmark. People welcomed us so nicely that we had the feeling that all inhabitants of Uummannaq have a big heart too. It was easy to walk through the city and get in contact with the residents. Some of us had even a meeting with some citizens and they got a lot of information about the life in a Greenlandic little town.

Others have been more interested in the geology of the region. By boat they sailed along the icy coastline to the so called “Red dessert”. This place is famous for it´s special rock formation. As there is so much sulfur on the Island the region looks slightly like a moon landscape.

At lunchtime other passengers used the possibility to taste Greenlandic food. Food is always a good option to get more impressions about the way of life in a country.

In the afternoon the hikers got their chance again. Along the “heart mountain” they reached “Santa´s Cabin”, a little hut that was built as a film coulisse for a Christmas film at the Danish TV.

Back on board our Chef Eric was waiting for us on Deck 7 to give us an explanation about dry fish. Of course we could get a taste of it also. For most of the guests it has been a new experience.

In the evening, after a wonderful cruise through a world of ice, we reached Ukussisat – a small settlement nearby –. As HURTIGRUTEN visits this little village since years the inhabitants were waiting and waving for us when MV FRAM arrived. But before we could discover Ukussisat by ourselves many inhabitants visited us aboard and gave us a nice demonstration of their singing and dancing.  

Welcome to the big island – Welcome to Qeqertarsuaq!

During the night we were heading forward to Qeqertarsuaq - a small settlement on Disko Island - that was well-known during the whaling time as Godhavn. The weather was still amazing. As we are here during the midnight sun we have sunshine for 24 hours. Exactly at 24h last night we could see our first icebergs sailing smoothly through the calm sea in a very golden light. Some of us were not even thinking about sleeping as long there was such an unforgettable nice iceberg ally next to the vessel.

As soon as we reached the harbor of Qeqertarsuaq we started our landing with our little Polarcircel Boats. In several groups we went on a nice hike to the so called “Valley of the wind”. We have just spring time on the Disko Island. The typical Table Mountains – formed during a volcanic period 55 to 60 Million years ago - are still a little bit covered with snow but the tundra is blooming already.

Some passengers joined a guided tour through the little village. It was nice to get at least a first impression about the life in a small Greenlandic settlement.

Back to the vessel it was lecture time. Our lecturer team started to teach us in three different languages. Hopefully we will remember at least a small part of all these nicely given lectures.

Now in the late evening the sea is so calm that the mountains are reflected in the sea like in a mirror. The icebergs are shining golden again. And once more it is difficult to go to bed. When will we see a landscape like this – especially under this unbelievable conditions – again?