Ilulissat, the iceberg capitol of the World

It is no wonder that the Greenlandic name Ilulissat means icebergs. The Kangia Icefjord, which is also an UNESCO World Heritage Site, south of Ilulissat, is the most productive glacier on the northern hemisphere. Each day the glacier calves enormous icebergs straight into the fjord leaving it packed with ice for more than 50 km.

Esther Kokmeijer

Esther Kokmeijer

For many of us onboard Fram Ilulissat was the most anticipated place on our fantastic explorer cruise. And the cruise among the colossal iceberg was truly phenomenal.

Esther Kokmeijer

Ilulissat is also the Greenlandic sledge dog capitol, there are several thousand dogs all around the outskirts of the town. The dogs are used for the fishing of the halibut, which is the main fishery of the town.

Most of us went on the amazing cruise among the huge icebergs. We have seen quite a few icebergs on our journey along the cost, but seeing them up close from the local excursion boats was another story. The size and amount of these gigantic ice sculptures was astounding.

Esther Kokmeijer

On the hike to the Sermermiut Icefjord we could see the icebergs from land and passed through the remains of the old Inuit settlement, which back 300 years ago was the largest settlement in Greenland.

Esther Kokmeijer

At 18.30 Fram gently passed the icebergs of Ilulissat and set out on the Disco Bay. There on the calm waters we enjoyed a splendid show in the Observation Lounge presented by the ever smiling and brilliant crew of MS Fram.  

Esther Kokmeijer

A Paradice Of Ice

Qullissat
Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

This morning, at 09:00, we had an unexpected, unscheduled landing at the abandoned coal mining town of Qullissat. It was an eerie feeling to wander around by all the abandoned homes, most of which are still in terrific condition. It seemed as if everyone walked away just yesterday. In it's heyday, Qullissat was the largest town in Greenland. However the coal mine was not profitable and was closed down in 1972.

Qullissat
Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

 

Once again the scenery is breathtaking.  Steep, layered cliffs rise dramatically just behind the ghost town.  Sparkling snow patches brighten the rocky landscape and the sky is streaked with equal swaths of blue and white.

Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

By 11:00 everyone was back on Fram and we were underway once again. 

Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

In the afternoon the King of all Seas, King Neptune, paid us a visit to exact a toll for having crossed the Arctic Circle. Icy cold water was poured down the back of the neck.  It is always surprising how many people line up to have ice dumped down their back!

Today is one of our really big ice days.  Our objective was to reach the area of the glacier, Eqip Sermia.  The cruise down the narrow channels can be very exciting as they are often chock-a-block full of ice.  

Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

As we got closer to Eqip Sermia the ice floes and icebergs got more and more concentrated, eventually blocking our path to the glacier.

This has happened to us before in this area and like before the decision to launch the Polar cirkel boats and go cruising in the ice was quickly made.

At 18:00 the first group of 5 boats headed into the dense ice.  There was a beautiful waterfall just abeam of the ship.  We cruised slowly through the ice in the small boats to the very base of the waterfall.  Just to the left of the waterfall was a small colony of cormorants.

It was great fun to navigate around icebergs in the small open leads in the ice.  It was practically wind free.  The  calm surface water mirrored the thousands of icebergs.  It was a paradice of ice for photographers.

Uummannaq - Côte d'Azur du Nord

It was hard to believe that we were actually some 590 kilometers above the Arctic Circle today. People were walking around in shorts and t-shirts today and when sitting at the little café Emma by the harbor in Uummannaq we might as well have been sitting outside a café by the Mediterranean coast.



Photo; Esther Kokmeijer



The magnificent Uummannaq Mountain with its very characteristic heart shape is an ever impressing sight. Landscape wise it is definitely the highlight of the journey and the town and the area is all over Greenland known for its beauty.



Photo; Esther Kokmeijer



Some of us had an amusing and educational talk with a local hunter and fisherman named Ole Quist.  He is now 63 years old but as lately as in December last year he shot a narwhale and if weather permits he will be out fishing for halibut every day.



Photo; Esther Kokmeijer

 Uummannaq is also known in all of Greenland and Denmark as the home of Santa Claus. This is because of a very famous Danish Christmas TV-show that was shot in Uummannaq in 1989. For the show a cozy little hut was built and that hut was the destination of many of us today. It was situated beautifully in a little bay about an hour walk from Uummannaq. On the way we had a fantastic view over the amazing Uummannaq fiord.



Photo; Esther Kokmeijer

 Late in the afternoon we went to the picturesque little village of Ukkussisat 50 km. north of Uummannaq. Some of the locals came to the ship and gave us a splendid show of the Greenlandic national dance – the Greenlandic polka.



Photo; Esther Kokmeijer



Afterwards the dance show we took our PolarCircle boats and spend the evening in the tiny and very cute village.



Photo; Esther Kokmeijer



And now as the sun is shining and it looks like it’s late in the afternoon it is actually midnight and we are slowly sailing south again, back to the impressing icebergs of the Disco Bay.



Photo; Esther Kokmeijer



Qeqertarsuaq

Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

Qeqertarsuaq is a small, picturesque community of 845 people on Disco Island.  Like all Greenland communities, it is perched on the ocean's edge.  Warm brown volcanic cliffs rise steeply right behind the town.  Just outside of town there is a beautiful beach of black sand.

Ice Cruise Disco Bay
Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

We had a multitude of excursions today.  There were two walks to the waterfall at Blaesedalen.  There were two different trips to go ice cruising in Disco Bay and there was a guided town walk.  Once again we had perfect weather so just about everyone was able to participate in at least one of our programs.

Minke Whale meat for sale
Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

Just across from the ship we could see the carcass of a Minke Whale that someone had butchered on the shoreline.  Some of us were able to cruise over in the Polar Cirkel boats for a closer look.  There was little more than the vertebrae left as the carcass had been stripped clean of meat to be consumed by the local people.  There is subsistence whaling in Greenland.  Roughly 170 Minke Whales are hunted every year as well as several other species.

After a fabulous day in Qeqertarsuaq we lifted anchor at 16:00 and headed out into Disco Bay.  There are always many hundreds, and sometimes many thousands of icebergs in the large bay and today wasn't any different.  We followed the coastline of disco island towards the north and our destinations of tomorrow Uummannaq and Ukkusisat. 

At 21:15 the ship's officers, Expedition Team and crew staged an entertaining fashion show of many of the items for sale in the gift shop.  

Sunny Sisimiut

The Greenlandic coastline greeted us with a thick fog as we looked out of our portholes this morning. But just as soon as the town of Sisimiut was in sight the fog lifted and a beautiful sunny day was awaiting us.

Sisimiut is the second largest town in Greenland and approx. 5500 people live here.

When Fram nicely laid alongside the pier we were in no doubt that we had entered a fishing town. The inner harbor was covered by an armada of both smaller and larger fishing vessels.

Prawns are the main catch for the fish processing plant, but the local fishermen also fish flounder, catfish, cod, and at this time of the year the caviar from the lumpfish.  Some of us went to Hotel Sisimiut and had a taste of some of these very tasty delicacies.

 

The most agile of us went out with local guides to hike to the top of the nearby Palasip Qaqqaa (Priest Mountain), which is 551 meters high. It was quite a hike but it was definitely worth the effort having the beautiful view over Sisimiut from the top of the mountain.

The rest of us stayed in Sisimiut and had either a nice city tour with the local guides or went on our own and some took the historical hike back in time and learned of how Sisimiut had been populated by various Inuit cultures dating back to 2500 BC and up to present times.

Before departing Sisimiut a local kayakman came and gave us an impressive show of his skills with a Greenlandic kayak (called qajaq in Greenlandic).

Now we are on our way to the town of Qeqertarsuaq and the expedition team have told us to start looking for icebergs.

Kangerlussuaq

Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

Our charter Greenland Air jet touched down in Kangerlussuaq at approximately 15:40.  

Kang’ is very near the Arctic Circle but we stepped off the plane into 17˚C and brilliant sunshine.  On our way here we flew over the second largest ice sheet in the world.  It was a stunning view of the Greenland Icecap!  With more than 2.6 million km³ of ice in Greenland and this far north, one would expect Greenland to be a lot colder. When we get back home how will we explain our tanned faces? But hey! Nobody is complaining.    In the summer Kangerlussuaq is the warmest inhabited place in Greenland.  In the winter it one of the coldest inhabited place.

Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

It was a short walk across the tarmac and into the small airport. The Expedition Team from the ship was there to greet us and to escort us to three waiting motor coaches. After a short twenty minute ride we arrived at a remote, but busy pier.   There was a freighter loading and offloading containers  and was anchored not far from Fram.

At the pier we were each issued a lifejacket and shown how to put them on. We hopped in the Polar Cirkel boats and enjoyed  a short ride to the ship.  Once on the ship we were issued ID cards and then shown to our cabins.

Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

  

At 18:10 we all took part in a mandatory safety drill outside, in the warm sunshine on deck 5.  It was quite interesting to observe the demonstration for donning the exposure suit and life vest.

Right after the drill 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 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.  The Expedition Leader, Anja Erdmann, then took over and introduced the members of her team.

  

It is a gorgeous evening to sail down the long and very beautiful Kangerlussuaq fjord. It will take about 9 hours for Fram to travel the length of this, the third largest fjord in Greenland.  

It has been a very long day for all of us but now we can all relax and let our Greenlandic adventure unfold.

Photo © Esther Kokmeijer

Itilleq: On the Arctic Circle

Photo © Andrew Wenzel

Itilleq is one of several small communities that we visit in Greenland on a regular basis.  In a way it feels a bit like coming home when we come here.  We have gotten to know some of the people here very well over the years.  So for the Expedition Team it is a very comfortable feeling to walk the streets of Itilleq and greet familiar faces.  

Photo © Andrew Wenzel

As has become the tradition in Itilleq, we were invited into people’s homes for a kaffemik.  A kaffemik is a social event where sweet baked goods are served along with tea and coffee (of course).  It is a nice way to get a peek inside people’s homes and to get to know them at least a little bit.  Our hosts are always gracious and the food and coffee delicious.

We had more gorgeous weather which made walking about the village a treat.  The houses are every colour of the rainbow plus a few colours not found in any earthly rainbow. 

Photo © Andrew Wenzel

For photographers there is lots to keep them happy.  There are always reindeer antlers lying in someone’s yard, there are the brightly coloured houses, the ubiqitous Greenland Dogs with perhaps a puppy or two and clothes out drying in the sun and wind.  Today someone had a full muskox hide drying in the sun while someone else had their colourful traditional costumes hanging to dry. 

Photo © Andrew Wenzel

All of it hand stitched.  The craftsmanship and fine detail in the clothing was impressive.

Today was our first visit to Itilleq of the season so that is always special and as always we played a soccer match which started at 15:00.  Fram vs Itilleq.  Much more often than not we lose and today was no different.  the final score of the game was Itilleq 5, Fram 3.

Now we are sailing south towards Kangerlussuaq Fjord.  Itilleq lies directly on the Arctic Circle.  Tonight we will once again have a sunset.

Ilulissat - The icy town

During the night we reached our northernmost point of our trip, Ilulissat. In English that means nothing else than ”the town at the Icebergs”. All excursions and all our plans for the day have been focused on ice. The most productive glacier of the northern hemisphere sends his icebergs in the Kangia Ice fjord next to Ilulissat. Icebergs in different shapes and sizes were lying in the sea around the town. We tried to reach them by small boats, we hiked to the ice fjord and some of us even flew with a small plane over the ice. It was an amazing day in an icy landscape.

We cannot explain this day with words. So look at the pictures and enjoy with us our incredible amazing experiences.

Sisimiut

“We shall not cease from exploration.  And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” 

T.S. Eliot.

Photo © Corina Gamma

The sun continued to light our path northwards as we plied our way towards Sisimiut.   

At 09:00 we crossed the Arctic Circle.  In recognition of that momentous occasion King Neptune himself paid a visit to Fram this morning but he declared that the price to be paid when crossing the Arctic Circle is baptism with frigid Arctic waters and ice,  all of which would be poured down the back of your neck!  Many people lined up and paid the frozen fee with a smile on their face.

“ We are now truly in the land of the midnight sun.  From June 3 until July 10, the sun never sets in Sisimiut.

Photo © Corina Gamma

At 11:00 Fram reduced speed and turned towards the coast and the entrance to Sisimiut harbour.  Snow patches covered the rocky shoreline in a quilt work of sparkling white and rocky browns.  We tied up at the pier a little ahead of schedule at 11:30.

Looking across the bay from Fram we could see the imposing mountain, Palassip Qaqqaa, where the long hike for the afternoon would take place. There was hardly a cloud in the sky.  Later in the day we heard from the weary hikers that the conditions encountered on the arduous trek were a little soggy but the views from the top were unparalleled. 

Photo © Corina Gamma

In fact everyone returned from their various excursions completely satisfied and with smiles on their faces.  

Today everyone had to be back on board the ship by 17:30 and at 18:00 we bid adieu to beautiful Sisimiut.

As we cruise northwards towards Ilulissat in Disko Bay the sun continues to shine.  
There is a light breeze and the seas are about a metre.  We are now truly in the land of the midnight sun.  From June 3 until July 10, the sun never sets in Sisimiut.

Photo © Corina Gamma