On a visit in a ghost town

After our last ice cruise with our comfortable Polarcirkel Boats yesterday evening in the wonderful and golden midnight sun, we sailed north through the Vaigat Strait where we planned a visit in Qullissat, an abandoned coal mining settlement in the NE of Disco Island. We landed in calm but cloudy conditions but over the morning we were there, the sun started to break through.

Qullissat was not a traditional Greenlandic settlement. Those were usually centred on good hunting and fishing areas with easy access to the sea. Qullissat was founded in 1924 as a mining settlement around extensive coal deposits. By 1965, the mining population including managers, workers and children numbered 1407 making it the third largest settlement in Greenland at that time! The mine was closed by the Danish government in 1972 due to unprofitability, this despite the fact that an estimated 100 million tonnes of coal were left in the ground in the general area. After closing the inhabitants, were forced to leave rather quickly and dispersed over the adjacent coastlines of Greenland.

Although the theme of the landing was the "ghost town", there was a lot of birds and most importantly, flowering plants to see. The lack of snow in the area suggested a warmer micro-climate and this was reflected in the several species of flowering plants that were seen.

Woolly Lousewort

Purple Saxifrage

We were thrilled to see Canada's gift to the world, the Canada Goose! Several were feeding above the shoreline.

Several of us were also lucky to see a very tame Arctic Hare.

Qasigiannguit

Today we remained in the Disko Island area. Overnight we circumnavigated half the island and ended up this morning in the town of Qasigiannguit. As with most towns and settlements in Greenland there is a long pre-history of use of the area by ancient native cultures. In "modern" times, the present settlement was founded as a trading post in the 1700s. Economically important activities today are fishing and growing tourism.

Although the skies were cloudy and some fog hung around, our spirits were not dampened as we ventured forth into the town- and what a fascinating place! Along the roadside, some Greenlandic dogs were lazing around. One female had a litter of pups, about 14 days old. They were totally adorable and seemed to be at home in the cool, outdoor conditions. From the very beginning of life, Greenland dogs have to get used to the cold!

Farther down the road we came to several old colonial buildings that formed the museum complex. The various stages of immigrations of Inuit peoples from Siberia through Alaska and Canada to Greenland were very nicely presented, as well as traditional clothing, local birds and many other topics.

On the way we saw many Snow Buntings, Lapland Buntings and Common Redpolls, like this male below.

In the afternoon, we had two taste-treats. On deck 7 the local Royal Greenland fish plant presented a tasting of the totally toothsome Greenland Halibut. It was amazing to taste the fresh fish prepared in different dishes. We got even a very nice and informative talk done by one of the managers of the fish factory. He was open for all our questions and now we feel like fish specialists. In town, a Kaffemik of coffee and traditional cakes was hosted by the Kindergarten Kulunnguaq in celebration of its 35th anniversary.

In the evening we cruised by the iceberg field off Ilulissat. The light was golden, the air was calm and there was a perfume in the air made by the plants of the sea. The massive icebergs stuck along an undersea ridge towered above the water. Some very blue ones floated by.

Some lucky guests were able to take a Polarcirkel boat cruise in amongst the ice!

Qeqertarsuaq

Now that Greenland is warming up a bit as the summer is about to start, we are venturing farther north along the coast of west Greenland. This morning, Fram anchored off the town of Qeqertarsuaq on Disko Island and from there we took our Polarcirkel boats ashore to explore the area. Through the day some of us we lucky to go on an ice cruise in one of our larger Polarcirkel boats. Conditions were a little cool but calm, which made all the difference.

The name Qeqertarsuaq in Greenlandic means "big island" and refers to the locality and Disko Island itself. If you see "suaq" at the end of any Greenlandic word it means "big". "Qeqertar" means "island". There is a long history of habitation here dating back to the paleo-Eskimo time, 4500 years ago. The modern town was established as a centre for whaling in the 1700s. In colonial times, Godhavn (the Danish name for the place = Good Harbour; we get "haven" from the Scandinavian "havn") was the administrative capital of north Greenland, while Nuuk was the capital of the south. This administrative importance came to an end in 1940, and Nuuk took over as capital of the whole island.

There were several options for our guests to enjoy the day and learn more about this great country of Greenland. Hikes, boat cruises and a tour of the city really gave us a clear overview of Greenlandic life in a small town. We present these images as an illustration of this beautiful day.

Passing the "Greenland dog circle"

After a very long day of travelling yesterday everybody enjoyed a long sleep before we started our different information briefings around 09:00h. It was quite a long way from Nuuk to Sisimiut, our destination for today, but the weather was nice and as we had nearly no wind we could feel only a bit of movement in the ship - just enough to let us sleep like a baby in a cradle. 

Sisimiut lays just north of the polar circle and we celebrated our "crossing the line" with a special baptism. We could even be happy that her Royal Highness King Neptune took the time to show up again himself for this very important ceremony.

The polar circle is not only a mathematical, cartographic line. It is also the boundary between the area in the south, where you can see all kinds of dogs and the region in the north, where only the Greenland dogs are allowed. The Greenland dog belongs to northern sledge dog breeds but it is the only dog breed in the whole world that was never ever crossbred with another dog breed. The Greenlanders are very proud of their very strong dogs. They are not bred for racing, they are working dogs, and have been for thousands of years. They need to be strong dogs to pull the sledges after a successful hunting day in wintertime. During the snow free time of the year they live with their pack together in special dog fields just outside the town. In former times the dogs belonged to the typical town picture. Today you find only here and there a dog in the middle of the Greenlandic cities.

Sisimiut is the second largest city after the capital Nuuk. It is an important modern business centre with different kind of schools, colleges and special administrations. Sisimiut tries always to be a bit in concurrence to Nuuk. Even though it is still much more smaller than Nuuk, the city has a very special charm. Only the old apartment blocks, built in the 1960s, when Denmark tried to get enough healthy living room for all Greenlanders in a very short time, look a bit strange in this modern city. But where in the world can you not find these architectural mistakes?! Anyway, we will focus on the colourful colonial and newer buildings which look very attractive all over the city.

Our day here in Sisimiut has been sunny but very, cold for this time of year. With temperatures of only 0.7 degree Celsius in the shade and a bit of wind it was downright chilly. It even snowed in the morning!

As a result we had to be dressed warmly to be ready for our different excursions. We had 7 hours time to learn the city and its surroundings by climbing on a high mountain, the so-called Palaasip Qaqqa, sailing with little local boats to a small abandoned settlement, Assaqutaq, or to go on a very informative bus tour with several stops, including a dog yard.

In Assaqutaq it has been especially nice to see so many birds- Snow Buntings and Lapland Buntings flying around. It looked like that they were absolutely happy that the spring came finally. They were singing and fluttering around all over in the settlement. Love was in the air!

As mentioned in a previous post on Assaqutaq, the abandoned settlement is now used as a camp for young Greenlanders. We were lucky that several delightful children were still in the camp and keen to chat with us and be photographed. These are the faces of the new Greenland- bright, clever, modern and optimistic!

Before we left Sisimiut we got like always when FRAM is in town an amazing kayak show. Nobody from us understood how it can be possible to do so many kayak rolls in a row, especially in this very cold and still winter temperatures in the sea.

Our first expedition day went out as a day full of new impressions. We will need a while to work on them, to get them all in our brain.