Good-bye Kalaallit Nunaat

Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "land of the Greenlanders” as the locals call their country, lies far behind us now. Two days at sea separate us from Canada, but as the weather and wave conditions are really good, these two days are welcome in order to relax and take in all the many impressions and experiences we have had so long. While letting the eyes lazily glide over the ocean, with our inner eyes we let once more pass by the images of ice, glaciers, mountains, friendly people in colourful costumes and of course some Viking ruins.

And for those not in the relaxing mood, there was again a full program of different talks to keep everybody busy. Lectures covered waves and whales, but also birds, climate, photography and life in modern Greenland.

In the afternoon passengers and staff alike were magically attracted to the Observation Lounge, from where a tempting scent of fresh waffles was spreading around the whole ship.

With cream, jam or the Norwegian brown cheese they were simply delicious.

Another sport of the day was trying to take pictures of the birds that accompanied Fram all day long. Most of them were fulmars, relatives of the mighty albatrosses in the southern hemisphere. Both belong to the tubenoses and are truly marine creatures. They only return to land for breeding while spending the rest of their lives at the ocean. Fulmars come in two morphs: one form is totally dark grey, whereas the other has a snowy white body and grey upper wings. The dark morph can only be found in the high north, and therefore we were delighted to see some of them within the flocks of the more common white form. Occasionally, the birds came so close to the ship, that we could almost touch them (yes!). Suddenly, the big telemetry lens were useless and wide-angle lens became much more appropriate to take good shots!

Well, tomorrow is another day and maybe a chance to try once more our luck.