We
have reached the ice.
Funny
material, ice: It is so much more predictable when it is really cold outside,
the frost keeps it well in place. But comes springtime, then it starts moving.
Incredible amounts of white begin to follow the major currents, and one of them
is bringing them to Greenland’s South, to Kap Farwell. But the journey doesn’t
stop there, instead the cold voyagers take a sharp turn to the right and then
skirt the western shores of the world’s largest island.
In
our case a long and mighty arm of sea ice is stretching north-west, forming a
long frozen peninsula almost parallel to the coastline. This is unfortunate,
because our destination for the day lies behind this barrier, so Captain Hårvik
and his crew try their best to get through/around it, making the route in the electronic navigation Chart look like the footsteps of a drunken spider.To make it a little more
challenging for him we encounter dense fog, forcing us to slow down to low but
safe speed. What sounds like a bad morning is actually a very picturesque
scenario, the silhouettes of the ice floes and ice bergs appear like faint
ghosts, drifting by in majestic silence only to fade to white just behind the
ship. Every now and then we have to kick one out of the way, and then FRAM is
slightly jerking. She can take that, point of fact she is built just for this!
So we utterly enjoy the ice ride, as well as the lectures and the music (and
the delicious Norwegian pancakes)