This morning FRAM reached Qullissat, a
ghost town in the Vaigat Strait between Disco Island and the main land. Actually
it was a coal mine which attracted people in Qulissat in 1924. In heydays there
was 1200 people living here and the
whole production was 570000T before the mine finally shut down in 1972. In
2000, a tsunami triggered by a landslide swept away some older houses along the
shore.
Walking through town gave us a good
feeling of what life could have been in those days. One could see some old
furniture, stoves and pipes, even beds were left behind when people moved. A
group of hikers made it to the mine entrance and we started speculating on how harsh
it must have been working here.
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Today Greenlanders come to Qulissat by
boat for hunting and fishing and stay in houses they restored. Of course they
have to provide everything from power, fuel to food, only fresh water can be
gained from a nearby waterfall or from melting ice.
By noon we were all back on board and
FRAM continued to navigate towards the Equi Sermia glacier. En route we had
lectures about the history of Greenland, when we got a
message through the PA system, announcing a special visitor. We all went on
deck 5 and sure enough, there was Neptune, ready to baptize volunteers and
others.
During the approach to Equi Sermia, FRAM
sailed through some nice ice belts coming from the glacier. After the barbecue
outside on deck 7, we started our landing and hiked the mountain to enjoy the great view of the glacier Equi.