Again we had the benefit of a clear, sunny and relatively
warm day for our time in Ilulissat. It did not matter which activity one
selected today, because any time spent today without a roof over your head, was
a perfect day.
The hikes today ranged from a walk through the town to
longer efforts taking 4 to 5 hours. No matter the length of the hike the brightly
painted houses and the striking landscape led to many picture being snapped. The
area of the UNESCO World Heritage site is well marked and well protected and
walking on the boardwalk through this area to the ridge overlooking the
grounded icebergs was a true highlight for many of us.
Additionally some of us took the opportunity to board local
boats for a 2 hour cruise around these grounded icebergs. One of the boats was
a bit older as it was built in 1959 in Demark as a research vessel for the
University Research Station on Disko Island. The old 6 cylinder Volvo diesel
chugged along happily and gave us a close-up view of the grounded icebergs.
This
close-up view made us appreciate the immense size of the icebergs that we had had
seen from the ridge in the UNESCO site.
Our travels to and through Ilulissat and the nearby iceberg
flotilla also had an enlarged 3d dimension. That dimension was- elevation - as
some of us went by aircraft over the Jakobshaven Glacier tracking it as it
flowed chaotically from the body of the Greenland icecap through the fjord to sea-level
where the bergs calved off and formed beautiful floating shapes on a placid
blue sea.
There is an old saying; “This will have to do until the good
life gets here.” Today was a good life day, maybe a great life day.
