Greenland National Day!

June 21 was a special day to all on Fram but always a significant day to the Greenlanders as it is Greenland’s national day: 33 years since the introduction of Home Rule; 27 years since the Greenlandic flag first flied proudly on the flag poles around the country; 3 years since Self Governance was inaugurated.

Our landing in Qullissat in the morning, knowing of the importance the abandoned mining town has had for Greenland politically and culturally, fitted well into the value of the day. So did the introduction of a drum and mask dance for our guests in the evening. Both setting the dances into a social and cultural context and the actual performance by Greenlandic mask dancers was a wonderful conclusion of the national day.

The day revealed different sides of ice: the beauty of the ice as we experienced it when we crossed through the icescapes in the Polar Circle boats and the chilling forces of the ice that the captain and his crew had to navigate through.  

And than three  Humpback whales showed up between the ice!

On a slightly less spectacular note – and without contact with ice – was the Expedition Team’s test of the flotation suits outside Qullissat. The test was successful, though and confirmed that the suits are meant for floating!

Reaching the northernmost point

The day we spent in Uummannaq and Ukussisat. Our Expedition Leader Karin prepared a nice program with hikes and boat trips in the amazing surrounding, but the nature had another plan for us. The attraction of Uummannaq is the huge heart shaped mountain and that we could see already from the distance. But we could see also that there was a wide ice belt in front of the city. And so all plans, even they have been nicely done, had to be thrown into the waste paper basket. Latest now we learned that we are on an expedition cruise.

But believe it or not - this morning should become a highlight of our cruise. Even the ice belt has been so dense our experienced Polarcircel Boat drivers managed to bring us to the landing side. Some guests liked this very special ice cruise so very much that they did not like to leave the boat. They made their own decision to stay in our little red boats that were operating like a shuttle between FRAM and Uummannaq. Nobody will forget this event for sure. A big thank you to the boat drivers!

The museum and the church have been opened for us; the lunch buffet with Greenlandic specialities was waiting for the passengers. Some guests took the chance to talk to a hunter and fisherman to get more firsthand information. Everything in town was so interesting, but the best of all has been the cruise with our Polarcircel Boats through the dense ice in the harbor.

In the afternoon we made our way to Ukussisat. Like every week the inhabitants of the settlement came on board for singing and dancing. Later on we visited the village. The nice hospitality we could experience in Ukussisat will be unforgettable.

 

In the valley of the wind!

The day we spent in Qeqertarsuaq. Out of a geological view we are now in a very young area. The typical table mountains were built approx. 60 Million years ago. Remember, we started our cruise in Kangerlussuaq and the stones in this fjord belong with more than 2 Billion years to the oldest stones on earth. 

The little village Qeqertarsuaq was founded as a whaling station in 1773 by Svend Sandgreen. At this time it was called Godhavn, the good harbor, as it was such a well protected bay and just perfect for the whalers.

Godhavn became a Danish colony later on and was used as a bastion against the German, Dutch and English whalers. We could still find the canons out of this period on our landing side.  

From 1782 until 1940 Qeqertarsuaq has been even the economical center for North Greenland. Today it is a very quiet village with approx. 1000 inhabitants. Most of them are working in the fishing industry for Royal Greenland.

Passengers used different opportunities to spend the very sunny day. Many went on a nice hike to the “valley of the wind”, some made their decision for a city walk and others enjoyed the nice iceberg panorama sitting on a bench next to the shoreline.

 

We left Disko Island in the early afternoon and sailed along amazing icebergs forward to our next destination.

Three Minke Whales have been another highlight in the afternoon.  

     

Sisimiut – Here we come!

Today we visited Sisimiut, Greenland´s second largest city. The city was founded as a colony in 1764 by Hans Egede and he named it Holsteinsborg, after the famous missionary, Johan Ludvig Holstein zu Ledreborg. The first people that were living in this area have been the people of the Saqqaq and Dorset Culture. So you can say that the region was settled at least since 4500 years.

Hans Egede has been the first Missionary in Greenland. He hoped to find the descendents of the Vikings and he has been very disappointed when he “only” found the Inuit in Greenland. As there have been no Vikings any more he brought the Christianity to the Inuit.

Other missionaries tried to establish a settlement at this place before. But the Dutch whalers that had a station in this area prevented this for many years. During a huge pox epidemic in 1801 the colony was nearly lost as almost the whole population died.

When you are walking through Sisimiut you can still see the colonial center. The Bethel Church is the oldest well preserved church in Greenland.

Sisimiut, the name means the settlement next to the fox´s den, is a very modern town with 5200 inhabitants. Sisimiut is a central business center and an important shipping base for western and northwestern Greenland as it has the northernmost year-round ice-free port. So you can find the world´s largest factory for deep water shrimps in the harbor.

Sisimiut is the first town with Greenlandic dogs on our trip as we are north of the Polar circle, the so called dog equator. These working dogs have been never ever mixed with other dogs and belong to the world´s oldest dog breeds. 

During the night we made our way under the beautiful light of the midnight sun in the direction of Qeqertarssuaq. Around 24h we saw our first icebergs.

A busy long day!

It is the changeover day again, a hard and busy day for everybody. In the morning it was time to say good bye to our passengers and later on it was time to say hallo to the new incoming guests.

Good by my dear friend!



Let's go to the Icecap

For all passengers it was a long day. Those that were leaving the ship had time for a trip to the icecap in these huge “Tundra busses” and a nice BBQ in the evening before they flew home. Incoming guests arrived in Kangerlussuaq in the afternoon and were brought to MV FRAM directly.

Let's be prepared for the first Polarcircel Boat Cruise

The crew used the time to clean the ship during the whole day so that everything looked very nice for the new incoming guests. Of course the crew is cleaning everything all the time, but on a changeover day without any passengers aboard there are more special things to do. So it is a hard day for the crew too.

After a first delicate dinner buffet and the mandatory emergency drill for our guests our Captain Arild Hȧrvik welcomed everybody in the observation lounge. The expedition leader Karin Strand introduced us later to her expedition team.

During the night we sailed through the Kangerlussuaq Fjord to the open sea to our next destination Sisimiut.


Captain: Let's go!



The "Way of Life”

Today we had our last day aboard. In the morning we got our final lectures and information from the expedition team and after lunch we had our very last landing before we will leave MV FRAM tomorrow.

We spent an enjoyable afternoon in Itilleq and we got many good impressions of the “way of life” in this small settlement. Look at our pictures and you can share our experiences with us.

 

Our Day in Disko Bay

We expected to spend our day in Ilulissat, but today we should learn that ice is not always nice. Especially when you have too much ice, ice is not nice. Ice can turn your itinerary completely upside down. So we had to accept that we could not reach Ilulissat as the ice belt around the city has been too dense. At the first moment it was not so easy for us, but we all came to Greenland to see and to learn about the Greenlandic nature and now we had to recognize that the nature is always the winner. The only thing we can do is to accept it.

Of course our Expedition Leader had prepared a plan B. And so we made our way to Qasigiannguit that is also called the Perl of the Disko Bay.

We explored the city guided by our lecturer staff. We visited the museum area and we have been very astonished that such a small city has such an amazing museum.

Later on the Qasigiannguit Choir gave us an unforgettable concert in the nice church of the city.

After dinner we enjoyed the very famous MV FRAM crew show. A big thank you to the crew that you gave us such a wonderful evening!