Ilulissat – a good day for ice

Despite the name of this large island, what is more striking than green is white. This white is found floating in the sea and is icebergs originated from the enormous glacier systems that bounce into the fjords of West Greenland. I was very curious on this particular day because Ilulissat is flying their flag high as the most prestigious destination in Greenland. The glacier in Icefjord have become a powerful symbol of the current health of the environment and, partly, as a result of this glacier and icefjord being placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004. The experience of navigating in between the large icebergs stranded on the ledge at the mouth of the Ilulissat Icefjord is breathtaking – at times your 360 horizon is completely dotted with giant sculptures of ice. This is where it’s believed the Titanic iceberg had its origin, this is where the myths many of the myths about icebergs is created, this is the crib of the idea; Iceberg. I just had to go on a helicopter ride to learn as much as possible about this truly fascinating phenomenon.



Our guide Malik breifs us properly before the dustoff



Tacitcal flying amongst giant icebergs



Illustration of the retreat history of the glacier (from NASA)



Madame from France enjoying the ice panorama



It's great to have good friends along



What the birds see...

BBQ in Eqip Sermia – day 4

To me, travelling in Greenland is very inspiring on many levels. Had I only been one of these fine art photographers I think this trip would have elevated my artwork. As a part of the onboard program on Fram one of the artists who made som of the original artwork on the bulkhead of the vessel is also a guest lecturer onboard on this particular trip; Miki Jakobsen. This morning Miki gave us an introduction to the life of a creative soul in Greenland. I learnt that there are many artists per capita and that many younger people in Greenland master one or another kind of art expression, such as playing the guitar. I was particularly fascinated by the figures Miki made just from walking in virgin snow. In between lectures we were super lucky spotting a humpback whale, what a wonderful view – he surfaced a few times, flashed it’s “finger print” fluke and disappeared. After a morning with scenic navigation we dropped the anchor in Eqip Sermia. This is an uninhabited place where we found a spit of land where the crew rigged for BBQ. Waiting for the beef and burgers a bunch of us set out on a little hike, found a viewpoint and just sat down to enjoy the sight. We were constantly reminded about the glacier across the fjord – it rumbled and cracked all the time. I can imagine only two BBQ settings equally nice – Paradise Bay in Antarctica and Sorgfjorden in Spitsbergen…



Calcarius lapponicus



Saxifraga Stellaris



Sign of a good day.

Ukkusissat - still only day 3

Ukkusissat is one of these smaller villages; It’s like a tributary to Ummanaq where we were the same morning on day 3. We anchored close and were met by a quite large delegation of locals. Got the feeling that this is an equally big thing to the locals as it is for us visitors. Our Expedition Leader; Mira Kleist followed our group acting as a translator for the local woman that explained “the ropes” in Ukkussisat. We learnt that one of the main sources of income is halibut fisheries and we also learnt that the doctor only shows up three times per year. In cases of emergency they have to travel across the ice or by boat to Ummanaq. Dogs (which I personally have a soft spot for) were abundant, probably two or three for every two-legged inhabitant. We had a fantastic music and dance performance in the culture house, just about every kid was involved with great enthusiasm an charm. Strategically positioned there was a table with locally made souvernires - beautifully crafted pearl items mostly and some seal skin products. I was asked up to dance polka with a really nice lady – that made me dizzy going around so many times and she laughed at me because I almost fell to the floor at the end… Another fantastic day in Greenland and many more days to go!



The mist closed in just off shore and created a magical athmosphere.



Greenland husky lead dog in the making.



Beautiful arctic flowers in bloom



Ask nicely before you take a photo - make a stupid face and you get smiles like this.

Ummannaq

This morning we woke up to overcast skies as we approached Ummannaq. Today is the northernmost day of the Disco Bay cruise and we are further north than my hometown Tromsø. This is above 70° north meaning that it’s virtually no difference in day and night. The sun is just circling above your head. I had signed up for a boat trip. Full day and it would deprive my visit to the settlement we had anchored just a few cables off… So – this boat trip better be good. The smaller boat of the two – 12 passengers took off for about a one-hour cruise amongst majestic icebergs. During the time we sailed the landscape we passed became stranger and stranger. I have seen something similar in Devil Island in Antarctica – There is also a resemblance to the Atacama Desert in Chile. But the setting, with ice and glaciers makes this absolutely surreal. We landed and started hiking. It could just as well been Mars to me… I took some pictures. Look at them – I can’t explain. On our way back to the ship we stopped for a while in a small bay, just underneath a cliff with an impressive waterfall. The captain turned off the engine and we relaxed on the deck. In the distance we heard the snow buntings whistle and we saw one black guillemot, two black ravens and some gulls. Not a very impressive bird life, I thought. After a good break we had sailed just a few minutes when one of our fellow Scottish passengers shouted out: What is that??? I looked over at the quite monotonous cliff face and suddenly I spotted something that I didn’t even dream of seeing on this cruise: A Greenland Falcon. This is a very, very beautiful bird of prey. I got very exited.

Football match in Qeqertarsuaq

Navigating into the harbour of Qeqertarsuaq is similar to many other beautiful routes along the norwegian coast of Norway. It't narrow and intimate. The big difference is that dodging icebergs is a part of the game here. Anyhow - Captain Hansen anchored safely a short tender ride from shore and changed into his sports gear really quickly. Him and his crew had been challenged by the local football team. Fram against Disco! Personally I felt to comfortable on victory and went for a hike to Blæsedalen. Our Expedition Staff guided us to a neat waterfall and coming back I got a nice view of the town. On the way Dr. Parissa was posted at a "hot spot" for flowers and offered a practical lesson as a follow up from her lecture in the morning. I rolled around to shoot unsharp macro pictrures of the tiny creatures. Coming back into town i bought myself an icecream, enjoyed the greenland huskies, nodded and said hello to the locals. They all had a funny smile on their face - that's when I realized the result of the football match...

Sailing towards Disco Island

The morning of day two was spent at sea to cover to long distance north. We were given lots of information on how to behave as visitors to greenland culture and guidelines for environmental friendly travel in Arctic regions. I also attended a lecture with Dr. Parizza Yazdi who gave us an introduction to flowers and plants of Greenland. We were about to experience some of these in flowering. I'm ready - give me a Lousy Woolworth and an Arctic Poppy and it'll make my day... Spending time on deck on good days is essential. We were, according to one of our guides in an area where the Bowhead Whale occasionaly is sighted. What a treat it would have been to see this creature - the longest living mammal on earth. Well, I could not spot spouts, but the cake was iced with fantastic icebergs and circling northern fulmars as we approached Disco Island and Qeqertasuaq, or Godhavn in danish.

Travelling day - flying across Greenland

My day started in a rainy Tromsø and it just got better and better. The very first indication this was going to be something out of the ordinary was when we closed in on the east coast of Greenland. The pack ice off the coast was dotted on the blue ocean surface and as we came further inland we saw thousands of nunataks. After landing in Søndre Strømfjord or Kangerlussuaq as it's official greenlandic name is we were competently guided into coaches that took us to the landing site for the Polar Circle Boats that shuttled to the ship. Jumping four time zones is hard, but I couldn't resist logging some deck time as we sailed out of the third longest fjord in the world. The low angle midnight sun shed a beautiful light on the south facing mountains, exagerating the interesting geological pattens in them. The Disco Bay expedition has started!