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.