ICELAND, GREENLAND & ARCTIC 2014: 5 Iceland to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, cruise & home

Monday, August 25, 2014

Our first day for awhile of bright sunshine. We had to be out of the room by 10 AM, so I "borrowed" a cart from the deserted staff area to get our luggage at least part of the length of the hotel, then between the two of us we got it up to the bar where we played cards until the passengers who are leaving the ship arrived.

One of the first people I encountered was a face from the past, Antarctic and Arctic expert Robert Headland. Bob and I first met in 1975 when I was driving a 4 wheel drive jeep through Central America with an American I'd met the year before in Costa Rica. We were at the top of a pyramid at Chitzen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula when we came across a bearded apparition dressed in British tropical hat, khaki shorts, shirt and socks. After we talked for a bit he joined us in our adventure through Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.

He and Laurie, another of the expedition team, lent a hand with our luggage to get it into the staff van to go to the ship before the other passengers arrived on a charter flight. We were delighted to discover that everyone was to be taken on a tour to the glacier that we had been quoted $750 to visit, and as a bonus today was bright sunshine. The glacier was hugely different in appearance than in 2007 – not as high and further back.

After the glacier we were taken to the port of Kangerlussuaq, where a continual battle is being fought against the masses of silt building up from the melting glaciers. It has already totally filled in the fjord for many miles. After a short ride in Zodiacs to the ship we were issued our high quality parkas, our electronic door key and a swipe card for leaving the ship.

We are used to travelling on exploration ships, and generally a porthole cabin has one small porthole, 2 bunks with barely room to walk between them, a closet and an attached bathroom that requires sitting on the toilet seat to use the shower. When we saw out cabin on the Sea Explorer we were blown away. It has three huge portholes taking up most of the outside wall, a king sized bed with a mirrored wall behind it, a full sized sofa, an easy chair with coffee table, a safe, a desk and work area, tons of storage space, individual temperature control and a large bathroom with a full sized shower with a seat in it. The room is done in wood grain and burl finish – we have had worse 5 star hotel rooms! There is even a pull out divider to make a separate living room and bedroom – the living room has the TV.

We were so over the moon that we headed to the bar to celebrate, expecting to run up a substantial bar tab, only to get another amazing surprise – alcohol is included at no charge, and the bar is very well stocked. That also includes wine in the beautiful 5 star dining room. Dinner was from a superb menu, and was delicious. Marilynn wants to move in permanently! After dinner more drinks and liqueurs in the bar before we climbed into the comfortable bed. This definitely has taken adventure cruising to a whole new level! The ship even has a posh elevator.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

We got out of bed this morning in Sissimuk, the second largest city in Greenland. There were three walking tour groups with local guides, but we didn't want to wait for them so headed ashore on our own. We liked this city a lot better than Nuuk – the red, yellow, blue and white houses and buildings are better maintained and it is in a beautiful setting. We went to a number of shops looking for a hat with earmuffs, but were told it is summer and that sort of thing won't be available until September. I did buy some heavy socks and Marilynn picked up a couple of things as well.

We also had a chance to talk to local people sitting on benches and picnic tables that are scattered liberally through the community – only a few speak English. It was 5C (41F) but the sun had some warmth in it, so we did not wear parkas. We ended at the museum, and then to a church hall where a buffet of Greenland foods had been prepared. This included raw whale meat, dried reindeer, smoked whale, dried cod, some slimy stuff that looked terrible but tasted pretty good and reindeer soup that was very tasty.

Back on board we had a lecture, then were issued our muck boots for making wet landings or walking through snow. In between we were able to fit in a couple of beer. A lunch buffet was set up outside in the bright sunshine, but as we weren't very hungry Marilynn put together a good sized plate of cheese and crackers to eat in the bar.

The passengers are a mixed lot, with the largest contingent from Australia, a smaller group from France and Belgium, a small group of Japanese and a few from Canada and the US. The crew is even more international, including three from Costa Rica, fortunately including the bar manager and reception. Our excellent dining room waiter is from Nicaragua. We had a lively dinner with a lot of laughs with Bob Headland and three others, followed by the inevitable nightcaps in the bar.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

We awoke to the ship bumping and bashing its way through an ocean full of ice, including some massive, sculpted bergs that were bigger than the ship, as we made our way into Ilulissat, home of the fastest moving glacier north of Antarctica. The ship is not an ice breaker, but has an ice strengthened hull. The sea is so clear it is possible to see the whole iceberg, including much of the part below water level.

We also had an announcement that our stay would be cut short, as last night they had to put into the nearest settlement to permit the doctor and a passenger who had a medical emergency to disembark. We slept through the whole process. Apparently we will leave early to go back to pick up the doctor.

We took a taxi right after breakfast for the 2 ½ km trip to the boardwalk leading to the fjord with the glacier, but first we had to find a place to change money into Danish Kroner so we could pay him – a hotel eventually did the job. Due to the mass of ice being produced it is not possible to go up this fjord by ship, so we trekked on a boardwalk first, then climbed rocks until we were overlooking a fjord filled with ice from one side to the other. Giant bergs towered over the smaller bits. It was another bright, sunny day, and although the temperature was 2C (35F) it didn't feel cold in the sun.

Later we walked through town, the third largest in Greenland with a population of 4,000 people and 6,000 sled dogs. The sound of barking was continuous even though most dogs were sleeping in the sun on the end of their chains. The town is growing, as evidenced by building construction. It seemed a going place with a lot of activity. The people are very friendly and helpful, and I was finally successful in buying a furry hat with ear flaps..

Chris, the doctor who left the ship last night with his patient, joined us for lunch. It turned out he had managed to get a flight back to Ilulissat, so we will not have to leave early. The patient is in Nuuk getting a CAT scan, but is apparently in pretty good shape, although he'll not be able to rejoin the ship.

In the afternoon we took a fantastic zodiac tour for a couple of hours through island sized mountains of ice at the entrance to the glacial fjord, meeting up with the ship at sea so didn't need to return to the harbour.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Unbelievably, it is another day of blue sky and sunshine with a temperature of 1C (33F). Those who have sailed this route before have never seen anything like it – while there is not a lot of precipitation, fog and cloud are normal on this coast.

The first stop was at Qilaqitsoq, the site of the discovery of about 10 mummified bodies dated back centuries. As all that now exists is the hole in the rock (the mummies are now in the museum in Nuuk), and to get there requires a wet landing by Zodiac and very steep climb up the hillside, we opted to stay on board to get caught up on things we have been putting off.

The service on board ship exceeds anything we have experienced anywhere, including other upscale ships and five star hotels. When we go for breakfast in the morning, no matter how quick we are, the room is always completely made up by the time we return, and at night after dinner the beds are turned down ready for the night. When a plate is emptied in the restaurant it is whisked away, and the wine glasses at dinner never reach empty unless the diner does not want more. The bar seems to be able to turn out any cocktail one could think.

We had a marvellous outdoor buffet on deck 5 for lunch as we passed by giant icebergs on our approach into Uummannaq, the 11th largest town in Greenland with a population of 500 and 2,000 sled dogs that are gradually being replaced by snowmobiles. The town seemed to be doing OK although the hotel has shut down - they don't get tourists. They are cut off from supplies for several months each year when the harbour and fjord freeze up. We did a tour of the town, then I sat at an outdoor table in front of a little cafe on the harbour and got into conversation with a local school teacher. He was able to fill me in on a lot the local guide couldn't.

Some local dignitaries were invited aboard for a cruise to the end of the fjord and back while joining us in a grand BBQ of ribs, steak, chicken and sausage on the sunny outdoor area of deck 5. Of course, a full bar had been set up along with a comprehensive buffet. Old rock and roll music was playing, and after everyone had eaten the song YMCA prompted a conga line among the tables, followed by dancing. When it got too cold on deck the party moved into the bar. It was another great day and evening.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Breakfast was later this morning, and there were a couple of lectures to pass the time as we cruised up the coast of Greenland to Upernavik, a village of 1,100 people settled in 1710. Most Greenland villages date to the 1700s. There are about 300 school children who attend a local school until they are 15, but then must make the choice of leaving the village to continue their education or to find work locally.

We were fortunate that the small pier was unoccupied, allowing us to dock. The town went all out to provide things to do and see. It had what I think is the best museum yet, and there was a local dancing demonstration in the town hall by all ages from little kids to old timers, along with beautiful harmonizing by a singing group accompanied by an accordion and a guitar. This was followed by choral singing in the church with an organist. There was also a lady demonstrating the cleaning and preparing of seal skin. Once again we were blessed with clear sky and warm sunshine.

This was to have been our last stop in Greenland as Canadian Immigration no longer has immigration at Resolute Bay where the main northern airport is located, but has been moved to Pond Inlet, however there had been a number of meetings and it was eventually decided we would travel north to Melville Bay and the Quaanaaq area of Greenland, a decision that was warmly welcomed by all passengers. That means we will give up less of the initial itinerary and still be able to clear Canadian immigration.

It turned out to be a late night in the bar, with Marilynn and I among the last to leave in the wee hours of the morning. We gain an hour tonight due to a time zone change, and this will be very welcome to get extra sleep.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

There were a couple of lectures in the morning while we sailed up a coast. The mountains are not as high as further south, but everything is snowy white right to the shoreline, with one glacier after another flowing from the ice cap towards the sea. When we got to Melville Bay it was full of massive ice bergs.

We had the option of climbing a high rock hill that was free of snow to get a view of the bay, or to go out among the bergs in the Zodiacs. We chose the later, and it proved the right decision. Our driver was the ice and glacier specialist, so we got great information on what we were seeing. Several bergs had caves right through them. One extremely high cathedral shaped iceberg had an enormous chunk of ice fall from the top of the arch to land in the water with an explosion that sounded like dynamite going off while we were quite close. It was a brilliant couple of hours on another brilliantly sunny day. No one can remember such a stretch of sunny weather in this area!

In the afternoon there were a couple of lectures and a recap with the plan for tomorrow. After Bob's talk he and I met in the bar and once again were the last to leave.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Another fabulous day without a cloud in the sky. We are a long way north now, where the temperature is zero degrees C (32F). When we got out of bed we were anchored among giant icebergs in front of the town of Qaanaaq at almost 80 degrees north. The town was founded in 1953 when an entire village was moved to make way for the US air-force base at Thule. There is no wharf or port here. A small tanker was offloading oil through a very long floating plastic pipe that went from ship to shore. We were surprised to see a small sail boat, apparently belonging to a French expedition who will spend the winter in Upernavik doing scientific studies.

By 9 AM we were in Zodiacs headed for town, where we got to test our muck boots as the beach is very shallow and it was necessary to wade the last bit to shore. The beach was littered with chunks of ice, most about 6 ft (2 meters) wide and high, but they came in all sizes. There were thousands of these along the length of the sandy shore. We took a considerable hike up to the town cemetery through partly frozen tundra, where various famous arctic explorers are buried. Apparently due to the frozen ground they can only bury people a few months of the year so there is a building by the church where the dead are put to freeze over the winter. It wasn't clear if they were then taken to the cemetery one by one or all at once. We both took a fall here, me when I stepped in a deep sink hole in the tundra, and Marilynn when she slipped on a frozen stream.

The tiny community has a small hospital, a school and a good sized general store which seemed to be doing a booming business. These people are hunters, not fishermen. They hunt anything they can – narwhals, seals, polar bears, arctic rabbits, walrus, birds and so on. Some meat is sold, but much goes to feed the population and the dogs. Nothing is wasted, including skin & bones.

When we returned to the beach I stacked some pallets to sit on, opened my parka and basked in the sun. I was soon joined by a couple of others – as usual direct sun had some warmth in it, despite it being zero degrees in the shade. It is an amazing, tranquil place, and so strange to be sunbathing on a sandy beach covered in fantastically shaped chunks of ice in front of a bay full of icebergs!

Once back on board we sailed out of Greenland waters for Pond Inlet, Canada. The afternoon was taken up by lectures and a recap before dinner. After dinner it was back to the bar, where we danced and drank until early morning. We pick up an extra hour of time to sleep tonight!

Monday, September 1, 2014

The ship has been rolling around quite a bit in the open ocean between Greenland and Baffin Island, so there was a noticeable reduction in the number of people at breakfast. Three lectures were held in the morning, although Marilynn and I attended only two. I spent a bit of time on the bridge, which is generally open to passengers.

We arrived at Pond Inlet a little before 3 PM. Some staff went ashore to arrange for Canadian immigration to clear the ship, which was done quickly. Zodiacs were running people to shore by 3:45 for a wet landing – no wharf here, as this is another hunting community. Marilynn went with a group through the library and museum, which she said was very good, while I wandered around on my own past the two hotels, airport where flights seem to arrive fairly regularly, the elementary school, high school and main store. The co-op store was close, as today is a holiday, but a convenience store was attached so I bought chocolate for me and gum for Marilynn. It is a lot easier here, as English is spoken and the currency is Canadian. The people are very friendly, so I took the opportunity to have a conversation with a number of them.

An amazing performance was put on for us in the community centre. It featured Inuit sports, none of which I had seen before. In one competitors try to kick a suspended seal skin ball by jumping up and kicking while they are in the air. Each time contact is made it is raised 2 inches. Apparently the world record is 9 ft. 11 inches (3 meters). A variation of this was balancing on one hand and trying to kick the suspended ball from that position Some involved tolerance of pain, for example the knuckle race where the competitors make fists of their hands and drag themselves along by bouncing on their fists. The winner is the one who gets the greatest distance before the pain forces them to stop. In another two competitors each hook their finger into the other's mouth and pull against the cheek. The person who gives up loses.

The man who fought with government and church for years to allow traditional dances to be performed was there. He has appeared in a number of films, and is quite a local celebrity. The dances had been banned by the church as they felt talisman was involved – it took 50 years to get permission. He did the drum dance, and other dances with drum music were performed by local people dressed in traditional cloths. There were two women with beautiful voices who sang traditional songs and the entire performance was started with one of the women singing O Canada, the Canadian national anthem, in the Inuit language. It was the most moving version of the anthem I have ever heard – it gave the impression that these people are more nationalistic than most Canadians in the south!

Our group found this to be the friendliest town (or hamlet as it is called on the municipal hall) we have visited this trip. Everyone walking or driving by would wave, many calling out "Welcome to Pond Inlet". In the convenience store people greeted me and made me feel welcome, and anyone I talked to was happy to have a conversation. Even without the language difference it was a distinctly different place from the Greenland communities we had visited. The children were not as shy, and seemed noisier as they were playing around the town. People went out of their way to meet us, which was not usually the case in Greenland. The town is newer, so did not have the colourful traditional houses we saw in all Greenland communities because the Canadian Inuit were nomadic people and did not live in villages until much later than those in Greenland.

Back on board it we had dinner, then Bob Headland and I passed the evening catching up in the bar.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

The first stop today was at Dundas Harbour on Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island in the world. There is no harbour in this bay, just the three old buildings that were an RCMP post established in 1923 and finally abandoned in 1951. What they were policing from here is very questionable, as apparently the sea ice is too broken for sledding and behind the stations the mountains rise steeply. It did have fatalities, though. One officer shot and killed himself intentionally, and another was killed when his rifle went off accidentally while he was hunting walrus. They would spend a year between supply ships with no communication at this isolated post.

We also visited a point of land which has the remains of ancient settlements of both the Devon and Thule people. There were a number of harp seals in the water. It is, unbelievably, another bright sunny day, and in spite of temperatures of zero degrees in the shade lunch was held on the stern deck in the warm sunshine. I was quite comfortable in just a shirt and sweater. The bar manager laid on hot mulled wine to accompany the food.

After lunch there was an announcement of a walrus being spotted laying on a flat ice berg, so we all went out on deck with cameras and binoculars. I also spotted a large seal on another slab of ice, and there were some musk ox along the shore, but at too great a distance for photos. The Zodiacs were lowered and we did a tour of Croker bay, where two tide water glaciers quite close to each other are producing icebergs, but they are moving at a very slow rate so there were not a vast number of bergs. One glacier has more than a kilometre of frontage on the bay.

We managed to get quite close to a walrus sun bathing on an ice flow, who performed wonderfully for the cameras. That was followed by cruising in the Zodiac off shore from first one polar bear, and then a little further down the coast a second one. They seemed oblivious to the presence of each other.

Back at the ship there was the Arctic Plunge, where passengers who were in the mood for it dove off the back of the ship into the freezing sea, with a doctor and a Zodiac standing by. We were going to participate in this madness, however it wasn't announced until the last moment. By then Marilynn was in a hot shower and I'd just created a hot buttered rum so we decided against plunging.

Tonight we made an early night of it, deciding to give our systems a well deserved rest, as tomorrow night will be our last night on board, which we think may be lively.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

This morning we headed ashore on Beechey Island, our last landing. Our sunshine has finally been replaced heavy grey clouds, and we were not there long before fog began rolling in from three directions. We are now experiencing true northern climate, giving us a chance to appreciate how lucky we were for the past sunny days. This is the location where people on the Franklin expedition met with a fellow who had travelled over the ice from HMS Investigator, which had come from the Pacific, thus completing a combined first crossing of the northwest passage. There are three seamen buried here from Franklin's ships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus. After leaving Beechey Island nothing was heard from the Franklin expedition again.

The landing was cold and wet, with Alex, the expedition leader, in the cold ocean in waders up to his chest stabilizing the Zodiacs for passengers get ashore from the stern. All previous landings had been from the bow.

After a hike down the gravel beach we arrived at a pillar taken from one of the ships with a "post office" plaque on it. Close to this marker are the ruins of Northumberland House, where the Franklin expedition wintered. Remains of the blacksmith shop be seen as well. We didn't last long here, as the cold was bitter, but we didn't have far to walk to the Zodiacs as they were ferrying people back from near this site.

After lunch was a meeting to explain the debarkation procedures for tomorrow. Shortly afterwards a polar bear siting was reported on the sea ice which we were now travelling through. By the time I got out on deck it had leapt off the ice and was swimming. Another was spotted on the ice, and as we cruised by we could watch them trying to get away from the ship by swimming to ice floes, running across them, then swimming again.

By mid afternoon we were sailing through dead calm waters in dense fog, so a retreat to the bar seemed the sensible option. Bob gave a talk on sealers, trappers and hunters that was quite good, but otherwise it was just passing the time and getting ready for our departure tomorrow. In the evening there was the captain's going away cocktail party, followed by a superb dinner. After that it was back to the bar where we partied and danced until about 2 AM.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

After breakfast it was necessary to clear the cabins so they could be cleaned for incoming passengers. Our baggage had been picked up before breakfast to be taken to the plane, but we needed our wet weather gear as the landing was a wet one. It was cold, wet, and foggy with a strong wind causing a choppy sea. Resolute has no dock, so we were allowed to keep our muck boots to wade to shore. My shoes were in my parka pockets, but in exiting the Zodiac one went overboard, partly defeating the purpose of the exercise.

There was a short bus ride to the small hotel in this town of about 500 people. Like Kangerlussuaq, it seems its sole purpose is to support the airport. The weathered hotel wasn't identifiable from outside, but inside a large room with tables was set up with tea, coffee and juice plus a table for souvenir sales. A good lunch with enough varied sandwiches and cakes for twice our number was set up, so it was not an unpleasant wait. There isn't much to the town, so not many people braved the miserable weather to walk around the muddy streets. We were talking to a couple of people who work here on contract – they like it, as they work 8 weeks and then are flown out for 4 weeks at the company's expense. Liquor is not permitted here – no bars or restaurants with alcohol.

Our outbound charter flight on First Air was on time, so we were ferried to the airport 20 people at a time in the mud splattered local bus. As soon as the incoming group and their baggage were off the plane we got on. As there were less of us than seats, we got aisle and window seats with nobody in between which made space for my legs. The 2 ½ hour flight to Iqaluit to refuel included a hot meal with complementary beer and wine.

When a crew member opened a door without disarming the emergency system the exist chute deployed. They got rid of the chute, but the door would not longer operate as an emergency exit, so 11 passengers had to leave the plane so the rest could move away from the defective door. Volunteers were asked for, and tough to find as it means having to fly to Ottawa, change planes and then fly to Toronto the next day, but once they got down to needing only 4 more Marilynn and I said, "What the heck, we can be a day late getting back and it would be fun to see the town." Part of the deal was that we get hotel, meals, taxi vouchers, free phone calls to Costa Rica, a hotel tonight and tomorrow in Toronto and pay flight change charges to United Airlines..

We didn't get out of the airport for about two hours while the First Air manager tried to make suitable arrangements for flights. She needed to book a scheduled flight to Ottawa in the morning, an Air Canada flight to Toronto, a hotel in Toronto and our two flights to Costa Rica. At first United said they couldn't change the Air Canada portion from Toronto to Houston, but as the Air Canada reservation line recording said the wait for an agent would be about 1 hour 15 minutes the manager tried United again. This time, after First Air agreed to pay a charge of some $US900, satisfactory flights were arranged. Printed confirmation of our flights was promised for the morning. Fortunately a taxi got us to the hotel five minutes before the restaurant closed.

Friday, September 5, 2014

We slept in for the first time since Kangerlussuaq, had a good breakfast and hired a taxi to show us the town. Iqaluit is a lively, expanding city of 6,850 people, 60% of whom are Inuit. It is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located 2,038 km north of Montreal on Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island. It is a bustling, modern city with far more infrastructure than Nuuk has with twice the population. We visited the original Hudson's Bay Company trading post, which was the first building in the area. It expanded into three buildings, all of which are still occupied by businesses. HBC was founded in 1670.

The tour ended back at the airport where the promised printouts of our ongoing flights were ready along with confirmation of our hotel reservation in Toronto. It was a full flight, but I was able to get the first row with loads of leg room, seated between the former principal of the French school in Iqaluit who was on his way to retire in Spain, and the operations manager of the Co-op stores in many small communities in the far north. We had a lively conversation that made the flight pass quickly. A good hot meal was served with wine.

Once in Ottawa we found our onward one hour fight to Toronto was full so had to settle for regular seats with no leg room. We also found that whatever United did to arrange our flight for tomorrow didn't work – Air Canada said we were not booked on the Toronto/Houston flight, and they couldn't do anything about it - it would have to be corrected by United.

We took off on time but in Toronto heavy thunderstorms had planes stacked up waiting to land. We were sent to an area for a holding pattern, however it turned out to be in a thunderstorm that caused such violent turbulence that the stewardess had to get back to her seat by crawling down the isle on her hands and knees, hanging onto seats to keep from being propelled upwards. We were sent to another holding area further from Toronto, but after 45 minutes the airline decided to have the flight return to Ottawa.

After a considerable wait it was announced they would refuel the plane, and return to Toronto, a process estimated to take 55 minutes, however a thunderstorm moved in and fuelling was cancelled. By this time the storm passed and the plane was refuelled it was announced that the crew working time would expire if they went to Toronto so the flight was cancelled. By the time we were towed to a gate we had been on the plane 5 hours. I could barely walk from being in the cramped seat.

Air Canada's response to the problem was pretty much the reason that 30 years ago a swore I would never again fly on this worst of all North American Airlines. They had 2 people on duty for the whole flight to hand out hotel vouchers, but no one would rebook a flight for tomorrow for anyone. We were all handed a brochure with a phone number in it.

We were put up at the Novotel in downtown Ottawa, a 25 minute drive from the airport. By the time we arrived it was after midnight and no food was available. For the next two hours I was on the phone, much of the time spent waiting for "the next available agent" as I worked on getting the problem of not being booked for Houston solved and arranging a flight to Toronto to connect with the Houston flight once we were booked. After a very long time a very helpful agent managed to get things sorted out and I fell into bed.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

We were up at 5 AM to get to the airport for the flight to Toronto, so no breakfast, however once in Toronto we ate in the lounge while waiting for our Houston flight. In Houston we had a very short connection before finally arriving home.

We will be in Costa Rica only for a few days before we head for India and Pakistan.