Through Prince Christian Sound
Up very early, as the Fram was approaching Greenland, heading for the entrance to Prince Christian Sound, a 60km long natural channel cutting across the southern tip. Our first sight on lifting the cabin blind was of a nicely sized iceberg floating by only 100 odd meters away. On deck it was cold, misty, sleeting rain and windy. Welcome to the Arctic!
The sound cut into raw mountains with patches of glacial snow and ice and everywhere, torrents of cascading streams. Passengers congregated under whatever protection they could find from the elements. Cameras and mobile phones on the ready to snatch an exciting rock or iceberg.
As we sailed further into the sound, passengers in boat groups 1, 2 and 3 were readying their waterproofs and lifejackets for our first zodiac outings. Each vessel taking ten passengers (maximum twelve) and a driver, were accessed at water level from a hatch in the side of the hull of the ship.
As the first boat groups returned, 4, 5 and 6 readied to exchange Zodiacs. We were called to join an earlier boat to make up the numbers to ten. It only took us a few minutes to become thoroughly wet – the rain and sleet had increased over the morning. But who cared – there we were, motoring beautifully through brash ice, between ice bergs, towards the wide, craggy glacier face of Sermeq Kujatdleq, tumbling down to sea level from the mountain heights.
Returning to the ship, we first addressed how to disperse our soaking clothes in the cabin to allow them to dry. Boots in the shower, wet trousers over the television. Hurtigruten splashed out on offering everybody a hot chocolate (with Baileys, but without cream for me) in the Lounge.
Getting towards lunch, the busy gym had emptied, so we did a nice session before a late lunch and coffee.
The evening’s entertainment consisted of Adrian, the ship’s historian enacting the story of ‘One fat lady and her three men’ – the fabulous story of the first Fram ship that was designed by the famous Norwegian ship’s architect, Colin Archer, with Scottish parentage.
The ‘fat lady’ refers to the innovative design of the hull, which was broad of beam, but shallow with no keel. It was designed to pop out of any squeeze of ice, so making it perfect for arctic missions, if not comfortable for its crew when sailing in normal seas.
Lynne notes: The last of its three expeditions, captained by Roald Armundsen, conquered the South Pole in 1911. The ship was originally launched in 1893 to navigate the ice drifts of the North Pole, but was beaten to the North Pole. However, its first expedition, with captain Fritjof Nansen, was hailed a great success in Norway as it proved that below the polar ice was an ocean, rather than land, as was previously thought.
The second expedition under Otto Svendrup explored the arctic archipelago west of Greenland.
Quelle chance de frôler un iceberg!!!
Beaucoup de glaçons…mais assez de whisky???