Northwest Passage, Day +5

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Boots on ground

Oh, what a glorious day! A leisurely breakfast after Lynne’s yoga session and Peter’s gym session, saw us gingerly making our way up Kvarnefjorden, further up the west coast of Greenland. The sea was calm, and sky blue – the polar opposite (so to say) to yesterday, when we got drenched and cold.

We were told that the fjord was not fully charted, so when capable ships like MS Fram visit, they add bit by bit to the sea water depth map by using the ship’s forward sonar, at a maximum speed of 3 knots.

It was time to set boots on Greenland. We joined our zodiac, named Walrus-Seal, for the short journey from the ship to a small rocky bay where ship staff were to hand to help the hesitant off the zodiac without drenching incidents.

Awkwardly stumbling over the jumble of rocks, passing uncertainly balanced other passengers, Lynne had the brilliant idea that perhaps we would not need our life vests while on land, and so left them at the bottom supervised by a stationed crew member. We found our path up to a plateau where we could look back and admire the glorious view of the fjord, the ice growlers and the handsome ship from a good height. Here, we also found three stone formations, marking three grave sites, behind crossed red flag markers denoting that we must keep a respectful distance.

Intoxicated as we were with the stunning landscape, the views and the ultra-clean air, we continued on the more ‘adventurous’ section to a high point, where we were told we could find ‘George’. The climb was moderately difficult, and an absolute joy, clambering over a springy undergrowth and rocky crags, getting hot in the lovely weather. We encountered the occasional ‘yellow jacket’ (crew looking after us), and enquired if he/she was George, but they all denied, and told us that George was further on. Until finally, we reached the top of our route, with a man and his ‘anti polar bear’ rifle and taser. Yes – it was George!

From this height, MS Fram was a toy ship on the gleaming fjord water, with tiny wakes of the speeding zodiacs making patterns around the ship. George said he had previously spotted a sea eagle that had nearly succeeded in catching an Icelandic Gull. Another gull spoiled the catch by attacking the eagle. An eagle-eyed (so to say) fellow passenger then spotted the disappointed eagle, and we all watched it fly into the distance until invisible.

In the morning, Lynne attended a lecture on Rivers in the Sea – currents and tides, held by a soft-spoken Scot, Colin, which prompted Lynne to encourage me to attend his workshop, late afternoon, on ‘What drives Ocean Currents’. It was held in the small science centre, where Colin had prepared a water tank to use dyed water samples to demonstrate how heat and salinity mixed with cold water. Based on basic physics, plus knowledge of Coriolis, he introduced the up to date understanding of how sea currents interact and form a global wide, self-regulating system. Fascinating stuff, but also frightening, as it shows how the human race will get into serious trouble when nature is messed up.

After another excellent dinner, we sat with Peter (the electronics engineer) and his mother, Gay (the marathon runner) in the Lounge for an enlivening and animated chat about, just about everything, including electronics and running!