Arctic Journey: Atammik and Fjords

The morning of July 27th found the Explorer sailing past the small town of Atammik, which has about 200 inhabitants. The weather had distinctively improved from yesterday, and it was getting even better.

Things were looking good up on the bridge.

The clouds continued to lift as we sailed up a nearby fjord.

Soon we were going ashore to explore.

Our ship's puffin discovered an old caribou antler as we hiked towards the tall rock in the background.

This dwarf cornel, a plant in the dogwood family, was worth admiring. The white "petals" are actually leaves, and the true flowers are tiny, dark red, and all originate from a single point, an arrangement called an umbel.

We clambered up the rock and continued on. This photo is looking back at the next group of hikers to summit.

Our group, somewhat smaller than before, continued uphill towards a saddle in the ridge.

During a pause I took this self-portrait, or "selfie," protected by my cockeyed bug net.

Our group passed through a boggy area and then, as we gained altitude, the view began to open up.

There was a brilliant patch of Niviarsiaq, or broad-leaf fireweed, Greenland's national flower.

Or, in the other direction,

At the saddle we discovered a lake.

Looking back towards the Explorer, I could see that the first round of kayakers was paddling around the fjord.

Here's a view of our exploration. The zodiacs landed at 'a', the first, smaller rock we climbed is 'b', and we're now standing at 'c.'

Four of us decided to work our way up the ridge from the saddle, passing through the neighborhood of point 'd.' Soon I discovered this pellet of indigestible feathers, cartilage, and bone, left behind by some predator.

This healthy reindeer lichen, one of two species in the genus Cladonia, also begged to be photographed.

We came to a shelf and admired the view, we four.

From that spot we had to find our way down to the beach. This photo zooms down towards the beach.

Staff member Eric Guth was in the lead and found this caribou skull.

Half an hour after starting down -- we did have to admire the caribou skull, after all -- the beach was getting much closer and the footing was easier.

As you can see from the zodiac wake in the above photo, the trip back was not direct. There was a waterfall to discover, point 'e' in the earlier map.

These folks hove to for a group photo.

Once everyone was back on board the Explorer, it was time for the Polar Plunge. The kayaking platform was pulled next to the ship, and any passengers who wanted to jump into the waters of the fjord, as a point of Arctic honor, now had their chance.

Some found courage in plunging two-by-two.

Some were acrobatic,

some jumped fully clad,

and some preferred to push off rather than jump, in order to keep their hair dry.

After lunch there were a presentations in the lounge, but also a lot of open time. After all, tomorrow was the end of this trip, called Along the Viking Trail by Lindblad, and most guests needed to pack for their departure at Kangerlussuaq. Joan and I were staying on, two of forty-four doing "back to back" trips, and we spent much of the afternoon observing on or near the bridge. Early on a humpback whale swam close to the ship, fins visible through the water.

It coiled in preparation for diving,

and then gave us a good view of its flukes.

After an hour and a half we encountered three or four blue whales, the largest animal ever to have existed. Often they are difficult to photograph due to long dives and because they tend to remain low in the water. The captain would maneuver to give the guests the best view possible, as evidenced by our curved wake,

but often the prospect from the bow looked like this as we waited patiently for the whales to resurface.

Here is a photo not of a whale but of one of the Explorer's stabilizers.

Then it was time to change for the Captain's Farewell Cocktail Party followed by dinner. Tomorrow at Kangerlussuaq  the 44 of us staying on for the next trip would visit the Greenland ice cap.

Arctic Journey: Nuuk

July 26th began overcast and rainy, but fortunately, this did not cancel any landings; the Explorer was still sailing towards Nuuk, population about 16,000 and the capital of Greenland. Several presentations were given before lunchtime.

First, Eyal Aronoff  -- founder of Quest Software (acquired by Dell), co-founder of Fuel Freedom, and autism activist -- gave a talk, Ending Our Oil Addiction, which made the point that humanity won't end its oil fossil addition by regulation or by fiat, by but developing less expensive alternative fuels. It was truly an eye-opener. Then the National Geographic photographers Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson gave a talk (with lots of photos) of their assignments over the years, which was much fun.

After lunch we arrived in Nuuk, with overcast skies and intermittent drizzle.

Not the best day to show off the town, but we did what we could. Possibilities arranged for us were a city tour by bus, shuttles to/from the Greenland National Museum, and kaffemik (a visit involving coffee or tea and Greenlandic cake) with a Nuuk family. Joan and I had time for the city tour and the museum -- "Nunatta Katersugaasivia Allagaateqarfialu" in Greenlandic.

The city tour took us over all the major routes in Nuuk. We drove past or around the space-limited Nuuk airport, the nine-hole golf course, the University of Greenland (est. 1987), Queen Ingrid's Hospital, and through the newest developments in Qinngorput, middle right on this map, where Nuuk plans to expand. Due to the weather and the bus windows, I didn't take any usable photos during this jaunt. 


Joan and I disembarked at the National Museum, where we spent some time. Although photos were allowed the lighting was barely sufficient, and sometimes insufficient, for my point-and-shoot (or, as I learned on this trip, "aim-and-create") camera. Here is a picture of a typical Greenlandic dwelling interior.

There is no timber in Greenland, but as this sign explains, traditionally the Inuit collected driftwood that originated in Siberia.

The transportation building (kayaks, umiaks, dog sleds) gave me the opportunity for a few photos (click to enlarge).

There is a variety of style and innovation amongst the kayaks.

The area exhibiting dress and costume had wonderful clothing and gear on display, but lacked much explanation of the different pieces. It was fun to look at, but without explanation, we weren't tempted to linger.

Other photographs from the museum:

Interesting artwork with figures that, superficially, look grotesque but perhaps represent different spirits, emotions, or mythical figures.

The most moving part of the museum was the exhibit of the "Greenland (Qilakitsoq) mummies." These mummies were discovered in 1972 and have been dated to 1460. The six women, one boy, and one baby were buried under rocks and essentially freeze-dried in the cold and windy conditions. Their 78 pieces of clothing were also highly preserved. Half of the mummies are here, including the baby, and the others are currently at the Danish National Museum.

The mummies are displayed in a separate, black-walled room, kept in a large climate-controlled case that fills half the space, or so it seems. It is a very touching sight, and it inspired a reflective, somber mood in me. Although I could have, I did not take any photographs here. It seemed inappropriate, too superficial and perhaps "touristy."

We sailed from Nuuk and then, after dinner, landed in a fjord that the expedition staff recalled from the Explorer's previous trip to Greenland; in 2008 they had located the foundations of a Norse longhouse here. At the beginning all we found was an earth-sheltered cattle barn.

Joan is practicing the "Greenland wave." The bugs were out in force this evening, and although they didn't bite, they enjoyed landing on uncovered skin. Take a deep breath and you would get a tiny protein-rich snack, but having just had dinner, I kept waving. This is why south Greenlanders have a reputation for being friendly -- they are waving all the time.

Here is the interior of the barn.

This barn didn't look very Norse, so several of us tromped on through willows and high grass in search of the longhouse, stopping occasionally for photographs.

Joan and I and a couple of others tromped pretty far, but we never found anything. Given the bugs and the lack of directions to the supposed Norse longhouse, folks began drifting back to the cafe/bar of the small holiday resort that had been established here (center of the photo below, click to enlarge). Some of us had never gone further than the bar.

It was finally decided that the longhouse foundation wasn't visible any more, and possibly the barn had been built over it. Possibly. Eventually we all straggled back to the Explorer, which resumed its northward course. We're almost back to the Arctic Circle. 

Arctic Journey: Brattahlíð and Qassiarsuk

The morning of July 25th found us anchored off the small settlement of Qassiarsuk, where our main interest was Brattahlíð, or Brattahlid, the estate of Erik the Red. We disembarked using an experimental device fabricated aboard the Explorer called the dry lander, so called because it allowed guests to land without getting their feet wet. It's not suitable for all beaches, but it worked for this one.

Once we're on the beach we can doff the lifejackets, placing them in large sacks.

In Quassiarsuk there are both the ruins of Brattahlid and modern reconstructions of the church and longhouse. Because of the diminutive nature of both buildings, we were split into 6 groups and rotated through them over a three-hour period. The reconstructions are in the upper left of this map.

The story of the coming of Christianity to Greenland is told in this plaque (click to enlarge).

A guide met us at the reconstructions.

In this photo, taken when guests weren't tramping around, the longhouse is on the left and the church, named Þjóðhildarkirkja (Thjoldhild's church) on the right.

The interior is quite small; indeed, it's really a chapel and not a church.

Thjodhild, Erik the Red's wife, converted to Christianity and, the story goes, was forced to employ the strategy of Lysistrata before Erik would agree to build her a church, which nonetheless was placed some distance from the home, as shown in the earlier map. Turf helps to insulate the structure.

Then it was time for us to file into the longhouse.

This corner was near the entrance.

Our guide described life in and the features of the longhouse. At the far end is a Norse loom, and to the right of the guide is a bedchamber.

Upon leaving the longhouse the group split up for exploration, and soon I noticed a jet landing at an airstrip across the fjord, at Narsarsuaq (population about 150).

Narsarsuaq is the principal airfield for southwestern Greenland, with seasonal international flights. The jet on the runway has "JT" on the tail, which stands for Jet Time, a Danish charter airline.

The airfield was constructed in 1941 by the United States, code-named Bluie West One, and became part of the North Atlantic ferry route for World War II. This route enabled single-engine aircraft to fly from the US to the UK with no segment longer than 850 miles (Maine to Labrador to Greenland to Iceland to Scotland). My father was a navigator who ferried many B-17s across the North Atlantic during the war, but those four-engine bombers were able, unloaded, to fly directly from Newfoundland to Scotland. Many Greenland airfields had their origins in WWII, including the international airport at Kangerlussuaq.

Not far from the reconstructions is a low bluff, with sculpture at its base.

From the top of the bluff there's a good view down the fjord and along the settlement. In the foreground the remains of the original Norse buildings are visible.

On the right-hand edge of the above panorama you can glimpse the current-day church. Here's a closer view.

I also captured a good image of the reconstructed chapel juxtaposed with the ever-present ice.

Joan and I took the upper route to a statue of Leif Ericson. We passed through a sheep gate (close the gate behind you!) and visited the cemetery along the way, lower left in this view from Google Maps.

This picture was taken while inside the cemetery fence.

The statue of Leif is accessible by a short path from the spot where the road makes a 90º bend, lower right in the above map.

Leif, son of Eric the Red and Thjodhild, was probably born in Iceland but grew up in this settlement. While in Norway he converted to Christianity and was charged by King Olaf Tryggvason to bring Christianity to Greenland -- doubtless his mother was one of his first converts. He is also known for exploring the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland (Vinland).

We took the short path down to the main road.

The first thing we encountered at the bottom was the hostel.

Just next was this tribute to Leif. We thought it looked a great deal like expedition staff member Tom Ritchie.

A little later on, there were Greenland ponies, admired by everybody who came by.

Especially the pale-eyed one.

Adjacent was a plaque honoring Otto Frederiksen, who first started sheep breeding in Greenland in 1924, here in Qassiarsuk.

We walked by the church again and were able to visit the interior. I approve of their color choices.

Joan and I felt it was mandatory to pay our respects to the actual site of Thjoldhild's church.

But of course the Norse were not the first inhabitants of Greenland. There are dwelling remains and middens from earlier Arctic peoples here as well.

After returning to the Explorer Joan and I watched the staff bring the dry lander back to the ship, pushed by the zodiac.

It looked ungainly, but hoisting the dry lander up to the deck went smoothly.

The weather turned drizzly as we sailed down the fjord. There was nobody standing at the bow.

The afternoon offered some down time and also two talks as the Explorer sailed towards Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The National Geographic photographers Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson presented The Viking Story, and Ragnar Hauksson talked about The Norse In Greenland. My most prominent memory of this afternoon is learning how many different proposals exist for what went wrong for the Norse in Greenland: not only climate change, but also soil erosion and degradation, European pirate/whaler raids, the rise of the Hanseatic League and, most interesting to me, the collapse of their export business to Europe when Europe was gripped by the Black Death, which wiped out at least one-third of the population in the mid-14th Century. The Norse had traded live falcons, polar bear skins, narwhal tusks, and walrus tusks and hides for those many items unavailable or in short supply in Greenland. I suspect the truth will not lie in a single cause, and that not all Norse left for the same reason.

I'll finish this entry with a scene of a guest in repose and reading in the lounge.