Expeditions & Exploration
East Greenland
“Sailing in un-chartered waters always come with risk, we hit an ice berg and bent the propeller shaft - the vibrations were horrendous.”
Quote Source - The Traveller
Sailing through a pod of over a hundred whales, spouts going off everywhere was something I never thought I would ever see, Humpbacks, Minke, Fin and Sei Whales and a probably Blue Whale. It not something I think I will ever see again.
We sailed from Svalbard to East Greenland on the MV Expedition, we’d sailed on her before to Antarctica, shortly after another ship in the fleet MV Explorer had sunk after hitting an iceberg - all crew and passengers were saved. MV Expedition is in fact an ex car ferry - all be it an iB Ice strengthen one and she is a lovely little ship with just 134 passenger max. MV Expedition is run by G Adventures whom we would thoroughly recommend.
East Greenland is very seldomly visited, and the Scorsby sund and Nordwestfyord is the deepest in the world and well as being unchartered in places. Ittoqqortoormiit is the “capital” of this region. There is so much wildlife to see here, Pomarine skuas, bearded seals, Artic Terns, foxes and hares, Musk Oxen and of course Polar Bears, although we saw more dead than alive, hung to dry in the arctic breeze.
Walks along the tundra through birch forests with trees hundreds of years old, but no more than a few inches high show you how tough it is to live here, for any species. When we landed the whole town came out to great us, villagers, police fire brigade, lights flashing - everyone - it was quite a party atmosphere. People has dressed in their finest, beautiful beaded dresses and thigh length polar bear and seal skin boots.
We took Kaffemik with the elders in the old people home, and they were much bemused by us and vis versa, neither party being able to communicate. Kaffemik is a Greenlandic word that literally means “via coffee.” We wandered around town and large angry dogs tried to take chunks out of our legs, only to be choked off on the chain at the last minuet, much to our relief, whilst children waved and then hid from bedroom windows. People smiled and nodded and we smiled and nodded back. It was like we were all unsure of the script or the role we had to play, but it was all with utmost respect, and a big thank you to them allowing us into their community.
Following our collision with whatever bent the shaft - ice or rock? we were restricted to one engine, so we potter about. It was relaxing and fun, whale spotting and looking for “rust oxes’ along the shore, a phrase we turned when the “Musk Ox” turned out to be nothing more than a 45 gallon drum rusting on the beach. We saw dozens of real Rust Ox and Musk Ox which are nothing like any other animal on earth.
We accidentally surprised a group of Musk Ox on one excursion across the wilderness, so much so that they went into their defensive semi circle, a wall of bone and horns, as we hid behind a hummock. We were more afraid of them - I would suspect. The males stood their ground snorting in the cold whilst the females and young at the back ran for their lives, a sea of red birch leaves kicked up like a red mist as they fled. Then finally one solitary male, the vanguard - we saluted him; before he too followed the rest of the troop. It was a memorable encounter.
What we loved
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Traveling in a small cruise ship and landing by Zodiac (tough inflatable craft) allows you to get to remote places and really see wilderness. You have to have an armed guard because it is dangerous with predators. They also have flare guns to scare away any bears or other animals if needed and the rifle would be an absolute last resort. We have come to see them, not kill them. The crew were really good and knowledgeable. There are very few places of pristine wilderness left but this is one of them.
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We have the greatest respect for the groups who live as they have done for hundreds if not thousands of years. Yes things are changing, and the old ways are dying out, but they are still clinging onto the last vestiges of tradition. We have lost ours by and large. I do hope they don’t become a living spectacle - a human zoo. But there is something special about meeting people who have a “traditional” way of life. I loved the fact that they were also interested in us - what we were, and that simple connection of a wave or a smile, that human connection that brings us all together regardless of where we come from.
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If you want to see a whale - then look no further than East Greenland. We saw so many. It gives you warmth in your soul to know that we haven’t killed them all. Seeing so many different species all travelling together - was truly uplifting. We called the Minke - stinky Minke because they do pong a bit when you get up close, and you don’t need a Polar Bear nose to smell them.
Greenlanic Dog Sledding - the dogs really area vast mix of colours - illustration from one of our ships charts
Shaman - Polar bear / man grotesque - used for telling tribal stories (East Greenland)
Model of greenland sled