2023 Greenland Expedition - Day 4 Land Ho!

Why Greenland? We asked ourselves that throughout the night, as the engines growled and shuddered, roared and lurched. Apparently there is some strain on the motors when navigating slowly through sea ice, reversing suddenly before moving slowly a few feet ahead. 

The views through our deep-set porthole were eerie overnight, shades of light and ice.

Midnight

7 AM - and Land!

We could see bright sunshine and the coast of Greenland. There was a lot of sea ice, so much that the ship could not enter Scoresbysund Fjord. The FRAM anchored well outside the entrance to the fjord and waited for the tide to turn. When it began flowing inland, the ship could run in with the ice floes. This is the largest fjord in the world, and about 32 km (20 miles) wide at its entrance. Distances and size are difficult to judge here, with nothing familiar visible for scale, but we likely won’t see the other side when we enter. 

We were supposed to attempt a landing and walk on the south side of the fjord today, but instead, the expedition team readied the zodiacs for cruises through the sea ice. 

If you look closely, you can spot the zodiac nudging big ice floes away from the FRAM.

Neils was the expedition team member on our 11 person zodiac. He lives in Ittoqqortoomiit, the northernmost of the two towns in East Greenland. It’s Neils’ first sailing with Hurtigruten. Among other things, he’s a storyteller, and we’re looking forward to learning more about folklore and traditions as our voyage continues. 

Super calm seas. Occasionally a seal would pop up to check us out. Neils said they likely had never seen humans before. The Inuit hunt and have many uses for them. He mentioned that there are so many that it’s hard to keep them in check. Only fairly recently (in the big scheme of things) have orca been coming this far north along Greenland’s east coast. Previously, the seals had no predators besides man and polar bears.

Many of the more fantastic ice formations are from sea ice compressing and lifting, often over several years. They are made of frozen sea water. Ice formations that are flat and dirty-looking are most likely from glacier calving. For both types, like ice cubes, most of the ice is underwater. As the surface ice melts, the center of gravity shifts and the ice pivots, rotates, flips upside-down to get the largest mass under water. 

From the ship. What appears at sea level to be separate pieces broken by pools, is in reality one big floe connected underwater.

This evening we are slowly cruising through old sea ice. In about an hour,  we can safely enter Scoresbysund Fjord. We’re in a vast reflecting pond of frozen ice. The stillness and beauty make one feel small and insignificant. It’s a lovely, albeit forbidding, place.