The Icy Side of Greenland

Posted on August 13, 2016 by David Cross

The eastern side of Greenland is the icy side where it used to always be frozen and full of ice.  The Norse explorers and Vikings only settled on the Green side – the western side of Greenland in the past.

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You can see how the eastern side looks in the summer.  I took a little selfie with my GoPro at the top of one of the mountains.  You can see the ship in the far distance.

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Hiking up the mountain, I found that the visitors like to do a little target shooting here in Greenland.

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They have also been hunting.  You can find numerous bones from reindeer, musk ox, moose, etc. all throughout the area.  Could also be polar bear predators as well.  That is why you always have to have armed escorts when hiking.

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The best part of this hike was the climb to the start of the creek/glacier runoff.  The water was so clear and cool; it was tempting to drink fresh glacier water.

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After a great hike, it is a good excuse to have a white chocolate polar bear for dessert…

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And we enjoyed some Portteus wine to celebrate our annual anniversary that we found in a local shop in Greenland 🙂

Here are some other postings of our visit to Greenland:

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Hiking and Boating in Greenland

Posted on August 13, 2016 by David Cross

We took the ship deep in the famous Kjeser Franz-Jospeh fjord since all the ice is melting away and it can now be reached in the summer months.  It is famous for the German North Pole expedition in the late 1860s.  We went east (inland) almost 80 miles!

It is apparently a national park and our ship received a special permit to explore it.

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The water was like glass and all you can hear is the water rushing down the glacier when you leave the ship.

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The best part is hiking up the mountain to get views of the greater scenery.

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I think it can be a dangerous place since there are bones everywhere.  I think it is best to stay in the sun to avoid any potential zombies that may appear unexpectedly.

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What I found quite interesting is the bright white rabbits.  They are quite scared when they see Americans appear so it is hard to get close to them.  If you look close in this picture, you might see one hiding in the rocks.

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On the shore, there was a hut.  It is hard to determine if it is being used anymore, but our understanding is that is has been refurbished by the hunters/explorers that used the cabin in the past.  I am not sure where they get all the coal from…

 

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Arctic Circle Birds and Islands

Posted on August 12, 2016 by David Cross

This afternoon we hopped in the zodiacs to go check out the borg of Guillemot birds that live and control Alkjefellet (Auk Mountain) island.

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The island is full of waterfalls and nests.

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There is apparently 60,000 of these buggers living on the edge of the cliffs.

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The picture does not show it very well, but they are everywhere and it feels like a Alfred Hitchhock movie.

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Quite noisy and you sometimes to have to watch for the young chicks dive bombing you from above…their first test is to leave the nest and enter the water.

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They go as much as 100 meters deep to find food, but they are smart like humans and avoid the dangerous jellyfish that swarm the cold waters.

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They attract polar bears, gulls and Arctic fox who like to poach the young chicks.  The fox are so small and fast to catch my camera.

 

 

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Arctic Circle – Blue Whales Following Us!

Posted on August 11, 2016 by David Cross

Another day of Arctic Circle sailing on the Le Boreal ice-breaking cruise ship!

We left the Norwegian territory and we are now in the middle of the Greenland sea…

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What did we detect that was following us?  These were blue whales…very rare to see or come close to a ship in this part of the world.

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Polar Bears Know How to Swim!

Posted on August 11, 2016 by David Cross

When we were about 60 miles away from the eastern coast of Greenland…and what did we see?

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Rare to see them that far out – the captain of the ship almost went ballistic as nobody believed him when he sighted them off the side of the ship.  They were not even near any ice.

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They are 60% fat and can actually float without swimming.  We expect they were looking for their friend who as about a mile away taking a nap on piece of ice in the middle of the sea.

If you like to see more of Greenland itself, check out this posting.

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Hanging out with the Wahlbergs in Norway

Posted on August 11, 2016 by David Cross

We made a quick stop at Wahlberg0ya which is an island in the Hinlopen Strait.  Since there were no animals on this island, I guess we can only have veggie burgers….

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Let’s give a view of some of the flora of the Arctic Circle.  The flowers are very tiny.

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You have to look very close, but when you do…some of the flowers are quite bright and surprising to see in the Arctic Circle.  They love to bloom and branch out in the summer months.

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Surprisingly, there are many colors to be found on the isolated islands…and the bright orange are not flowers, they are sunburst lichens.

Check out some of the sites and visits we conducted in the arctic circle in my additional blog postings during the cruise:

 

 

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Trapped by Arctic Ice!

Posted on August 11, 2016 by David Cross

This evening, we headed around Nordaustland island to explore the twin ice caps Austfonna Vegafonna.  We tried to go through the passage to the west of the island which is normally ice locked.

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It was a bright and sunny morning…at 1:00 AM the sun was high in the sky.

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Quite fun to travel through a fjord that is full of glacier debris and ice calves.  I am not sure which campers from the Northwest keep leaving their dirty stuff on some of the ice flows…or if that is the pollution from around the world that is being collected by the ice.

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And then we came to the wall of ice.  Check out the massive waterfall spewing water from the glacier as we started to get up close for some fresh water and ice for evening cocktails.  Shaken, not stirred, martinis will be made.

Check out some of the sites and visits we conducted in the arctic circle in my additional blog postings during the cruise:

 

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Even in the Arctic Circle – You are Followed

Posted on August 10, 2016 by David Cross

We went back south to check out the (small) Stor0ya island.

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We wanted to explore for some more local wildlife that may be hanging out around the research points.  I think this is one of the cell phone signal capture points that Snowden mentioned in one of the latest NSA documents he posted online last week.

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We lucky – we found another polar bear. At first, he was taking a nap, and then he got up and started bobbing around to check us out.  He had his bird posse hanging out with him and the music of course.  They like the blues style of the Harmonica player/musician on our boat.

Check out some of the sites and visits we conducted in the arctic circle in my additional blog postings during the cruise:

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Late Night Polar Bear Attacks in Arctic Circle!

Posted on August 10, 2016 by David Cross

The ship headed up to the ice barrier today…we wanted to explore the where the northern ice line exists.  And supposedly, this is where the polar bear mafia resides.

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We got up to approximately 81 degrees 55 minutes north and then the ice flows started to appear.

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I don’t know if anyone knows it…but in the summer months in the Arctic Circle, the sun never goes down.  Never.  The next few shots are taken at 11:30 PM, 1:30 AM and 3 AM in the morning.  We were looking for polar bears.

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We found one that just completed his late night snack. I think it was a seal tartar main course since this is a French ship…

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He was so happy, he kept jumping around and rolling on the ice like a dog. Maybe he just had too much champagne with his meal. Champagne is always flowing on this French ship!

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We also found one that is performing a late night swim at 3 AM to get some exercise.  The rumor is he is working on a triathlon next year in Hawaii.  Unconfirmed.

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Walruses or Zombies in Arctic Circle?

Posted on August 9, 2016 by David Cross

The Seven Islands Archipelago

We traveled much further north to 80 degrees 45 minutes north.  Much colder and windy for sure.  No satellite or Internet up here!  These islands are famous for the British North Pole expeditions by John Phipps and William Parry.  We hopped into a zodiac and explored around the islands.  Waterproof gear, warm hats and gloves are recommended.

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And we found some walruses.  Could not get too close to them, but the zoom lens on the DSLR camera makes a huge difference.  Some are brown looking and some are reddish.  What does that mean?  If they are red, it means they are HOT! They are getting too warm laying on the beach with their friends!

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If they are cool, they are much more grey.  Here are two of the younger ones playing in the water nearby to cool off with a little water polo in anticipation of the upcoming Olympic games that they are looking forward to watching.  They have to be careful of puncturing the ball sometimes with their large tusks.

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Walking back to the Zodiac, checked out the local hunting/explorer cabin/shelter.  It is amazing on how many people visit these islands for exploring and rough campsites.

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It has a small stove and two bunk beds.  For the adventurous types, these islands could be a fun place for a little hiking and camping.

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Also, look what I found on the shore.  Do you know what it is?  A small whale vertebrae.  Who knows how old it is…I guess you never know what you may find here in the Arctic Circle!  It was a little too big to consider for my carry-on luggage when returning to the US though…

 

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