Øfjord, September 20, 2019
Øfjord was named in 1891 by Carl Ryder during his 1891-92 East Greenland Expedition. The Greenlandic name for this area is Ikaasakajik, or The Bad Sound. This latter name comes from the high katabatic winds that blow through this area. Such gravity-fed dense winds blow from high elevation mountains down a slope and can range from 10mph to well over 100 mph.
Langenaes, September 21, 2019
With sunny weather, we made a morning zodiac landing in Langenaes, Langenaes is a narrow pennisula that separates North Fjord from Tidemann and Devolds Fjords. After disembarking our zodiac, we started a moderately uphill hike to view a large glacier field. As we were quietly viewing the glacier, a sharp cracking sound marked a calving event. The sound actually is heard after the calving has occurred. The delay is due to the distance that sound travels.
Rødeø, September 21, 2019
In the afternoon, we boarded the zodiacs for a cruise around this red-tinted island. The red color comes from the iron mineral hematite. The island, with stripes of dolerite, has steep cliffs that likely precluded a landing. We zodiac cruised so close to the island, I noticed afterwards that we didn't have any photos showing the entire island. Nonetheless, the zodiac cruise allowed us to view many icebergs against a clear sky.
At the end of the zodiac cruise, we stopped to visit a pop-up bar on a nearby shore and pose for an expedition photo. Returning to the Ocean Nova, the ship hosted a BBQ for everyone. Despite the sun and light winds, it was still pretty cold and required that we bundle up in our expedition parkas.
Øfjord was named in 1891 by Carl Ryder during his 1891-92 East Greenland Expedition. The Greenlandic name for this area is Ikaasakajik, or The Bad Sound. This latter name comes from the high katabatic winds that blow through this area. Such gravity-fed dense winds blow from high elevation mountains down a slope and can range from 10mph to well over 100 mph.
With sunny weather, we made a morning zodiac landing in Langenaes, Langenaes is a narrow pennisula that separates North Fjord from Tidemann and Devolds Fjords. After disembarking our zodiac, we started a moderately uphill hike to view a large glacier field. As we were quietly viewing the glacier, a sharp cracking sound marked a calving event. The sound actually is heard after the calving has occurred. The delay is due to the distance that sound travels.
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| This photo shows the rough upper portion of the glacier. |
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| Many of our hikes required that we walk over willow trees. In the harsh Arctic environment, willow trees grow only to about six inches tall |
After our morning hike, we reboarded the Ocean Nova and moved to Rødeø (Red Island). The ship path to this new area provided rich opportunities for viewing and photos.
At the end of the zodiac cruise, we stopped to visit a pop-up bar on a nearby shore and pose for an expedition photo. Returning to the Ocean Nova, the ship hosted a BBQ for everyone. Despite the sun and light winds, it was still pretty cold and required that we bundle up in our expedition parkas.
With clear skies, the Northern Lights once again made their appearance, this time around 11:45pm. This was a much better time compared to the previous evening's shipwide alert at 2am. After gathering cameras and tripod, we made our way to the upper deck. Based on the recommendation of the expedition photographer, earlier in the evening I mounted my camera on its tripod and pre-configured my settings for long exposures. This reduced any setup time once we found our spot for take evening photos.
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