Vikingebugt, Krogan and Ittoqqortoormiit, East Greenland, Part 4 - 2019

Vikingebugt, September 22, 2019

This morning, we woke up to gray skies and views of "Viking Bay." This bay was named by Laurits Bruhn during an expedition in 1931-34. The bay provides a terrific view of Bredegletscher. This glacier flows from Geikie Plateau to sea level. 

As we were getting ready for breakfast, a polar bear was seen in the water. Shortly afterwards, a female polar bear and two cubs were sited on a high cliff. 

© Kyle Marquardt

Evidence of a Polar Bear Meal.
Polar bears prefer seal blubber and often leave the rest for scavengers.

After breakfast, we loaded onto the zodiacs to cruise in the bay. We could hear the glacier and icebergs making popping and cracking sounds as our zodiac traveled in ice-filled water. While viewing the glacier, we were able to see a large iceberg calving. This view was unusual as the ice break from Bredegletscher broke off vertically before falling into the sea. The zodiacs were quickly moved away from the glacier to avoid the sea swells generated by the falling ice.

Krogan, September 22, 2019

This was our final afternoon hike of our East Greenland expedition. We trekked amidst the light snow covered tundra and cloudy skies. The mountain views often looked like a black and white photo. We hiked to a high hill (not to the mountain tops in the below photos) to view the narrow Gasefjord. 

There were several interesting rock formations as we reached higher elevations. Large rocks seemed perilously balanced on smaller rocks. These formations are referred to as "balancing rocks" or a "precarious boulder." These rock fragments can be the result of glacier action. 

For the 2020 expedition season, Quark will no longer be using the small 70 guest capacity Ocean Nova. The new larger ships carry more passengers (generally 200) and, perhaps coincidentally, Quark will not host an expedition just focused on East Greenland itinerary for next year.  Some of the East Greenland fjords are narrow and shallow which may prevent entry of larger ships. 

Ittoqqortoormiit, September 23, 2019

Prior to embarking on our expedition, we practiced verbalizing the name of this village of 400 Inuit inhabitants. The village was founded in 1925 by Ejnar Mikkelsen and 85 Inuit settlers from Tasiilaq and four families from west Greenland. Denmark encouraged the establishment of this settlement to offer Tasiilaq settlers an opportunity for better living conditions. The village also firmly established Denmark government over East Greenland.

There were many sled dogs in the settlement. We were told that the snowmobiles can be less dependable during winter hunting compared to the simpler dog sleds - especially when traveling to  areas distant from home.

Ittoqqorttoomilt is very remote, with supplies being delivered twice a year. During the winter, the sea ice becomes a barrier for ship access. For major medical emergencies, an evacuation to Iceland or Denmark is made via helicopter to west Greenland. Airplane service in Greenland, particularly in the winter, is often intermittent due to weather conditions.

Historically, the building color represented a function.
Yellow: Hospital, Green: Telecomm, Blue: Factory, Red: Trade or Related Housing

© James Anderson

There is a DMI (Danish Meteorological Institute) weather station in the village that measures, via balloon,  a vertical profile of temperature, air pressure, humidity and winds every 12 hours. At 11am, a weather balloon is released by the station manager. Data from this weather station is coordinated with readings from other weather stations on a continuous schedule. 

Returning to the Ocean Nova after our morning settlement visit, we started to prepare for our disembarkation the next morning. We packed our polar clothes in the afternoon, keeping out just our water-proof pants, parka and Quark-supplied muck boots. Quark will transport our luggage from the ship to an airport hanger.

When we leave the Ocean Nova, we travel from the ship by zodiac to the shore next to the Constable Point (Nerlerit Inaat) runway. From this point, we walk about a half mile through light mud to an airport hanger. There, we check in for our flight to Reykjavik, collect our luggage, return our muck boots and change to our personal shoes.

It seems we look forward to these polar expeditions for a long time and the trip is over very quickly.