Wednesday 24 June 2009

Ilulissat

Ilulissat means icebergs in Greenlandic. Today Ilulissat lived up to its name. It became clear very early that our Polar Cirkle boats were not going to be able to reliably operate in the very dense icepack that stretched all the way from the ship to the town of Ilulissat. At first we couldn't get enough ice and now we have too much ice!

The excursions to Holmsbakke and the boat trips to Ice Fjord were able to depart fairly close to schedule as we relied on our much larger tour operator's boats. We also hired a sturdy local boat and skipper to act as a tender from the Fram to shore. The tender trip took about 40 minutes one way.
The tender ride from the ship to the harbour of Ilulissat was fantastic as we weaved through thousands of icebergs and ice floes. Once again we were lucky with the weather - blue sunny skies all day long!Eventually everyone got into Ilulissat and the hike to Sermermiut set off shortly after 3pm.
The hike to Sermermiut terminated with an incredible view of densely packed icebergs as far as the eye could see.