Monday 23 August 2010

Shootout in Uummannaq

When five people in orange jackets climb into one boat, carrying a big rifle each, it is not necessarily the beginning of unfriendly negociations. In fact, it is an important precaution for the time ahead, after all we are headed for polar bear country. Thus, most of the guides/lecturers have to brush up on their aiming skills. So we grab a Polar Cirkel Boat and make for the opposite shore, where we simply plant some cardboard targets into the ground, and off we go! After twenty minutes all "bears" are hit, and we have to hurry to get back - we even have our lunch on the boat ride… We make it just in time for the hike to Santa Claus' cabin, a very famous address in Greenland, at least if you ask Danish children. Under the looming heart-shaped mountain we scramble up and down the rocks until we reach the little green cabin in the bay, where coffee, tea and some delicious additives are put up on our arrival.

Regardless of the long day in fresh air many attend to the lectures in the afternoon and the  soiree of classical music by Hans and Susanna Bechmann, our Danish musicians on board. But then it's finally time to sleep, while FRAM is relentlessly heading north.

Important: Folks, we are headed now for the far North, which means that we will run out of satellite connection every now and then. Even two, three, days in a row we may be in the black. So don't you worry, we'll be back!