August 13 – Helicopter to Angmagssalik

We woke up ridiculously early to sunshine (no blackout curtains), but refused to get up until 6.

Time is 5:55 AM! This is the cove behind our hotel.

This is my new sweater and the turtleneck -- Icelandic wool is warm but scratchy, making the almost invisible turtleneck critical to comfort.

 

The water here is unbelievably clear.

After breakfast, we headed to the airport for our flight to Angmagssalik. The van and the helicopter both hold 7-8 people, and there are 15 of us with Snorri. We sent the first group off with the van when Snorri came out so he decided to walk over—it’s less than ¾ of a mile away—and Jim and Ron accompanied him. The van was back so fast that the rest of us got to the airport before the walkers. The chopper fits 2 on each side looking out and 5 in the center looking forward. Interestingly, our luggage was between us and the pilots secured in netting. Not quite like a tourist flight, but we had a great view of the fjords and pack ice along with a view of the village we just left.

Luggage between us and the pilots

Aerial view of Kap Dan

The pilot's view (sort of) of the ride.

Angmagssalik is an island with a few communities, and we are staying in Tasiilaq, a town of about 1,800 – nearly half of the 4,000 people who live in East Greenland (vs. 53,000 who live in West Greenland). This side of Greenland appears to be somewhat disenfranchised – there traditionally has been little contact between east and west, due to the huge ice cap between them, so the language is quite different. The culture here is more hunter-oriented, and school is taught in the western dialect, so kids are learning a new language along with everything else. Life is quite a bit harder here, with more Arctic pack ice along the coast and not enough greenery to support herds of any type, even reindeer. Our hotel is at the top of a hill that looks like our Rosemont street (very steep), only twice as long. I did wonder if cars were of any value in the winter. They must have to switch to snowmobiles and dog sleds. We have a wonderful view of the harbor and the village, though.

The harbor from our hotel room -- room looks exactly like the Kulusuk Hotel (same owners).

Our location is the circle, and pack ice flows from the arctic down the east of Greenland.

After lunch, we headed to the harbor for a boat ride. Since the only van is only suited for half the group, several of us decided to walk, and Jim and I definitely took the scenic route, which involved a few more uphill sections than it should have. I have to remember: “the hills are our friends, they make us strong…”!

Our boat ride was a 2-hour venture out of the harbor toward the ocean through the pack ice. Like kids looking at the clouds and seeing shapes, we looked at the ice bergs and saw whales, ducks, nudes, mushrooms, and sheep among others. I suspect we will look at some of our photos later and wonder what we were thinking of when we took them! We probably took nearly 100 ice pictures. Isn’t digital great???

The flat pieces are the pack ice, which is supposed to be gone by now. The tall chunks have calved off glaciers.

Glacial piece with a cave

After the boat ride, we visited the local museum and got a tour from the curator – he is a Dane who was born in the US and elected to come here 3 years ago. He offered an interesting perspective on the people here that was somewhat more generous than that of the Latvian guide yesterday.

I had been reading about early discoveries here in boats called “women’s boats” and wondered about the name – they are sealskin boats rowed by the women! The men use kayaks which are designed for seal and whale hunting. We also saw many highly decorated hunting tools because the people thought that animals would rather be killed by a beautiful weapon than a crude one. He said that seal is a main part of the diet here, and that seals abound. When well-meaning outsiders come along and castigate the locals for following these traditions, their lives are made worse. In the past, when seals were killed, their pelts brought funds to the family and they fed the village. Now, they still feed the village with seals, but the pelts have become unsellable, so an important source of income is gone and the skins are tossed out.

We walked back up the hill (pant, pant) for relaxation and dinner. Around 9:30 pm, Melinda came to tell us the full moon had been sighted so we rushed out to catch a glimpse of it. We spent about a half hour wandering around the hills behind the hotel to photograph the moon from various points of view. In some places, you could see its reflection in the reservoir below us and on the ice pack behind the ring of hills. Quite magical!