My 18 Eventful Days Cruising Greenland & Canadian Arctic!

Name: My 18 Eventful Days Cruising Greenland & Canadian Arctic! | Open Video
Uploaded: 2025-01-28T05:56:29+00:00
Duration: 20 min 7 s

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18 days ago I flew in on a charter
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flight to the airport down there
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kangalusa quack join an expedition
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cruise on her back Lloyd around
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Greenland this turned out to be an
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experience like no other that I have had
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with ice beating us incredible sights
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twists and turns and just an incredible
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experience as you will find out right
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now the first big twist came right after
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the mustard drill as we set sail at 8pm
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the captain announced the itinerary I
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booked was being scrapped due to thick
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ice and bad weather instead of Crossing
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to the Canadian Arctic first as planned
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we would now stay in Greenland selling a
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North and North and North and he'd find
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new places to visit along the way until
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we could find somewhere to cross but as
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you'll see even those new plans kept
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hitting snags too
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so how cold is it and how rough are the
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Seas so I'll tell you on the first
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morning I'm I'm underdressed clearly I
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need more of a hat and stuff so it's
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definitely getting noticed to be cold as
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we head a bit further north I mean
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yesterday it was quite warm about 16.
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the seas are very very calm and I guess
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because we're sort of sitting in fjords
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and protected areas I'll keep you posted
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on that after putting on layers hats and
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the Cozy blue Parker supplied by the
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line I headed back outside in time for
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this the first science of what was to
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come this amazing Iceberg the first of
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many that we saw today but as I
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discovered icebergs like these were
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rather small scale versus what I got to
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see later earlier the next morning the
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ship slowed to cautiously make our way
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through icebergs that were scattered all
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around umanac our first off-ship
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experience a landing that had some
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rather unusual features that none of the
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others we did on the trip had as I'll
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explain behind me is in the bay just
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like a gazillion icebergs and we're in
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this tiny little village it's about 1
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800 people and it's a really important
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place for the inner Community east of
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winter here now there's kind of more of
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a settlement here and you've got a very
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beautiful church here you've got a an
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interesting Museum of the history of uh
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the green lenders and people moving here
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and there's a big fishing Community you
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might hear clanking and banging and
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stuff from from that and it's quite
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amazing I mean the scenery is just
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incredible out there this Landing had
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four unique things that others to come
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did not first we use the ship's tender
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boats as amanak had a place to Dock and
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all the others we had to use the zodiacs
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more on that shortly as you'll see
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secondly all 200 passengers could go on
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land here at the same time because we
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were visiting a settlement in
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uninhabited places only 100 of us were
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allowed on land at any one time and well
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the third and fourth difference is I'll
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explain by showing you as they happen on
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that next Call of the day stop by the
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way there was not on my book titinary at
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storen storen was a wet Landing which
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meant we got there in these zodiac boats
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and we had to step off them into the
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water so we were wearing boots supplied
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by the line by the way and waterproof
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trouser covers which I had to bring with
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me there's an expedition team of 12
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people and while six are experts who
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gave talks on board and then are on hand
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when we're out and about to inform us
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about things like the weather geology
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Wildlife you know at culture the six
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others in that team their roles came
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into play when we landed here in storyn
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and so one of the things that are very
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important when you're out
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is one of these guys behind me there's a
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group of polar bear guards watch out for
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thought about this because it's kind of
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dangerous so polar bear's kind of
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approach then we all have to head back
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to the ship really quickly because polar
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bears are
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very aggressive and
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honoring to attack human so
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those guys are kind of quite important
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in the whole thing so we're out on The
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Second Adventure which is a hike to a
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Iceberg graveyard so this is the iceberg
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Cemetery it's a bay where iceberg is
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going to get caught and it's rather
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spectacular we haven't yet had as many
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little mosquitoes and bugs as we'll
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warned but I have noticed that quite a
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few of the experienced people now of the
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Expedition team who are out at various
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points here they've got their little
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Nets on it it bison Nets and we'll see
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whether later on in the trip they don't
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need to do those so I'm gonna go and
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explore a little bit more of this
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amazing amazing scenery so I'm back on
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the ship having done that walk and I
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realized that there was a reason that
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the regulars had their protection stuff
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on for bugs and I wish they'd warned us
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because I've now bitten like crazy on my
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head and my neck so I'm all bundled up
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because I've just been outside the
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temperatures falling dramatically so
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it's like three degrees after it was
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like 13 or so yesterday and this is a
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sea day we're heading 400 nautical miles
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further north which is why the
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temperature's falling so much and we
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we've got three lectures today one
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around the weather the second was around
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the whole Ecology of the Arctic Circle
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and the third is going to be about the
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Intuit people and then we have the
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briefing for the next few days so a
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little bit chilly gonna go and head
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outside again it's it's kind of also a
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little bit Misty and foggy across the
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trip we had at least 16 lectures by the
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Expedition team and most days there were
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Recaps and briefings about next day stop
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though often whatever we were briefed on
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was going to happen didn't come to pass
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the next day around seven o'clock in the
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morning on day five I woke to find that
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we were gingerly sailing through fog to
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try to get to Cape York some 400 miles
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north from that last call so you may
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hear little crunches every now and again
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which is ice kind of was crunching up
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against the hull of the ship so we're
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currently selling towards Cape York and
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we're sitting through kind of see ice
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which has broken up now last night on
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The Briefing the captain spoke about the
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ice because it's a lot of ice around
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still so whether we can get that far
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north is still to be decided you might
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see things like this sort of Iceberg
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looming over there you can see loads of
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sea ice over there
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so uh some sort of Jeopardy but we'll
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sort it on that I'm sure well I was over
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optimistic it was too foggy to sell
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safely there so we turned around and
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headed to our next stop that stop was
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Parker snow Bay which was not on the
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original itinerary that I booked so I
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was concerned about how good or
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interesting it would be
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but also hoping that this fog would lift
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as we're not allowed on land if it has
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not lifted because it's impossible to
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spot polar bears and the risk is too
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high well as you can see it's really
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sunny blue skies so that's a big change
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from this morning when you said it's fog
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even sailing in here there was loads of
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fog so it's really changeable if so you
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may be able to hear kind of gush of
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water and that's a stream that's slowing
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down to into the Fjord from these
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glaciers behind me in about 1850s these
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glacies that are behind me would have
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been right down to about here 80 of
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Greenland is covered by a massive thick
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ice field and at some points it's three
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and a half kilometers thick and if it
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melted the whole ocean would rise by
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seven meters right around the world so
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you off these eyes of this big ice
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Shield you have glaciers which then push
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down uh through the the valleys and the
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fields and the fjords create the fjords
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uh and because of gravity they just keep
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moving so like rivers of ice so hiking
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up has been kind of interesting because
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you're walking on like permafrost which
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means that it's almost like walking on a
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spongy carpet so it's actually quite
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hard going but anyway I've got to go and
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climb much further up there and I'm
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gonna get left behind if I don't keep
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moving well I didn't get left behind and
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after the hike it was time to head back
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to the ship as the next set of guests
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headed onto land to have their turn
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hiking Parker snow Bay early the next
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morning I bundled up warm and headed out
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onto the bar of the ship to see us
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arrive at the ice border last night the
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captain told us he was going to keep
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heading north to get here to what is
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more or less the start of solid sea ice
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to the North Pole and we're going to
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spend a day trying to push through it
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hoping to spot polar bears because they
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hunt on this ice but he warned that the
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ice charts suggested the ice may prove
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too thick for us to get very far we're
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pushfully far north I think we're about
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77 degrees north and we're now hit the
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with the eyes we've actually just pushed
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a little bit into the the ice for her
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and you see these little pools of clear
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water which means that it's sort of
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starting to to melt a bit but it's uh
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it's quite something and so the ship is
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uh ice class which means you can push
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into some of the ice it's on ice breaker
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so it can't break through into deep deep
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ice as such so it's quite atmospheric
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kind of a little bit foggy and whatnot
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so we're spending a day now looking at
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the ice hopefully finding things like
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polar bears and stuff like that but that
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was not to be and the captain and the
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Expedition leader had to find an
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alternative in addition will be told we
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no longer
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in the ice because the ice the pack ice
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coming out from the north was too thick
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it was about two meters thick and
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although we tried to push through
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couldn't really get through so we've
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gone to a place which is really really
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weird and interesting all together so
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this is the Dundas Mountain over there
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which some people have climbed this is
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an old sort of hunting area also it's a
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really important area around here for
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the Inuit people however in the 1950s a
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massive Air Base was built during the
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Cold War by the Americans This base was
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called the tool air base and apparently
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it had up to 20 000 Marines at one time
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and it's designed really because it's
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sort of a midpoint between the US and
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Russia at the time it was a way of kind
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of identifying if there was going to be
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any ballistic missiles coming and it's
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now really more focused on tracking kind
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of activity in space and again warning
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for ballistic missiles and so on but it
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also was a reminder of just how badly
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the local people the Inuit people were
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treated so for example they were getting
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four days apparently they've been here
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for I guess forever they've given four
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days to vacate the area and the whole
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through this whole trip you've been
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learning about how badly the people
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treated now while this call was another
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unscheduled and last minute itinerary
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change it did unexpectedly make the next
11:04
stop even more poignant just after 8 30
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this morning it was my turn to head
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across on the zodiacs into this town
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this is both interesting and kind of a
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little bit sad
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in two ways so we're in Karnak now which
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has a population of about 650 people
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this was only established in early 1950s
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when the Intuit people were had to move
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from when they were building the toule
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air base so this now is sort of a
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hunting fishing kind of village and
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um
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it is actually the northernmost City in
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Greenland but I will talk a little bit
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about the northernmost settlement a
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little bit later on but anyway it's
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going to explore
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in the Community Hall there was a quite
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an interesting mix of things going on so
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there was Alex Perry who is a relative
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of a famous explorer a young guy is
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blue-eyed you the only included with
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blue eyes and he spoke all about hunting
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and he's really quite inspiring
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um he's a young guy he has Parkinson's
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but refuses to leave his community to go
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to Denmark to kind of get some treatment
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and medication We need he loves the
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community so much so that was quite
12:22
something also there's lots of kind of
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curios and bits and pieces there
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actually made out of kind of little
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glass beads lots of kind of work going
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and then they did sort of some drum
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dancing it was so much to see in this
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small town a museum telling the story of
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hunting a quaint church that is
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immaculately kept and interacting with
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the rather excitable Greenland sled dog
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these are pups and they're all around
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the town however soon it was time to
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head back to the ship and to head to our
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next stop but that took way longer than
12:55
was scheduled because the sea ice in the
12:57
bay to get there was still really thick
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and the ship had to force our way
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through we did though finally get to
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shirapala this is the northernmost
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permanent settlement in Greenland just
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65 people live here mostly part of an
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extended family who are hunters and
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they're Fishers and the signs of all
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that carcassus polar bear skins and
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Bones dotted all around it has a small
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and slightly quirky Church totally
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isolated during the winter when it's
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only reachable by helicopter quite a few
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people have asked me about what's the
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key difference between sort of the
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Arctic Greenland and Antarctica I think
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this is a really good example of one key
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difference which is settlements so this
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is the northernmost settlement in the
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whole of Greenland and it has about 65
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people it's a Hunting Community but what
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you don't have in Antarctica is
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settlements and people you'll find some
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old abandoned waiting stations and some
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research centers you don't have
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indigenous people that have lived and
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living there actively kind of you know
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living alive
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you know fending for them cells that's
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one key difference one important
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difference of course is polar bears you
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get in the Arctic penguins you get down
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in Antarctica so if you ever see a
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Christmas card we've got penguins and
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polar bears on that isn't just nonsense
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it could be nonsense after a walk on the
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gorgeous beach with mountains and a
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glaze in the distance I headed back to
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the ship once everyone was back on board
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the captain told us that ice was melted
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enough for us to cross Baffin Bay to
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explore the Canadian Arctic so many of
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the Greenland cruises like the one that
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I'm actually on come across the Canadian
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Arctic and visit really remote places as
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you do in Greenland and although I'm
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going to focus on Greenland it's worth
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just mentioning the Canadian article is
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pretty special as well and this is
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actually where we've seen so far anyway
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the most Polo beds I think we've seen
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about seven of them now you know of
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course they're quite far away they can
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be as much as the kilometer waste you
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need a really good strong lens this
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morning we saw selling in here we saw a
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mother a baby so that was kind of
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special you see another side of the
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Inuit community
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and understand some of the differences
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the scenery is even more kind of rugged
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so you have these massive big uh Cliffs
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and things so it's definitely worth if
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you've got the time looking at the
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Canadian Arctic extension after a rather
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Rocky Crossing back to Greenland across
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Baffin Bay we visited illusat one of the
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best known and most visited towns in
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Greenland I had no idea there was a
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UNESCO world heritage site here and just
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how remarkable a sight it was as you
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will see after short zodiac Riders the
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town passed the first and only other
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cruise ship that I'd seen on the whole
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trip so far we entered the picturesque
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Harbor jam-packed with small fishing
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boats I jumped off went on the cruise
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lines bus transfer to the Easter Fjord
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Visitor Center and then headed down off
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a signed posted path so looming out the
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Mischief behind me is the most
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remarkable site looks like it's a
16:05
glacier but in reality it's floating
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icebergs huge huge huge big chunks of
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ice that have broken off the green and
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ice field they get pushed down here but
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because it's really shallow here
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they basically get grounded and stuck
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and this is one of the most
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popular places to come and visit because
16:27
of this incredible ice field as it's
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called I mean it really is quite quite
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quite something so it's about a one and
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a half kilometer sort of walk on these
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wooden
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Pathways to get there so let's go and
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take a look and explore this amazing ice
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spot it's just my imaginates they said
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to us would be incredible but it is just
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mind-boggling massive glaciers break off
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the green and ice field at the end of
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isofjord over 70 kilometers from here
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the Fjord is around 700 meters deep
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until it gets here where it Narrows to
17:02
about 200 meters deep the giant icebergs
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are so big they get stuck creating a 70
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kilometer Iceberg traffic jam all the
17:12
way down the field after that incredible
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sight and a quick look around the town a
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hurry back to the ship as we were due to
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set sail for the afternoon activity
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which was a zodiac ride around the
17:23
icebergs in Bay after basically the
17:27
icebergs finally melt enough and make
17:29
their way past that blockage another
17:32
stunning sight illusat
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disco Bay and our next stop were all on
17:37
the original itinerary I booked by the
17:39
way and as those first two were so
17:41
amazing I was really looking forward to
17:44
the next one however it was memorable
17:48
but for the wrong reason this port had
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one thing that no other place we've
17:53
called at in Greenland or in fact the
17:55
Canadian Arctic had but that wasn't
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really a plus we're in probably I
18:01
apologize to the people Olivia one of
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the least interesting places we've been
18:05
to which is sisimot again like Illusions
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it has about 10 of the total population
18:10
of greenlands about 5 500 people and I
18:15
think one of the key reasons we're
18:16
stopping here is sort of on the way back
18:17
to kangalusa which is where we Embark in
18:20
this box but also importantly it's
18:22
probably the only place that the ship
18:24
can actually dock so here is where it's
18:26
taken on fuel it's got rid of kind of
18:30
waste and taken on all of the supplies
18:32
so I suspect the real reason we're here
18:34
is because it's where they can basically
18:35
restock there is though actually quite
18:38
an interesting Museum which is just here
18:39
it's a series of buildings all kind of
18:41
historical buildings and in there it's
18:42
quite interesting because it tells the
18:44
story of how this evolved from like a
18:47
whaling hunt Village into kind of a more
18:49
fishing Village and it's one of the
18:51
important centers of fishing and fishing
18:54
processing and that kind of stuff I've
18:56
been asked a lot about the weather
18:58
temperatures that kind of stuff so as
19:00
you can see it's a little bit rainy here
19:03
so the warmest it's been was 15 degrees
19:05
Celsius which is actually when we
19:07
embarked in kandalusa which was a very
19:09
unusual temperature and the lowest it
19:12
got on the trip the captain told us this
19:13
minus two degrees Celsius but most days
19:16
it kind of range between two or three
19:18
degrees Celsius up to about eight or
19:20
nine degrees Celsius probably about 10
19:21
degrees Celsius here in sisimo anyway so
19:23
the ship could only be docked for a
19:25
certain amount of time and now it's gone
19:26
out and it's sort of moored in the bay
19:28
so I'm going to actually go and head
19:29
back to the ship once back on board I
19:32
had time to reflect about my trip having
19:34
my booked itinerary scrapped could have
19:37
made for a terrible trip but as you've
19:40
seen far from that as Greenland was
19:43
fascinating no matter where we
19:45
eventually went and had to go however it
19:48
does show that expedition cruising has
19:50
many surprises and things that you only
19:53
really find out about once you're on
19:55
board because the lines tend to downplay
19:58
them so join me in this video where I
20:00
explain all of them starting with the
20:02
one that definitely causes the most
20:04
dismay see you over there

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