Crossing Back to Iceland … and a Retrospective

Saturday, 21 September
Aboard M/V Sea Spirit — In the Denmark Strait

Stats posted @ 1200 UTC
Position: 66°07’ North / 24°33’ West
Distance traveled: 1,843.9 NM since Reykjavík
Distance left to Reykjavík: 164 NM
temperature: 45F / 7C

Quote from the Daily Program:
”We know…little of winds…despite the powers of science…the substance
of the winds is too thin for human eyes, their written language is too difficult
for human minds, and their spoken language is mostly too faint for the ears.”
— John Muir —

“We’re ahead of schedule!”  Those were some of the words Dutch uttered in his morning announcement.  And it’s all due to the favorable conditions — the following seas … the light winds that we have been blessed with for this third crossing across the Denmark Strait.  That must mean that Iceland wants to see us again ;-)  Talking to Laurie at dinner tonight, he mentioned they are girding their loins for the crossing back to Greenland tomorrow.  I have to say that I’m glad we will not have to experience it!

Nothing but water — ahead and behind.

The day’s agenda was filled with lectures; including a disembarkation briefing.  We went to the latter, but skipped everything else.  This was our time to decompress, and that’s what we focused on.

Another set of certificates to mark our achievements on this voyage.

In looking back on our Greenland adventure, I started thinking about the reason why we booked back-to-back voyages.  Simply put, it was because we weren’t I was unable to pick one over the other.  We booked what we considered the easy one first.  Easy because it was roundtrip out of Iceland.  In reality, that’s the leg we’re completing now.  But the more I read about west and south Greenland, the quicker my heart beat.  I wanted to do that leg too — badly enough to postpone other plans to make it a reality.  Was it the right decision?  For us, that would be resounding YES!

West and South Greenland 2,375 NM covered	East Greenland 2,008 NM Covered

I’ll share some thoughts on the two legs — in random order.

• Leg 1 had half the passengers of Leg 2 — 58 vs 112 people.  This was excellent news for us.  Anytime you share an enclosed space with fewer people it’s a good thing.  Of course, Quark would disagree with that assessment.
• Leg 1 passenger dynamics were different.  Partly, because of the fewer numbers.  But another factor, I think, was that we shared something that was missing from Leg 2 — the charter flight from Ottawa to Kangerlussuaq.  Even though we were a group of independent travelers, we had time to bond just the tiniest bit during the flight.  This was especially evident on embarkation day in Reykjavík where both Mui and I commented as we watched the new passengers board the Sea Spirit that they didn’t look happy.  Not true of course; but impressions are what impressions are made of.  I can’t help but also think that having two distinct and large groups of passengers on Leg 2 played a role in the dynamics — an Asian group and a mostly European group.  Not a bad thing; just different preferences, styles, behavior.
• Leg 1 covered a larger area than Leg 2 — that’s obvious from the voyage maps Quark provided (above).
• Leg 1 afforded more variety.  By that I mean that there was a cultural focus in addition to the big ice and wilderness.  Seeing life in remote settlements on Leg 1 made for some interesting shifts in perspective; hiking in the wilderness on Leg 2 gave us a deeper appreciation for what it takes to survive in this land of ice. 
• Leg 1 seemed to have better weather — but that might just be me blocking out the drizzly days; passage of time will do that.  Of course, it was earlier in the month, and in these latitudes, that’s a key element of the climate.
• Leg 1 gave us less brilliant northern lights than Leg 2.  But we expected that — the itinerary name of East Greenland Northern Lights Expedition was a dead giveaway!
• Leg 1 took us above that imaginary line called the Arctic Circle, but only briefly.  Even though we crossed the circle three times in two days, most of the voyage was below 66°33’44”.  Leg 2, on the other hand, kept us above the Arctic Circle for the entire voyage.  In fact, we were above the circle well before the end of the first day of the crossing from Reykjavík, and have only today come south of it again.
• Leg 1 and Leg 2 were led by two different team members — Alex on the first one; Dutch on the second one.  Both capable men, but with distinctly different styles.  Alex more structured — in a good, planful [is that even a word] way.  Dutch, not so much; or if he had plans in his mind, he was less forthcoming with them.  Both looked for and took advantage of opportunities to make the most of what our days offered us.  But as people who like to plan things out — if only loosely — I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that we much preferred Alex’s style of expedition leadership.

West and South Greenland Voyage Stats	East Greenland Voyage stats

After all this, can I  recommend one leg over another.  I don’t think so.  Everyone has their own interests and will have to weigh what each voyage has to offer.

For me … I can easily say that Leg 1 — West and South Greenland — carried the day with a slight edge.  For the variety?  Perhaps.  But maybe even just because it was the first leg, and our first venture into what Greenland has to offer visitors.  Would I have been happy doing just one of the two legs?  Perhaps.  But I sure am glad I did both and don’t have to wonder about the what if’s of not having done so.

Two voyages blend to make one.

And on that note, I’ll wrap this up with the color that blazed from the skies this evening.  What a spectacle it was.

Tomorrow morning we’ll be in Iceland.

Rockin’ and Rollin’ Back to Greenland

Thursday, 12 September
Aboard M/V Sea Spirit — the Greenland Sea

Stats posted @ 1200 UTC
Position: 71°10’ North / 21°00’ West
Distance traveled: 481.4 NM since Reykjavík
distance to next point: 178 NM to NordFjord
temperature: 32F / 0C

Quote from the 12 September Daily Program:
“There are two kinds of men in the world, those that stay at home and those
that do not.  Of the two, the latter are by far the most interesting.”
— Rudyard Kipling —

On our Svalbard expedition voyage a few years ago we reached 80°03’53” North, putting us ten degrees shy of the Pole.  As 80° North is not attainable on this voyage, that milestone will remain as our furthest north to date.

Yesterday, we made it past the Arctic Circle, which lies at 66°33’44” North.  The expedition stats posted at noon today had us another five degrees north of that imaginary line.  That means we are already at a higher latitude than the 69°48’ we reached as our northernmost point on the previous leg of our adventure.  We still have miles to go before we reach what will be our ‘high’ point for this voyage — but we won’t have to wait long for that to happen.

Thanks to the storm, the ‘planned itinerary’ shown in the screenshot to the right has jiggled a bit.

That we will reach our northernmost milestone tomorrow rather than later in the voyage means that the planned itinerary for this segment has jiggled a bit.  We have the storms in the Denmark Strait and the Greenland Sea to thank for the change.  Captain Peter and Dutch have decided to go as far north as quickly as possible to find better weather for us.  So, instead of going into King Oscar Fjord first, we’re heading to Kaiser Franz Josef Fjord.  This is the nature of expedition voyages in polar waters — changes due to weather and ice are inevitable.

What we’ve already explored in Greenland (left);
and what’s yet to be explored after we complete the crossing (right).

I decided on a combo approach for the write up of this two-day crossing … so here goes.

… the seas

I’m not sure what time it was when we finally departed Reykjavík two nights ago.  I was already fast asleep.  Somewhere in the hazy world of my dreams, however, I felt the change from the calm waters of the harbor to the swells of the Denmark Strait.  When Dutch came on the P/A to wake us up yesterday morning, he described the 10-foot (3 m) following seas as “willing us toward Greenland.”  I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.  I prefer to call a spade a spade and describe the conditions as rocky.

It’s not easy to give a true reflection of yesterday’s swells with a still shot; …

… so I asked Mui to string together some of his video clips from around the ship
for a more realistic look at the sea conditions.

But that was yesterday.  Despite what we might consider rough conditions, the Sea Spirit actually made good time overnight through calmer waters, bringing us abeam of Scoresbysund at noon today.  But we weren’t in the clear yet.  In fact, now that we were out of the Denmark Strait, the Greenland Sea was waiting to show us its fury this afternoon.  With the winds picking up, we were soon sailing into a Force 10 gale (winds of 55-63 mph/89-102 kph; and waves 29-41 feet/9-12.5 m).

I did OK until 4:30p when I went to Laurie’s presentation in the Oceanus Lounge.  Not a good idea.  Sitting in a darkened room with no sense of the horizon brought upon a bout of queasiness, forcing me to excuse myself and return to the cabin to break open a Scopolamine packet as a precaution.  A half-patch and a bit of rest allowed me to survive the storm without getting sick.  So much so that I’m now able to write this post.

Captain Peter looked relaxed on the bridge yesterday;
don’t know about today as I didn’t venture up to the bridge to check on him ;-)

The seas were so rough this afternoon that we decided to keep ‘both hands for the ship’ instead of the usual ‘one hand for yourself and one hand for the ship’ adage.  Hence no photos or videos from us.  But I can show you two images that were taken by a fellow passenger who was brave (?) enough to go on the outside decks this afternoon.

Rough crossing!
[photos by Allan Jensen]

… the weather

Despite the rough seas and the blowing wind, yesterday our temperature at noon was 50F (10C).  The sun even broke through the overcast briefly.  Several of us took advantage of the balmy conditions to have breakfast and lunch on deck 5 aft.

Al fresco dining yesterday with Nicola and a couple from Denmark.

Today’s noon temperature, — discounting the windchill — was 32F (0C).  Not that I tested it for myself, but at that point the seas were warmer at 41F (5C).  As the winds picked up in the afternoon, the gauge plummeted.  Extra layers were part of everyone’s attire — and I don’t mean to go on deck, but just to wander around inside the ship.  No one was eating al fresco today … not even the hardiest members of the expedition team.  The self-serve hot beverage machine in the Club Lounge saw a lot of action, with passengers seeking a hot cup of something or another to keep themselves — and their hands — warm.  I know I enjoyed several cups of hot chocolate throughout the day.

We also had a dusting of snow on the outside decks today.  There wasn’t much of it, and it didn’t stick around for long, but it was a reminder that the weather in these northern latitudes can change on a dime.

Like a dusting of powdered sugar on a sweet treat …

… snow falls light and ephemeral on the outside decks.

Can you say cold?

… Lectures and Recaps & Briefings

When there aren’t landings and zodiac cruises, lectures become the focus of expedition days.  Between yesterday and today, there were nine lectures/briefings on the schedule — some were new; others were repeat topics from the previous voyage.  I have over 30 pages of notes from the lectures I attended, but I’ll just list the topics in this post.

• The Rocks You Will Be Tripping Over (Norm) — about the rock cycle and geologic time.
• Vikings to the New World (Laurie) — the complicated drama of Vikings reaching North America.
• Zodiac Safety, and Landing Guidelines (AECO) Briefing (Dave and Dutch) — mandatory for all.  [Repeat]
• The Skies Above Greenland (Sam) — a look at the spectacular birds of the region, how to identify them, and an insight into their lives, migration patterns, and behavior.  [Repeat]
• Seabirds and Their Survival Strategies (Sam) — a look at the unique and varied adaptations that are present in many of the birds of the region.  [Repeat]
• Continents on the Move (Norm) — about the continental drift; see Pangea to Today animation to the right [from Wikimedia Commons].
• Extended Hiking Program (Alex and Jimmy) — a new category of activity being introduced on this leg of the voyage, with elevation gains anywhere from 650 feet to 1,600 feet (200-500 m), going to remote areas, and lasting approx. six hours.  [Mui signed up; I’m taking a pass.]
• Whales of the Arctic Ocean (Jimmy) — the year-round whales of the Arctic (Bowhead, Beluga, Narwhal) and the seasonal visitors (Blue, Fin, Humpback, Northern Minke, Sperm, and Orca).
• The Four Poles (Laurie) — a look at the geographic, magnetic, inaccessibility, and geomagnetic poles with an explanation of how the equator, tropics, and polar circles are determined; all leading to an explanation of the northern lights. [Had to skip this one as it was at about this point that the already rough seas got truly rough.]

Style-wise, the lectures I enjoyed the least were Norm’s geology presentations.  Don’t get me wrong; he obviously is a subject matter expert, but I felt as though I was going to be tested on the material he was covering — too much like being back in school :-(

Jimmy talks to us about the whales of the Arctic.

The lectures were in addition to the daily recaps and briefings held each day at 6:00p.

It was at yesterday’s briefing that Dutch told us we’d be reversing the order of the itinerary, going to Kaiser Franz Josef Fjord in the north first, then visiting King Oscar Fjord, and finally ending up at Scoresbysund, the largest fjord system in the world.  He also gave us the unwelcome news then that we will be losing 9 minutes of daylight each day — that adds up to 108 minutes or 1.8 hours over the course of this voyage.

The aurora forecast for last night was good, but even if the lights did dance,
the clouds were too thick for us to see the colorful display.

I’m sure there was interesting information shared at today’s briefing, too.  Unfortunately, since the seas were so rough, I skipped it … and dinner as well.  Ruel sent some food to the cabin with Mui, so I didn’t go hungry, but I felt better for staying horizontal on the couch, where I could keep my eye on the horizon.

Land Ahoy!  Our first glimpse of Greenland on this voyage was at 9:15a this morning.

Here’s hoping for improved conditions by the time we arrive at our landing destination in the morning.

Quote from the 11 September Daily Program:
“I find the greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in which
direction we are moving.  To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with
the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”
— Oliver Wendell Holmes —

Day at Sea: Lectures Keep Us Busy

Monday, 9 September
Aboard M/V Sea Spirit — Denmark Strait en Route to Iceland

Stats posted @ 0900
Position: 63°31’ North / 34°55’ West
Distance traveled: 2,020.5 NM Since Kangerlussuaq
Distance to Reykjavík: 350 NM
temperature: 48F / 9C

Quote from the Daily Program:
“The suspension of life that occurs onboard ships is addictive.  At sea you are
always in transit, in transition.  Nothing is fixed.  Everything in imminent.  A storm
could come.  A whale could break the surface.  The future could hold anything.”
James Gorman

While it might not seem like it to some, we actually slept in this morning.  It was 7:15a when we rose to the overcast conditions that stuck with us for much of the crossing to Reykjavík.  At least the overnight skies were clear for one last aurora sighting.

Can’t complain about the gently rolling seas.  Certainly, our conditions are nothing like what’s portrayed in the picture to the left [borrowed from Alex’s final recap]. 

We’re currently in the Denmark Strait, which lies between Greenland and Iceland.  I find it funny that there are so many names for what is essentially one giant body of water.  Really, how many of the oceans and seas are distinct bodies contained within landmasses?  In our case, the Denmark Strait connects the Greenland Sea, which is an arm of the Arctic Ocean, to the Irminger Sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean.  Don’t get me started on the names of all the ‘seas’ between Iceland and Europe.

Our crossing to Iceland via the Denmark Strait is 513 NM (575 miles/926 km).

OK, so back to our day.  Despite the overcast conditions, we opted to have breakfast on deck 5 aft.  By the time we were finished with our meal, I had just enough time to do a couple of circuits around the ship on deck 4 before it was time for the first of several lectures on the day’s schedule.

Do you think if the Sea Spirit goes under the rainbow we’ll find a pot of gold?.

First up was Sam’s lecture entitled Seabirds and Their Survival Strategies.  His lecture was very interesting and I ended up with six pages of notes; but I won’t share them all here.  One tidbit, though — did you know that the paint color known as battleship gray, was taken from the gray coloring present in the Antarctic Prion?  No?  Well, neither did we until today.

After a bit of free time, we adjourned to the Oceanus Lounge again — this time for Laurie’s fascinating lecture about Viking Navigation.  He discussed how they made such long sea journeys without the use of modern navigational instruments.

They were assuredly highly skilled in understanding the environment in which they sailed, but I was especially impressed with their recognition of the implication of wildlife sightings on navigation.  In fact, one Norsemen, nicknamed Raven-Floki, used ravens to determine the proximity and direction of land.

Lunch, served at 12:30p, gave us a break from the lectures.  At 3:00p, Sam gave his second lecture of the day — entitled Poles Apart!  This time, he talked about the differences and similarities of the polar regions.  One difference is that geologically, the Arctic is a frozen ocean surrounded by landmass; by contrast, Antarctica is an island continent surrounded by an ocean.  As for similarities — they both drive the world’s weather system; and they both have rich and productive marine life.

I should also mention another difference between the two polar regions.  It’s something that most people are confused about — and it doesn’t help that entities like Coca Cola bring polar bears and penguins together in commercials.  Polar bears live in the Arctic; there are none in the Antarctic.  Penguins, on the other hand, live in the Antarctic; there are none in the Arctic.

Polar bears and penguins may come together in this post; but in reality, they live poles apart.

At 4:30p, Alex gathered us all together to brief us on disembarkation procedures.  The Sea Spirit is expected to arrive in Reykjavík around 7:00a tomorrow; by 9:30a, everyone will have disembarked.  Since we are staying on for the return voyage to Greenland, much of the rest of the information didn’t really apply to us.  We did sign up for the bus transfer to one of the local hotels tomorrow morning, but if the ship docks downtown, we might not need it.  Still, it’s good to have a back-up plan just in case.

Another short break was followed by the final recap in the Oceanus Lounge.  Some of the interesting tidbits that came out from this presentation — the politicians who spoke to us in Nuuk were a “first;” Quark is submitting “Bearded Bay” to the authorities as the name for the bay we explored in Lindenow Fjord; the giant bergs where the Sea Spirit parked in the Bernstorff Isfjord were grounded … which explains why they weren’t moving along with the rest of the ice in the fjord; whale sightings included 1 sperm, 22 minke, 91 humpback, and 67 fin whales.

These and many more highlights from the voyage = smiling passengers.
[taken from Alex’s final recap briefing]

At 7:00p, we all congregated for Captain Peter’s farewell cocktail party, followed by the farewell dinner in the dining room.  These were bittersweet occasions as, except for one other couple and a solo traveler who will be staying aboard with us for the next voyage, we had to bid adieu to many new found friends.

The evening wrap up consisted of two slideshows.  The first one was presented by the photography group that is sharing the ship with us.  They went their own way during the voyage, combining landings ashore and zodiac cruises with photography workshops.  The result was some stunning ‘art’ images.  The passenger slideshow, created from photos we all shared for the Voyage DVD, came next.  Dave did a great job compiling a pictorial review of our voyage.  Tomorrow, we will receive a copy of his efforts to take home with us.

What can I say about this voyage that I haven’t already said in words and images?  Nothing!  The superlatives I would use to describe our adventure would fall short of the reality of our experience.  We’re really looking forward to the second leg, which will take us to parts of Greenland that we have not yet explored.

By the way, good thing we slept in this morning … tonight we put the clocks back one more hour to sync up with Reykjavík time.