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!
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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.
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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!
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West and South Greenland | East Greenland |
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.
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West and South Greenland | East Greenland |
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.
