Saturday, 14 September (Part I)
Aboard M/V Sea Spirit — Blomsterbugten, Ymer Øya
Stats posted @ 0830
Position: 73°20’ North / 25°17’ West
Distance traveled: 725.4 NM since Reykjavík
temperature: 39F / 10C
Quote from the Daily Program:
“For the success of such an expedition two things only are required:
good clothing and plenty of food.”
— Fridtjof Nansen (Farthest North, 1894) —
Our first activity for today was just a short 35 NM from where we spent the day in Nordfjord yesterday. Remaining in the calm waters of the fjord ensured a good night’s rest for one and all. We were up by 6:15a, just as the Sea Spirit was on final approach to its anchorage. Our reward for getting up early was seeing the skies brighten over a landscape that was still veiled by darkness.
On the program for this morning was a landing in the Northeast Greenland National Park — more specifically, at Blomsterbugten, located on the west coast of Ymer Øya [Ø and Øya being Danish for Island], which was named for the giant Ymir, a character from Norse mythology. I’ve linked to it above; it’s an interesting story if you care to read about it.
We didn’t have to travel far for our activities on this second
day in the Northeast Greenland National Park.
The patches of blue visible in the sky gave us hope for a nice morning for our landing. It didn’t take long for Mother Nature to disabuse us of that notion. Before long, the skies were clouding up to give us a cover of white overhead. Still, there was no drizzle … something for which to be grateful.
Blomsterbugten, which means Bay of Flowers, was named during a 1929 expedition for the abundant botanical collections that were made here. The site offers opportunities for different levels of walks, and that’s what was on the agenda for today. After yesterday’s slower-than-molasses contemplative walk, I’d suggested to Dutch that a medium-slow walk with a focus on photography would be a good addition to the hiking program. I don’t know if that’s what led to today’s offering of a photography walk, but I was happy to hear it being announced as we were preparing for our landing.
Our landing beach is strait ahead … doesn’t look very colorful in this dull light,
but we’re looking forward to a nice walk on Ymer Øya regardless.
Once we reach the landing beach, we drop off our life vests in the bags set up for that purpose.
This Norwegian hunting hut, built in 1930, sheltered a former Quark
expedition leader and kayak guide who overnighted here on a kayak trip.
Our group was led by Jimmy — a good choice as he has an interest in photography himself. Bringing up the rear to make sure there were no stragglers in this land of polar bears was Dr Chris — also with an interest in and a good eye for photography.
Jimmy’s (left) and Dr Chris’s interest in photography is apparent from the cameras they carry.
Jimmy is also armed against any polar bear encounters. Whenever we stopped to take
photos, he always climbed to a high point where he could keep an eye out for bears.
The pace of this three-hour photography walk was perfect. We did short sprints to cover some distance to get higher and further from the beach, stopping to take pictures when something caught our eye; and to catch our breath, of course. It was a good mix of exercise and sightseeing/exploration.
Arctic Hare
Although the colors of the tundra landscape were muted in general, we found several opportunities to photograph rocks covered with brilliant lichen. I’m afraid my knowledge of geology is very basic — and if I am honest, I’m not keen enough to spend too much time researching rocks either. That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate what my eyes behold.
The flowers and plants were past their prime, but that did not stop us from trying to photograph them. I can just imagine the brilliance of color earlier in the season. I’ll have to do better next time about asking one of the naturalist guides to ID the plants for me. If there are any botanists out there, I’d love to see comments helping me to name the plants I’ve included in this post.
Dwarf Birch
Arctic Willow (left) and Cotton Grass (right)
Saxifrage
More often than not, our attention turned to the bigger picture — the landscape surrounding us … the tundra, the mountains, the lakes along the way. We didn’t look just ahead; we often turned around to see what might be revealed behind us as we continued to gain elevation on our hike into the interior.
The further inland we walked, the more we saw evidence of the colored rocks that make up the mountains in this region. At one point, the weather gods decided to even give us a break and we had patches of blue sky that made the landscape simply breathtaking.
In fact, for one brief moment, we had perfect conditions lighting the scenery, bringing out the golds of the tundra. I couldn’t resist one more shot of the already photographed landscape.
The highlight of our hike was our musk oxen encounter — it wasn’t our first one, but certainly our closest one here in Greenland. Mui and I’ve had closer encounters with these Arctic mammals in Alaska — both in a farm setting, as well as in the wild. In fact, the ones we saw there were introduced from Greenland after the population in Alaska was wiped out in the late 19th/early 20th century. These animals, a remnant of the ice age, first crossed into North America via the Bering Land Bridge over two million years ago. However, the modern day population is believed to have migrated via the same route between 200,000 and 90,000 years ago.
What made today’s encounter so special was the way we approached the musk ox. Jimmy’s excellent tracking skills, and knowledge of musk ox behavior, permitted us to get close without spooking them. First, Jimmy had us form a tight single line behind him to reduce the imprint of our group. Then, he slowly led us towards a rock outcropping, stopping frequently and sometimes going ahead of us to make sure the animals were still where we had spotted them from a distance. They, were — there were four animals: two females and a calf, and one male that stood to one side, keeping an eye on them. Once we were in position, Jimmy moved us up behind the rocks in small groups, rotating us to give everyone a chance to take photos.
Heading single-file for a close encounter with the …
still distant musk ox from a closer vantage point.
The coat of the musk ox consists of two layers —
long, outer guard hairs that cover the soft undercoat, which is known
as qiviut; it is eight times warmer than wool and finer than cashmere.
Historically, musk ox populations declined due to hunting.
With enforcement of hunting regulations, the numbers have rebounded,
and are estimated to be around 80,000 to 125,000 worldwide.
[from Wikipedia]
There are no major threats to musk ox in Greenland … most of the populations
are within national parks, where they are protected from hunting.
[From Wikipedia]
The return leg of our hike was mostly at a steady pace, though we still made sure to stop when something of interest caught our eye, or we came across scenery that we simply had to take away with us in the form of a photograph.
Left: Located a mile or so from the landing beach is Noa Sø, a freshwater lake that is
sometimes brown in color due to the erosion of the sedimentary rocks in the area.
Right: A glimpse of Sea Spirit signals that we are not far from the landing beach …
… or does it? Looks like we still have a ways to go.
Delightful colors!
An Arctic hare comes out from behind a rock to give us a final photo op and bid us goodbye …
… as we approach the landing beach from a different angle,
giving us a new perspective of the landscape.
If I were to describe the photography hike in one word — I’d say it was fantastic. The pace was good … we got plenty of exercise … and we came back leaving only footprints behind, and taking away photographic memories.
Panoramic look before Sea Spirit weighs anchor and moves on for our afternoon activity.
Back on the ship, we dropped off our cameras in the cabin and headed for deck 5 aft for burgers with all the trimmings … and a cup of hot soup on the side didn’t go amiss.
