69:33.78N 50:55.64W New Crew

mollihawk's shadow
eddie nicholson
Fri 25 Jul 2014 20:28
With our new crew of two Susie’s and Carla who flew in yesterday over the glacier a km from Ilulissat harbour and banking over the port as they approached with clear blue skies and blazing sunshine the only complaint was that they hadn’t been told to bring their shorts and T shirts!
It is hot in the sun but quickly turns chilly with a bit of wind and cloud or fog.
So last night we walked out to the glacier and sat looking out to sea as the sun went down at a frozen sea of icebergs who had calved off the glacier, it was like a sight from Narnia.
As far as the eye could see there is ice in a rubble like surface mixed in with large skyscrapers and boulders.     You could sit there gazing at it all day and not get bored, every so often you hear a crack but never seem to see the piece of ice fall into the water.
But we did head back past all the Huskie dogs who litter these towns all chained up and kept hungry we are told so as to keep them keen to pull the sledges in the Winter.
Boy can they howl and I wouldn’t like to have to sleep nearby!
We ate in a traditional Greenlandic restaurant the sample platters came with whale blubber, dried reindeer, cods liver and blueberries, seal meat, halibut, dried cod plus a few others which we couldn’t remember!
the minki whale steak was amazing along with the reindeer , the whale blubber and the seal meat went into the doggy bag for the fishing expedition, with which we hope to catch Halibut which are very deep but plentiful in these parts.
 
We headed out this morning as fast as we could as this harbour is smelly, polluted and very busy, and not to our new crew’s taste. The clambering across these Trawlers was a tricky experience for some!
Withe a forecast of sunny skies and no wind for the week we should be in for a great week’s exploring.
Today we went around by boat to see the glacier from the water and saw the water temperature drop from 2.5 to
–2.5 degrees! With the engine off you hear a constant crackling noise and the bergs are all dripping as they melt in the sunshine. The effect of all the melting was a knot of current under us as it flowed out.