Chapter 3 Back to Greenland—Islands and Icebergs
Thule
Thule (Qaanaaq) is situated in northwestern Greenland and is one of the most northerly towns in the world. For us, it appeared as another cold, lonely outpost in the Arctic. However, the local Inuit people gave us a warm welcome and an impromptu tour of their area.
We happened to have on board a Danish gentleman who was an official at the U. S. airbase, also called Thule. He gave us an interesting talk regarding the base. It was established in the 1950’s at the height of the cold war and is still used as a communication (and probably intelligence) site. The U. S. leases the land from Denmark and remains there at the pleasure of the Danish government. The base is about 50 miles or so from the Inuit town.
 |
| Thule (Qaanaaq) |
 |
| Hunting Tent |
Savissivik
This little settlement is located on Meteorite Island. Meteorites and fragments of meteorites dating to 10,000 years ago have been found here. The local Inuit people used iron from the meteorites to fashion their tools. They were only able to make rather crude instruments, however, since they didn’t have enough materials to provide heat for forging. (There are no trees here for firewood.) They had to cold forge everything. Captain Peary of the British expedition team stole one of the largest meteors (circa 1894-7) weighing 3 tons and sold it to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for $40,000. Ice conditions prevented us from visiting this location, but it is still an interesting story. I’ve included a photo of a meteorite fragment that Dave took in the little museum in Thule.
 |
| Meteorite |
Upernavik
So, yet another Arctic town with the same colorful houses was on the agenda! But, this one boasted the most northerly open-air museum in the world at 72 degrees north latitude. The only issue with this fact is that the museum was in a building, or two buildings to be exact. At each stop on our itinerary, we learned more about life in the arctic. In this town as in many others, fishing is the main occupation. The sea is frozen from December until June, so ice fishing is a popular endeavor during those months. Halibut is the main product, and fishermen reach their fishing grounds by snowmobile or dogsled.
 |
| Upernavik |
Seal Skin Canoe
 |
| Sod House |
 |
| Church Steeple |
Maamorilik and Qilakitsoq
As we continued south along the coast of Greenland, the ship’s crew scrabbled to find places to visit as replacements for the ones that were iced in. These two locations were not particularly exciting, so we opted to have a lazy day on board the ship. Maamorilik was the scene of a mine that was now abandoned. Metals such as zinc, iron, lead and silver were extracted here.
Qilakitsoq was the site of the discovery of eight mummified bodies in 1972. Some of them, dating to 1475, are on display in a museum elsewhere in Greenland. There are also remains of sod houses in an archeological site here, but all that remains are slight hilly spots on a hill. The highlight for me at this location was spotting an arctic fox on the beach. It was so quick there was no opportunity for a photo.
Both of these places were located in beautiful fjords with stunning reflections from the mountains.
Qeqertarsuaq, Disko Island
Yes, I’m having fun writing all of these unfamiliar place names with so many ‘q’s in them! Just don’t ask me to pronounce them. Well, we’re at another small town; this one has the distinction of giant icebergs in the harbor very close to the shoreline and town. One advantage of our explorations in the towns of Greenland is that we’re able to go on our own at our own pace rather than stay with a group. It allows us to take our time with those things that we enjoy seeing and photographing.
Ilulissat
The literal translation of Ilulissat is “icebergs”. We arose early for a boat trip in local fishermen’s boats to visit the immense icebergs in the icefjord. They calve from the Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere. Twenty billion tons of icebergs calve off the glacier and pass through the fjord every year. Some are so large (up to 3,300 feet high) that they cannot float out of the fjord and lie stuck in the shallow areas for years until they are eventually broken up by other glaciers. Eventually they end up in the North Atlantic and last there for many years. The “Titanic” was sunk by an iceberg from this glacier! Staff members on the ship are very careful not to say the name “Titanic”.
This was the last stop on our itinerary and a great ending. Late at night, we received information that there was an aurora borealis. We tried a few times to scope out the skies for it. There was a half moon, some stars, but, unfortunately, we didn’t see the aurora. From here, we rest during a day at sea and then begin our adventure in Iceland. Chapter 4 will be written from Iceland where we will have another chance at the Northern lights.
