Saturday 20 June 2009

Qeqertarsuaq "The Big Island"

Ice, ice, ice! Our first day with icebergs. What a beautiful sight in the morning. Icebergs of all shapes and sizes greeted us as we approached Qeqertarsuaq. The harbour entrance is very narrow, quite dramatic and like everywhere else on our trip, very beautiful.
We dropped anchor and at 9am our Polar Cirkle boats whisked us to shore. Before long our hike to The Valley of the Winds was under way. A short walk through town lead us to a beautiful beach with hundreds of icebergs spread out as far as the eye could see. We were prudently cautioned to avoid going right down to the water's edge as tsunamis from collapsing icebergs were an ever present hazard.
While we were hiking in the Valley Of The Winds we were blessed with a light breeze, blue skies and just enough cloud cover to keep from getting sunburned. Our hike through the rolling rugged rocky wilderness lead us past many beautiful spring wild flowers including: Woolly Lousewort, Arctic Poppy, Moss Campion, Lapland Rose-bay and Broad-leaved Fireweed to name but a few.
The last Polar Cirkle boat to the ship left shore at 2pm which meant we had most of the afternoon to enjoy cruising past majestic icebergs and attending informative lectures by Ilja, Axel and Andy.
Tomorrow: Uummannaq and Ukkusissat.