Saturday 9 July 2011

Ilulissat


Ilulissat Icefjord
46 cubic kilometres of ice a year.  That's how much ice calves from the glacier, Sermec Kujallek. To give you an idea of how much ice that is, were it all to melt, you would have enough drinking water for New York city for one year!  All of that ice combined with our ongoing good luck with the weather makes for one of the most beautiful spots on earth.  
Ilulissat Icefjord
We dropped anchor just outside of the Ilulissat harbour at approximately 06:30.  The sun was shining.  There was a high scattered layer of clouds.  A beautiful mist lay draped over many of the icebergs.  The wind was less than 5 knots and variable.  It was beautiful.  It was surreal. 
This was the stop that many people on board had been waiting for with great anticipation.  Lots of people had booked excursions to see the ice whether it was by helicopter, boat or a hike to the fjord.  Some people even managed to combine multiple excursions.  We weren't scheduled to leave Ilulissat until 18:45 so there was plenty of time to see the Icefjord and to explore town.  Ilulissat also happens to have a couple of the better gift shops in Greenland so there was plenty to spend your money on!
Today I had the opportunity to go on the Holms Bakke hike for the first time.  It was jaw droppingly beautiful.  It was supposed to be between a four and five hour hike but it was so inspiring today that we all stopped to take photographs about every 50 metres.  We just couldn't go any faster.  For us it was a five and a half hour hike!  
No matter what you chose to do today you couldn't go wrong.
Shortly after 18:45 we turned our bow in the direction of Itilleq, our destination for tomorrow.
In the evening we held our weekly charity auction to raise for funds for the children of Greenland.  Then at 22:00 we were all entertained in the Observation Lounge by our talented crew with singing, dancing and juggling.