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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Monday, September 27, 2010 9:53 PM
Great! we are now in the Danemark Strait, on our way from Iceland (where we spend 4 days in Reykjavik!) to the east coast of Greenland. Looks like Iceland has recovered from the financial crisis: construction is booming, people seem to spend more money, at least the restaurants in town were pretty crowded and whoa, they like partying :-) Tomorrow we plan a nice Zodiac cruising in Umiivik, a place where Nansen started his first crossing of the icecap! In the next days we have a number of landings in remote communities in south west Greenland before sailing to the Maritime provinces of Canada. |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Wednesday, September 22, 2010 10:13 PM
Yesterday we left Greenlands' east coast! What a great experience! We cruised Kong Oskar Fjord, |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Wednesday, September 15, 2010 11:45 PM
Cet après-midi nous avons fait escale à Scoresbysund -ITTORQOORTORMIIT en groenlandais- un petit village de 450 âmes. Nous sommes arrivés sous un beau soleil, après une traversée du Détroit du Danemark plus qu'agitée avec des vents de force 10 sur l'échelle de Beaufort qui va jusqu'à 12. J'étais à Scoresbysund pour la première fois en 1999, et c'est dans le fjord devant le village que j'ai fais mes premières expériences de pilote de Zodiac, à l'époque avec le Grégory Mikeev. |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Monday, September 13, 2010 9:45 PM
A DAY IN REYKJAVIK Yesterday we were in Isafjordur, in northwestern Iceland, a lovely place nesteled on a peninsula. Early this morning we reached the harbour of Reykjavik, actually its almost in town, just a couple of hundred meters and you are in the old town. I was here a number of times, as early as 1999, and the last time it was in 2005. I visited the cathedral and some other nice places in town, before meeting my collegues for lunch. Quite a number of good restaurants in this town. Tonight, we set sails for Greenlands east coast, and the crossing through the Danemark Strait will be rough, according to the marine weather forecast. So you've better be prepared.Keep you updated :-) |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Friday, September 10, 2010 8:40 PM
September 7: This morning we had a landing on Greenlands' east coast, weere we visited and abandoned settlement. Well, it looked like they left in a hurry: oil drums, kitchen ustentsiles, old shoes and boots, even a doll head was left behind. People left the area in the 1960', moving to the bigger settlement of Ammassalik. The place is great, beautiful scenery, good fishing and sealing grounds, and there is evidence of former whaling activity. In the afternoon we were cruising in a beautiful fjord, surrounded by hight mountain pics, huge glaciers and quite a number of icebergs. |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Friday, September 10, 2010 8:28 PM
Friday september 10: we just left the little harbour of Tassilaq, a settlement of 1800 people on the east coast of Greenland. Its also called Ammassalik, which is the name for the whole vincinity. We were welcomed by local guides and we visited at little art galery, the old museum, the new church, and of course the Pisifik, the local supermaket. Lots of artefacts and history in this village, and think about this: the Danes first reached Tassilaq around 1880, thats just some 130 years ago. |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Tuesday, September 07, 2010 7:51 PM
Monday, sept 6, early afternoon: the FRAM drops the anchor in the beautiful bay of Qassiarsuk, where Erik the Red settled down in 982. Today, a small community of ca.50 people lives here. Sheep farming is the main activity. I was in charge of translating our local guide, so I've got first hand informations: she and her husband run one those sheepfarms, 600 mother sheep that they keep in a barn over the winter, fed with hay produced on the farm, and 800 animals almost ready for the slaughterhouse in late october. |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Monday, September 06, 2010 1:19 AM
September 6: last night we left NUUK and today we sailed south to reach the abandoned mining site of Ivittuut. What a strange place! In WWII Danemark mined here for cryolite, a mineral used in aluminum smelters. As aluminum was in hight demand by aircraft makers, US military protected the mine in those days. Today, its of course more peaceful in the area: the mine is closed, a few people spent the summer here and run the local museum. And when I say summer, I really mean it! The sun was shining bright, temperature close to 20°, muskoxen were grazin on the mountains, an eagle was fliyng by, and some skiffs with local fisherman could be seen in the fjord. |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Sunday, September 05, 2010 1:02 PM
Yesterday, the FRAM reached NUUK early in the morning, so we had the entire day to visit the town and the vincinity. With 15000 inhabitants, NUUK is probably one of the smallest capital towns in the world! Built on a peninsula, the town is booming, attracting many young people from remote settlements. Like always in the North, there is two seasons: winter and construction season: new roads -yes there is 5000 cars in Greenland, 2500 of them in Nuuk-, new appartment buildings, new houses and even a new supermarket are under construction. |
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Jean-Louis IMBS: Publié le Saturday, September 04, 2010 2:37 AM
HELLO FROM GREENLAND! Late august I left Stewart BC for Greenland, before coming back in october. In the meantime, my friends from Grenoble -Agnès and Samuel- run the BRIC and welcome visitors:thank you so much for volunteering in Stewart! And today I'm on the west coast of Greenland, on board the MS FRAM, a Norvegian expediton cruise ship. As a naturalist, I give conference-talks on ecosystems, wildlife, climate change impacts. I've been here many times since 2002, and its always a good feeling coming back. |
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