Tasiilaq
Angmagssalik
SE Greenland
August 26, 2015

“I’m Going!”

When I learned that a photography club from New York was leading a tour to Greenland and Iceland, I decided, “I’m going!”

I knew that I needed some specialized clothing and gear.  But I really didn’t know what to expect on such a trip.    So I thought, “Expect the unexpected.”

Sure, you can read about icebergs and glaciers and indigenous settlements; you can watch the Discovery Channel.  But when you see them, you see them.  In Greenland, I found the unexpected. 

Our group of ten met in Reykjavik, Iceland.  We flew to Kulusuk, in southeast Greenland.  We rode a helicopter across the mouth of the Angmagssalik Fjord to Tasiilaq, a sparsely populated settlement of 2100 - our home for the next four nights.

On the first day, and on each succeeding day, we walk down to the harbor.  We split into two groups and hop aboard small speedboats.

We race across the open ocean and then up into a fjord.   The seating section in the front of the boat is covered with a canvas top.  Regardless, it’s cold.  And windy.  And bumpy! And bumpy! 

There’s little or no sun, mostly fog.   Temperature is cold but bearable.  I am protected by multiple layers of hats and scarves and gloves and shirts and jackets and pants and socks. 

We pass ice and icebergs.  Some ice had been compressed under so much pressure that it is blue.

The mountains are not very tall; they are covered with patches of ice or are black and bare.

The ride is uncomfortable and unexpected.

The scene is bleak.   And cold.  And bumpy.

And exciting! 

An unexpected journey to a vast and striking land.