TeddytoArctic2023.blogspot.com

         We ran across a fantastic iceberg    The mountains rise in height and steepness as we near the southernmost point of Greenland. Without a good photographer it is difficult to capture their grandeur & majesty.                     The peak at right is 4000 feet. Looking up a valley, where a glacier began.                                                    Nanortalik has a splendid location.             Coming in, we caught 2 cod for supper. With potatoes and onions. Can't go wrong with that.      Nanortalik probably is the last time I can connect with the Internet. There is one more village after this, Appialattoq, near the head of Prinz Kristiansund. Its population is 80, and I might be able to get online via the community center, or via the supermarket whose owner I made friends with when we were here 2 months ago.         After Appialattoq we go down Prinz Kristiansund. Then up the east coast for a week. All wilderness - steep mountains tumbling into the sea, fjords w

                                                             Evening & fog                                  Next 5 pics are at the glacier of Sermilik Fjord

We went up Sermilik Fjord to see the glacier at its head.                                                                         The ice cap is at top.                                                   A lot of bergy bits to push through.                                                                                Some detail                                                                       Next two pics: Same berg, different perspective            Glacier ice can pick up a lot of rock debris as they squeeze down mountain passes.                                                             Laundry day.

                                                                                       Fog.                                                                                        2000' mountain We saw fog nearly every day. At night it would roll in from Davis Strait over the islands, then part way up up the fjords. By noon the sun might break it up, pushing the fog from the fjords back to the islands and out to sea. Often, to avoid inland travel in the fog, we'd wait for signs of it clearing before pushing off.    The cryolite mine at Ivigtut. During WW2, cryolite was the way to obtain aluminium, so essential for the construction of aircraft, and this was the only major mine in the world. The US sent here 500 men to protect the mine.  Lots of rubble at the mine. The white is (maybe) the cryolite. The coppery crystal is chalcopyrite. I'm no geologist & might be mistaken.                                                       The mine. Denmark worked the mine long before t

                                                              Deep up a fjord                                                Moving inland                                              Biggest cod taken this yea\r, 28"                                                              At Qeqertarsuatsiaat   Like so many villages, Qeqertarsuatsiaat is experiencing severe depopulation. Migration to the cities.               Qeqertarsuatsiaat, pop 80, has these guns for sale at the supermarket. Guns are a way of life.                                   A hunter keeps his antlered caribou skulls                                                 Caribou skin with head & hooves We brought meat from an Eskimo hunter. L to R: caribou steak, muskox heart, muskox bone & vertebrae. Good stew.    Fish market at Nuuk. It sold minke whale meat (shown), minke blubber, minke skin, harbour porpoise parts, Arctic char, and seal carcases. Carnivory is a way of life in this land. Bob's photo.