The coast of Greenland is dissected by myriad fjords, glacially carved valleys now flooded by the sea. They give us near infinite possibilities for exploration; just pick one and see what it offers. The finger on the chart landed on Angmagssivikfjord, and here we spent our final morning. Steep mountains rise up on either side of the fjord; now, at peak season, they are clothed in green vegetation. Rushing cascades of water entered the fjord from melting snow and ice above us. We explored by kayak, Zodiac, and boot-clad feet, absorbing the wildness of the countryside.
But we were not the first to step here. Above our landing was a skillfully constructed chamber of rocks, and nearby, on a flat surface were several rings of stones that once held down the edges of caribou skin tents, each housing an Inuit family. How long has it been since children scampered over the rocks in games of catch-me-if-you-can, and women watched anxiously for their mates returning from their hunting trip? Did they celebrate success as they pulled the sealskin kayaks onto the very beach on which we landed, and gave the prey a drink of fresh water as thanks for giving themselves to the people? Did they encounter a party of Norsemen coming up the fjord in their longboat, perhaps looking for land suitable for farming? Did they trade with the Norse, walrus ivory in exchange for iron tools, wood, or decorative beads? Did they wonder when their trading partners disappeared from the Greenlandic landscape? So much for us to ponder.
We returned to our ship for a moment of frivolity: the Polar Plunge. People who had heretofore seemed quite reasonable stripped off their layers of clothing and leaped into the icy water of the fjord in a moment of inane exuberance, in the process acquiring well-earned bragging rights and a cup of fortified hot chocolate to aid in recovery.
And then our ship headed out of the fjord and onward toward out final landing at Kangerllusuaq (formerly Sondre Stromfjord), where a homeward-bound airplane would carry many of us away. It was a time to pack, to sort through our images for the evening's guest slide show ... but could there possibly be more? Was there yet one more rabbit in the hat? Indeed, there was, in the form of whales. The call from the bridge interrupted a discussion of climate change in the Polar Regions, and we rushed to our favorite observation perches. First, it was humpback whales, showing their long, white pectoral flippers quite close to our ship and then the tall, columnar blows of massive blue whales. It was a final punctuation to our voyage in Iceland and Greenland.
