“At 6:15 this morning, I was debating whether or not to push the button to make an announcement and wake everyone up,” Expedition Leader Andreas said at recap this evening. “At 6:20, I pushed that button.” While this might not be met with cheers on an average day back home, today’s call was more than worth it as National Geographic Endurance left the Denmark Strait and entered her first day of a long voyage around Greenland. We were greeted with remarkably calm seas and stunning early morning light – a luxury as the high Arctic slowly shifts from its 24 hours of summer sun back towards the twilight (and nightfall!) of autumn. The sheer walls of East Greenland’s glacier-carved fjords rose to meet us, icebergs dotting the water at their feet. Amongst the icebergs, we spotted the reason for the early call: a group of twenty or more humpback whales feeding close by. We cut our own breakfast short for an early Zodiac ride to view the spectacle! The afternoon saw the ship navigating uncharted waters towards the former U.S. military airstrip Bluie East Two, where we enjoyed exploring remnants of the base and spotting late summer Arctic wildflowers while soaking in a beautiful first day in Greenland.