The weather has changed a bit in the last 24 hours; some wind and chop from the north was coming from behind us. This does not create much motion on the National Geographic Explorer, she always rides well, especially with a following sea. However, this situation does not normally make for the best conditions for exploration, but in this case it has turned out to be a slice of good luck!
We are travelling southward on the east coast of Greenland. We are almost at the tip of this huge island. Just before the tip there is a Sound, a passage from the east to the west for us, Prince Christian Sound. It is like a fjord, certainly ice-carved, but rather than going from the ocean to a glacier or land, a Sound is opened to the ocean at both ends, from east Greenland, to west Greenland. It is a shortcut, a secret passage, a magical segue and the Sound is completely protected from wind out of the north by high rugged mountains! The north wind has also pushed us, so we have arrived at the entrance to Prince Christian Sound about two hours sooner than we expect, 8:30 a.m. rather than 10:30 a.m., which left us with some extra time to do what we do best – explore.
Prince Christian Sound is beautiful and it has changed very little since I first passed through here 30 years ago… high jagged mountains, sheer cliffs, a myriad of waterfalls and glaciers, near and bold, or distant and mysterious wrapped in a diaphanous mist of their own design. Where the ground is flat it is green, yet tree-less, under soft, misty clouds, low then high, then low again, like fog but less vague. Oh, and it is also warm, almost t-shirt weather!
After lunch we all go ashore at a place called Illorssuit, perhaps named for the large, house-sized boulders or for the occasional iceberg that drifts by and catches on a sandbar. It is gorgeous here. The long hikers take off for a glacier whose snout is deemed safe to walk upon by our scouting team. Then there are the medium hikers and photo walkers. Plenty for everyone to do… I go medium, mostly in search of fun plants and plant-like things; the latter would mostly be lichens, fungi that ‘farm’ an algae and/or photosynthetic bacteria. Apparent bare ground between the Sound and the huge boulders, upon closer inspection, is covered with a foam-like material, no, not material, but lichens: pale foam lichen, brittle brown Iceland moss (lichen), yellowish snow lichen and delicate reindeer moss (lichen) with tiny branches that end in grasping fingers… a sight rarely seen outside of the polar and alpine regions.
I could post a few very nice scenic pictures with this report, but there have been many beautiful scenic pictures already posted for this voyage, so, how about something completely different? Here is a map lichen, a crustose species growing on a boulder. It is pretty, for no reason at all and it is probably old. Hmmm, like I’m becoming; maybe there is hope yet? Is that pretty or no reason at all!
