Northern sea - Page 6

At sea

On today's sea day our expedition leader Klaus Kiesewetter started to prepare us with lectures for the Thule region. So besides the upcoming two landings in Dundas and Siorapaluk also a polar bear lecture. This rarely traveled high arctic area requires some special measures. So only a part of the passengers will go ashore at the same time in order not to flood the small village Siorapaluk with about 50 inhabitants and to keep the overview in Dundas in case of suddenly appearing polar bears. For this task, two polar bear guards have been on board since Qeqertarsuaq. In the evening we reached the area where at this time of year there is midnight sun. So all in all a day between lectures and sports and games.

At sea

The goal today was the shore leave in the former Inuit settlement of Dundas (Old Thule). Besides there is the last remaining American military base Thule Airbase here. The Yanks were also watching us the whole time. Since we were not allowed to use the military pier and everything else here was touristy virgin soil, the crew tried to build a self-made pontoon with tender boats to get the passengers ashore. They searched the whole beach for places that would fit the draft of the tender boats (1.70m). In vain, even anchoring the Albatros on the other side of the peninsula brought nothing. We spent the day between hoping and keeping our fingers crossed for a landing place.

After the tender boat and pontoon crews were back on board, the journey continued north. The view of huge icebergs, which we passed while they were beautifully illuminated by the midnight sun, now compensated for the failed landing.