Tuesday 8 July 2014

Day Nine with Hurtigruten in Greenland

Last night we stayed at anchor just outside of the small Ilulissat harbour and the Hurtigruten Expedition Team went off camping at midnight to test it out for a possible excursion next season.

We cruised by all of the massive icebergs stranded at the head of the fjord and arrived at Oqaatsut.  En route to Oqaatsut there was time to fit in a couple of lectures which were followed by a pre-landing briefing on how we were going to conduct our visit to this very pretty, small community.

These two Inuit girls were waiting for us and gave an impromptu dancing display all over the settlement. To be honest I found this a bit unnerving as they danced towards me and sniffing me as their ancestors would have done to the first European explorers.  

Strange too that they have painted their faces in the traditional ceremonial manner yet were wearing tops that could have come from Marks & Spencer. They also charged if you wanted to take their picture. Yet another conflicting emotional moment on this cruise.

On shore local people gave us presentations on Greenlandic dogs and Greenlandic dog sledding whilst another local person talked to us about whales and whaling. The settlement itself is rather small with only about eighty inhabitants. There is a small hotel and an excellent restaurant which features Greenlandic food.  

It's called H8 after the aircraft recognition number on its roof.There's also a small hotel. We spotted one Greenlandic Sled dog which was huge. In fact I'm not so sure it wasn't a Musk Ox.  www.hurtigruten.co.uk 

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