Navigating the Fjords to the Edge of the Polar Ice
We boarded a red boat in Ilulissat harbor, it was snowing quite hard. The boats deck was slippery with snow, and the captain and his crew were topside, inside their quarters you could see a flat screen with the map of the glaciers and in front his two radar screens, that showed where each huge chunk was located. We headed out towards the prime halibut fishing grouds, bundled up, an Army of Michelin men, then we headed down steep steps downstairs. Here there was heat and some food and hot coffee, and we watched the icebergs float by for a while.
The volume of water is unfathomable, the billions of gallons that melt into the sea would make Saudi Arabia cry. A whole citys supply in just one day. The captain ventured further up the channel that he ever has, we nosed our way up to the polar ice and cracked it as we streamed ahead. The glaciers had aquamarine just below the surface, where more than 8/10ths of its bulk lay hidden.
The comraderie of a press trip is legend, here is where I always meet up with people who know people I have traveled with, or are familiar with GoNOMAD because of our writers or another trip. Mixing it up with Jesse from the Boston Herald, (a vegetarian who often goes hungry since meat and fish are in every meal) and John, who shoots a 4×5 camera using film and is publishing a new magazine called Swallow. Itøs about food, the first issue is about Scandinavian foods and travel.
A distinction about this trip–Greenland has so captivated me that I havenøt thought much at all about the cafe and the rest of my life at home. I love that.