Icebergs, dogsleds and snowmobiles – Kulusuk, Greenland

An unexpected stop – Kulusuk.  However – beautiful place to spend the night – and I am grateful that we did.  As we found out more – upon landing – planes had been delayed coming in because of weather.

Our drive to the airport this morning  took a little longer than we thought – the van got stuck a few times in the drifting snow – the airport was opened late as staff couldn’t get in because of the snow – and the runway needed to be cleared before we left.  Very helpful staff.  Landing in Greenland after hours (we landed about 25 minutes after 5pm yesterday – closing time in Greenland) and this could mean an additional fee of $1500.00 – and it was waved off with no question.

 

Last evening at the hotel we had a great visit with the pilot of the little (emphasis on the little!) blue plane parked beside us.  It is being piloted by a gentleman from Norway – who picked it up for a friend in Texas and is flying it to Christiansen, Norway – 21 stops!  It has 4 hours range – so he tends to get held up fairly regularly – any threat of a headwind across the Atlantic Ocean could cause him some pretty big problems.   He said there is not much heating in the plane and had a chilly minus 30 start in the morning – departing from Kangerlussuaq (western Greenland) and so he is totally bundled up as he flies.

We also spoke with a young Greenlander – Micky – from the village of Kulusuk.  He  spoke of the growing tourism here.  About the occasional polar bear that wanders in the village from the ice field.  About the ease in which people can get lost in this land – as storms come up quickly and it is very easy to lose one’s orientation.  He said that the village had just very recently purchased a new large boat for tours – but it had burned down the day before yesterday.

Taking off from Kulusuk.  It was fortunate that we did not need to fuel up here – and we had enough to get us to Iceland – pretty soft runway.  We were told that in the spring the runway can have almost a river running through it in the runoff from the mountain.

The view after take off.

Massive blue icebergs

The ice field and more icebergs

Landing in Reykjavik, Iceland – windy and rainy –

In Iceland for the night.  Fuelling up so we are ready to depart first thing tomorrow morning – destination – Angelholm,  Sweden.