We'd been in the Davis Straight for about ten days. The halfway point of the Lee cruise was coming up. There was a science party change over scheduled in Sismuit, a small fishing village up the coast from Nuuk. I was a little disappointed to find out that the Knorr wouldn't actually dock but scientists would take a life raft, known as the Zodiac.
As we pulled into Sismuit, the weather was typically Greenlandic with grey overcast skies. We passed through an ominous fjord and the village soon appeared in the mist. I could see it was even smaller than Nuuk and felt my disappointment abate a bit.
Paul C, the third mate who is writing a book about Greenlandic history, pointed out a brand new bridge that had been built since their last visit. With the Greenlandic ice sheet melting, many Danish and other Western mining companies were pouring money into developing the sporadic local infrastructure.
Paul C, the third mate who is writing a book about Greenlandic history, pointed out a brand new bridge that had been built since their last visit. With the Greenlandic ice sheet melting, many Danish and other Western mining companies were pouring money into developing the sporadic local infrastructure.
Crew prepping |
Launching the Zodiac |
The crew on duty busied themselves with craning the Zodiac off the Knorr and helping departing scientists lower themselves into it. Some of the off-duty crew started putting their fishing rods together. Most of the crew members aren't sailors first, but at heart, fishermen who happen to sail.
Flying fish? |
The chief engineer and the bosun tackled cleaning the fast growing pile of fish flopping around on deck. Bobbie, the head steward, just shook her head and laughed at the prospect of cooking nothing but cod for the next few days.
Science party exchange |
The Zodiac zipped back from shore and we welcomed the new scientists on board. As they got settled, we prepared to head out towards the Davis Straight again. Though it was tough to be so close to land without going ashore, I was excited for this next portion of the cruise.
We'd head north to complete another transect between Greenland and Canada and icebergs were common sightings. Just a few days after leaving Sismuit, I ran into Ruth (another SIO grad student, who coincidentally was on the Lee Cruise) in the mess deck getting some tea. She looked positively frozen over but had a huge grin on her face. She encouraged me to step outside. I ran to grab my camera and was still pulling on my layers as I opened the door outside to the frigid air.
Marscapone |
Iguana |
Wedding cake in the distance |
Nearly the entire science party was outside with their photography equipment. Field scientists, being a pretty self-selecting group in general, can almost universally be disarmed by conversations about nature photography, backpacking or rock climbing.
Everyone had the same struck look on their face, especially the grad students who had never been on an Arctic Cruise before. I tried to calm down enough to let the sight really sink in and lodge in my memory.
For all the work it had taken to get to get here and how hard the journey had been, I felt grateful to be on the ship in that spot, on that day.