Crossing to the Icebergs

An early get away from Illaquit, the capital,of Nanuvket, heading towards Broughton Island, Inuit name unspellible.  First we head of almost towards the sun and see thousands of rock pools glistening in the morning sun.

Our biggest hassle this morning wasn't people for a change, it was those pesky mosquitoes again.  Millions of them and they would not leave us alone.

As we cross Baffin Island the,ground slowly comes up to meet us and the rock pools soon start to ice over.One hour into the flight we coast out from Baffin Island over,themCumberland Sound and arm of the Artic Ocean.  The Cumberland Sound has large scatterings of ice, not sure if it is sea ice or just ice deposited from the land.

It is 8 am and here we are over the Cumberland Sound, a 50 mile stretch of water and ice, the sun high to our right and sea fog behind us, two intrepid round the worlders taking in the beauty beneath them.  

On the other side of the Cumberland Sound is the Cumberland Peninsula, part of the Artic Bio, area of cold dry air.  As we coast in we pass overhead Pangnirtung and make our radio calls (as Lloyd Grossman would say "who,would live in a place like this). 

At Kingnait Fiord we turn direct to Qikiqtarjuaq, Brought Island, see what we believe is a clear sky ahead.  Kinda it Firod was good but Pangnirtung Fiord is even better and with quite a big settlement.  On the peninsular the mountains reach up to 7,00 plus ft we cross at 7,300 over snow capped mountains and,glaciers below.

Enroute we pass Thor, a mountain that claims the highest vertical drop in the world of,over 4,000 ft.  After Thor we follow a mountain passage towards the sea watching the colours change from white to brown to murky brown then turquoise and finally artic blue.

Towards Qikiqtarjuaq we fly over a three fingered claw jutting in from the ocean. Each scattered with large icebergs.  In the distance the ocean looks solid with ice.  Our destination is a great place to view icebergs, polar bears and whales.

A quick turn around in Qikiqtarjuaq by a small local old man who probably should have had a dentist when he was younger.  A great chap though who would not take cash or credit card, here clearly thought we had an account, so we hastily departed and gave him an email address.  

Coasting out from the island we pass over large sea ice, still here in late July.  I check out the magnetic variation while crossing the water and ice, it is 35 to 36 degrees west, up,here runways are true as opposed to magnetic.   Back to the sea ice, it is all around us as far as the eye can see and only starts to dissipate some 80nm from are departure airfield.  Unfortunately we still do not see any polar bears.  

Mid crossing we pass over a low lying cloud mass, visibility forward is good however and we can make out see some 50 miles away.  With 150 miles to go we first spot green land and large island to our left, (Qeqertasuak).  100 to run and we are booked in the ice fjord hotel, our second choice and expensive so let's hope it is ok.  

Flying straight ahead towards Ilulissat passing hundreds of icebergs we see a glacier staring her ahead to our 12 o'clock, that must be were these icebergs come from, sounding like a canon as they fall away.  I spot a cruise ship in the distance that puts into perspective the massive size of these icebergs.  

Flying towards the ice floats in the mouth of the Fiord I spot two Humpback whales swimming in the sea below.

At the airport we meet Juergen, an ATC man, who had contacted through Facebook.  Juergen helpfully drives us to Ice Fiord Hotel before meeting us for dinner at the Artic Hotel.  After dinner I get some cash from the ATM in town and investigate the town center before walking back to the Hotel under the midnight sun (or white night).