Day 8 - Monday, August 1st

What do you like to do when you get a bit of cabin fever? Obviously, you want to get outside. If it’s summer, there’s lots to do – gardening, go for a walk, take in a garage sale. Winter is especially tough to combat cabin fever, but with co-operative weather, you could still get out for a walk, some snowshoeing, or even a trip to the mall for some shopping.

None of which you can do on a moving ship.
It’s safe to say that cabin fever is in full force aboard the Clipper Adventurer, after two full days at sea – one, travelling across the Denmark Strait from Iceland to Greenland, and the second trying to poke our way through thick ice and fog to actually SEE Greenland.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been kept busy with Students On Ice’s educational program, filling our time with presentations, workshops and activities. But there’s been a certain amount of eagerness to stretch our wings and do some explorin’!
Well, the wait was over this morning. As we awoke, we were greeted to some clearing fog and the beautiful landscape of Greenland ahead of us. Despite a similar environment to Iceland and areas I had already visited around Baffin Island, I was surprised to see a landscape that was noticeably different.

Large, jagged peaks loomed over us, with a sprinkling of snow and ice near the top and blending into a palette of green and brown near sea level. It was like a scene out of Lord of the Rings, one student said, but there was no amount of CGI that could imitate what nature had done so well.

With breakfast done, we began our foray into Prins Christians Sund (by the way, I spelled this wrong in my previous blog entry! Sorry!). This body of water slices into the southern tip of Greenland, with countless tendrils of mini-fjords branching away from the main artery. As we slowly navigated our way along the sound, every corner was like an unwrapped present waiting to be opened.

As we traveled along, all eyes were peeled for wildlife – seals, whales, polar bears. Sadly, nothing appeared to us except stark natural beauty. So it was with a bit of surprise that we came across a small village of colourful buildings nestled comfortably at the summit of one particularly tall set of cliffs.

It was a stark reminder that the Arctic is not just home to a large number of animals, plants and insects, but to people as well. Finally, as we turned yet another corner, we came upon the sight we had been waiting for – the Greenland ice cap.

If you’ve ever looked at a map or atlas with Greenland on it, you probably have noticed that most of the island is covered in white, as a good portion of it is one giant glacier. On previous excursions, I’d only seen hints of glaciers from afar.

But here was one, right in front of us. And what a sight it was. Shining bright white in the mid-morning sun, it stood proudly in our path, daring us to come closer. Littered in the water in front of it was the evidence that this was a force of nature to be reckoned with – an active, calving glacier.

Healthy glaciers are in constant motion, gravity pulling them inexorably downwards. As they near sea level, the water eats away underneath the glacier, weakening it until the point that “CRACK!” a portion of the cliff face gives way, or calves, and shards of glacier tumble into the ocean as newborn icebergs.

It truly is an amazing scene. We clambered aboard zodiacs to get a front row seat… from a safe distance, naturally. As we slowly made our way through the detritus of ice cubes, you could hear the snapping and popping of the ice that had already broken away, punctuated by sharper cracks from the glacier itself. We crept closer, waiting and watching.

But nature has patience. And we didn’t. Despite the constant crackling, the glacier remained solid and static. Not willing to be thwarted, we made our way to a second glacier in another mini-fjord. This glacier was not as healthy, and had receded away from sea level. But not far enough that we couldn’t reach it easily.

Within a few steps of jumping out of the zodiacs, we became Students ON Ice for the first time. As we stood upon the glacier, one of our resident glaciologists, Eric Mattson regaled us with loads of info on these mighty works of nature.

Eager for more glacial fun, we zipped back to the ship for some lunch and a quick hop over to a THIRD glacier. This too, had receded, but still showed evidence of active calving. In fact, as we went our separate ways to conduct some shore workshops, a firework-like crack echoed through the valley as a portion of glacier avalanched down the slope.

Up to this point, I hadn’t actually witnessed a calving. So with a bit of determination, I climbed to the highest safe vantage point, and plunked myself down in the soft tundra with cameras in hand to see if I could out-wait this glacier and capture it in action.

Glacier 1, Mike 0.

After 90 minutes of glacial contemplation, nary a flake had calved away from the glacier. With a sigh of disappointment, I packed up my gear and trudged down the hill to the zodiacs. As I did, I realized just how much nature imitates life.

Bear with me. So a glacier is in constant motion, gravity pulling it downwards until it begins to shed its layers, just as new snow accumulates and becomes a part of the glacier. For a healthy glacier, it’s a recurring cycle. Break the cycle, and the glacier becomes unhealthy.


Life’s a little like that. Instead of gravity, time pulls you forward, slowly but surely. And like a glacier, you accumulate new experiences and people that become part of you. But at the same time, you need to shed the old baggage and weight so that it doesn’t drag you down and make you unhappy.


For me, I’ve been so grateful to have had someone come into my life and have her become a part of me for the past three years. At the time, I had thought I had managed to “calve off” all the negativity that I had dragged along with me for many years. But it turns out, I haven’t. And like a glacier, it’s unhealthy.


I’m not going to be so grandiose and say that I had an epiphany as I walked back to the zodiacs. But it did give me the resolve to work harder at calving off the old ice as time goes on. All it takes, is a little patience.


Tomorrow is our last day in Greenland. Fog and ice continue to be our enemy, but it looks like we should be able to visit a community, and that’s always a highlight of our expeditions.