by There was no hiding the enthusiasm of our drowned pilot, Merel, as we descended in a flurry of bubbles into the mysterious depths of the fjord.
“These are some of the richest waters on the planet, with lots of light and nutrients,” she said. “It’s a living landscape and no one has ever dived here before!”
I gazed, mesmerized, through the bright aquamarine expanse into the underwater world as it grew before us.
As our seven-person craft floated gently down to the silt bed of the fjord, lion jellyfish darted past us, all bells fluttering and tentacles flailing, and the small Arctic cod eyed us fiercely, and soft corals flow on the ocean currents.
And then, suddenly, in the middle of life, there was a tiny shard of bone, decorated with a uniform line of tiny holes. This sent Merel into rhapsodies. She eagerly considered its origin, before declaring that it might be a Viking relic; an unexpected end to our underwater exploration of Hvalsey Fjord, one of the network of intricate waterways carved into the southern side of Greenland.
Slowly, we rose to the surface – the waters parting from the Bible as we entered the daylight – then were lifted from the electric submersible back to the Zodiac inflatable boat, and returned to our ship, Seabourn Venture.
It was seamless – but then, since my 20-year-old daughter Holly and I had boarded the ship a week earlier, everything was seamless; from the service and tours, to the rapidly gathering Zodiacs, which brought us closer to the action when a young male polar bear came ashore.
We boarded the 264-passenger vessel – one of a new generation of luxury cruise ships – in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, then sailed north into the Arctic Circle en route to Scoresby Sound, high up on the unpopulated east coast of Greenland. there and that no exploration had been done on it.
Stretching over thousands of miles, the high cliffs separated by icy glacier tongues and huge winding waterways – large parts of which are still uncharted – make this the largest fjord system in the world, dwarfing its better-known Norwegian counterparts. on him.
This is not surprising when you consider the size of Greenland, the world’s largest island, at 836,000 square miles – nine times the size of the UK – although around 80 per cent of the land is covered by ice board.
But with a population of less than 57,000, this Danish territory is the least populated region in the world.
North East Greenland National Park, which borders Scoresby Sound, is the most extensive space of its kind in the world, stretching over an area almost the size of France and Spain combined, and without any permanent human settlements.
We really enjoyed these days exploring fjords that are covered by sea ice for much of the year, making them impassable – although the milder summer temperatures offer shipping relief, allowing ships like our a ship glides smoothly into this frozen inner sanctuary.
When we arrived in mid-August, Seabourn Venture was the first ship of the year to enter the fjords when we reached the glacier heavier than usual. Every day, we would have a panorama of jagged icebergs framed by the floor-to-ceiling arched windows in our penthouse suite; and in the evening, Holly and I went up to The Club lounge before dinner to gorge on freshly made sushi, complemented by a glass or two of crisp Galician albarino, while admiring sienna-tinged sunsets that bathed the fjords in golden. glow.
As we headed south over the mountains of Prince Christian Sound, which separate the mainland from the islands in the Cape Verde archipelago on the south coast of Greenland, the focus of our visits changed from the wilderness and wildlife of the east coast – with its passing pods . orcas and fin whales – for the culture of his community on the more populated west side.
We stopped at tiny settlements on the rocky shore, full of customs and history of the Inuit tribes who lived for centuries in this unforgiving environment, where the locals welcomed hearty choir performances in rustic wooden churches and served “kaffemik” on us – a social gathering over coffee – and homemade cake in their community centres.
The stark contrast between their lives and ours was as interesting as it was inevitable, but at the tiny settlement of Aappilattoq (population 70), we were surprised to learn that one of the local men had visited the UK for a month to improve his English. , staying in Exeter – where Holly had just graduated a few weeks earlier.
Who thought it? Another welcome surprise, to add to the many on this trip, although one of the most memorable came as we sat in our room one evening, catching our breath after another morning full of surprises natural.
A huge iceberg was drifting peacefully when suddenly, without warning, a large wall collapsed on its side, sending hundreds of tons of ice into the sea and creating a mini-tsunami that went towards our ship, gently rolling over and over there. We went to our window and looked, horrified. Apparently, the natural glasses of Greenland do not intervene.
Fundamentals
Sara Macefield was a guest at Seabourn (0843 373 2000; seabourn.com) which offers an 11-day Fjords of East Greenland cruise on Seabourn Venture from £6,299pp in a veranda room or £11,999pp for a panoramic penthouse suite, with includes meals, drinks, gratuities and most tours. The round-trip sailing will depart from Reykjavík on 5 August 2024, and includes Scoresby Sound plus Umivik Bay and Skjoldungen Fjord in Greenland, and Heimaey and the Westman Islands in Iceland.
