Arctic Greenland - Qaanaaq

We are now on Day 12 of our 17 day journey in the Arctic.  The Ocean Endeavour crossed the north end of Baffin Bay and headed further north to Qaanaaq, Greenland, one of the northernmost towns in the world at 77.4670° N  This was not on our original itinerary but because we did not get to visit the community in Grise Fjord, the expedition team made very last minute arrangments for us to visit this community in Greenland - excellent pivoting with very short notice.

The town of Qaanaaq (population 646 in 2020) is built on the hill side with rows of colourful houses.  Apparently houses are colour-coded to denote their purpose (red for educational and religious institutions; yellow for medical; green for communicaiton and blue for fish factories.)  It certainly seems to make the town more attractive, not to mention the amazing view of the Bay, full of icebergs and surrounded by snow-capped mountains.

Qaanaaq Bay is crowded with icebergs!

Qaanaaq Bay

The beach where we landed

Colour-coded houses

The Church

Cape York Meteorite in the Museum

The locals gave us a warm welcome with demonstrations of drum dancing and how they hunt from their kayaks. We toured the town and met some high school students who were waiting for us outside the school.  One of the highlights was visiting the museum which houses a fragment of the Cape York meteorite, one of the largest known meteorites in the world.

We can't help but compare Qaanaaq and Gjoa Haven - both far northern Inuit communities but in different countries.  Qaanaaq just seems more organized because of the colourful buildings.  Of course, we don't know either community very well so really are in no position to compare other than from visual impressions.  

The drum dancer - his drum looked very different from the ones we saw in Gjoa Haven - it also has a very different sound.

Two young hunters showed us a film on how they hunt from a kayak

High School students outside the high school

School children enjoying their break

This kid doing the somesault on the climber actually waved me over to take a photo of him!

As we sailed out of Qaanaaq Bay, it was like going through iceberg alley with a display of different shapes and sizes

This must be one of the largest icebergs we saw

This range looks like a Christmas log!

Iceberg alley against an early setting sun

 

Canadian Arctic - Gjoa Haven

One of the highlights of this trip was an opportunity to visit northern communities to get a glimpse of their way of life.  The third day into the trip, we visited Gjoa Haven - population 1349 living in 339 private dwellings (2021 census).  Gjoa Haven, a hamlet on Prince William Island, was named by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen after his ship Gjoa.  Amundsen and his men arrived here in 1903 while exploring the Northwest Passage and spent two years here learning arctic survival skills.  The Hudson Bay Company opened a trading post here in 1927 marking the beginning of permanent European style settlement. (Wikipaedia)

Gjoa Haven means "lots of fat' pointing to the abundance of sea mammals in the area.  It is noted for being the closest settlement to the wrecks of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror from the lost Franklin expedition. This is expected to lead to increased tourism.

The average high in winter is -30C to give you an idea of arctic temperatures.  It was above 0C the day we landed but there was a wind chill and it felt colder walking around town as there was little shelter, as you can see from the photos below.  The settlement was very sandy as a result of glacial action.  

We landed on the beach and was welcomed by a group of local guides.  You can see from the photos that this is no ordinary "cruiseport" visit nor is this your average cruise for that matter.  Writing this as I sit at home back in the midst of a bustling metropolis, I realized what a culture shock it had been for us to clamber up from the beach and walk through town, to see first hand how different life is in these northern communities.  

The beach where our zodiacs landed

One of our guides

Director John Houston who was on board with us took us to the local inn where there was an exhibit of soap stone carvings.

Health & Social Services

The local high school

Random houses

Nattilik Heritage Centre is the Museum.  There are some interesting pieces there.

Musk ox horn soup ladle

“Cordless drill” caribou antler, steel, seal hide, rib bone

Tool bag made with fish skin

Community Centre

We were entertained by the local community at the Community Centre.  Three drum dancers performed and visitors were invited to try their hand.  Inuit drum dancing is often accompanied by song, touching on experiences of daily life, including love, hunting, etc.  There is a short video recording of the drum dance here.

The chorus accompaniment

School children performed a square dance - very popular here, with its roots in the round dances from Great Britain left behind by the whalers who were active here earlier.  Here is a short video of the performance.

It was heartwarming to see the light in the children's eyes and their beaming faces when they saw the gifts that were donated on our behalf - 50 sets of hockey equipment plus several hundred hockey sticks.

As I walked backed to the ship, I saw this house with an outbuilding labelled "Heartbreak Hotel"...  Not to overinterpret the meaning, but this must be quite a desolate place in the winter, smiling faces regardless.