East Greenland Cruise

Categories Small Ship Cruises Arctic Cruises Cruises

12 days and 11 nights aboard the M/V Polar Star

East Greenland is one of the most isolated habitations in the world. Along the 2,600 kilometres of coastline youll only encounter two towns and 7 small settlements, inhabited by a little more than 3,500 people. There is a natural reason for this very sparse settlement: East Greenland is situated between the polar sea ice and the Greenlandic Icecap, and is only accessible with supply ships 5 months a year. An awesome wilderness of more than 1,457,000 km². including the world's largest national park.

Please note that in 2010, this is a 13 day, 12 night cruise. The exact itinerary will be published later.

Itinerary

Board the M/V Polar Star in the afternoon to embark on a journey to one of the most beautiful and isolated regions of the world.

We spend the next two days crossing the Greenland Sea, relaxing, attending lectures and watching for whales and a variety of seabirds. Late afternoon on day 3, we approach northeast Greenland where we may encounter pack ice which increases the possibility of seeing seals, Polar Bears and more seabirds including the rare Ivory Gull.

Being so far north, it is weather and ice conditions that will dictate our exact itinerary. Today we will know whether we can get as far north as Danmarkhavn or whether our coastal cruise will need to start farther south.

During the next five days we plan to explore places of interest relating to exploration and settlement as well as experience the vast rugged landscape. It is a wild, remote and barren region that supports some of natures most hardy wildlife including Polar Bears, Musk Oxen, Arctic Hares, Lemmings, wolves, caribou, seals, walruses, and whales. Some of the sites that may be visited include: Shannon Island, Hansa Bugt, Daneborg at Wollaston Forland, Deadmansbay at Clavering Island, Godthaap Gulf, Wordies Glacier, Myggebugten, Blomsterbukten, Isfjord and King Oscars Fjord. We will see remains of explorers huts, endless tundra, dramatic fjords, calving icebergs, mountains and glaciers.

Today we reach Scoresbysund Fjord, the largest fjord in the world, where we will visit the community of Ittoqqortoormiit (formerly Scoresbysund). In 1925 the ship Gustav Holm brought 70 Inuit here and their descendents live in this district today. There is a monument to the French explorer, Charcot, of both Arctic and Antarctic fame.

Leaving the ice-clad mountains of Greenland behind us, we head for Iceland attending lectures and watching for whales and seabirds.

Disembark after breakfast to explore Iceland on your own or begin you homeward journey.