Opal has arrived in Greenland!
The Schooner Opal left Husavik on Sunday July 21st. The destination was Scoresbysund on the south-east coast of Greenland. Scoresbysund is the longest and largest fjord in the world. Opal will stay there until September and transport excited passengers around the natural wonders that the fjord has to offer.
Good evening, Husavik!!
We left Husavik in 25°C weather on Sunday and we had wonderful warm weather almost all the way to Scoresbysund. We saw our first icebergs between Iceland and Greenland, and as we approached the coast the ice gradually became more dense. Thick fog made the sailing particularly difficult as the ice is still quite thick at this time of year. This morning, the sun was shining and as we came to Cape Tobin, just south of the village of Ittoqqortoormiit, we could see a large polar bear out on the ice field. The villagers had also seen the bear and were trying to scare him away because there apparently is no hunting quota for polar bear at this time!
Opal is the first ship to reach the village in 9 months, but a supply ship is expected in the next few days. As expected, there was not much to see in the village shop, but we did manage to have an ice cream to celebrate our icy-polar bear day.
Now Opal rests at anchor in the evening sun, a cozy fire is in our wood stove, and steaks sizzle on the grill here on deck in the bright arctic sunshine. No telling what the night will bring because the polar bear was last seen swimming only 300 meters away from the boat.
Best regards to all at home,
Captain Heimir
Following are some photos that we received from schooner Opal last night:
