Our cruise from Svalbard to Greenland was fairy uneventful, we saw a few sea birds and one type of Falcon, no whales like we had hoped. Closer to Greenland we came upon some pack ice, the ship slowed down and we spent a few hours cruising through the ice, this was quite pretty as it was dead calm, I saw a large seal lying on a small iceberg but it disappeared before I could take a photo.
The next day we entered our first Greenland Glacial Fjord system called Young Sund, on our right we could see some huts with an airstrip, this was called Daneborg and is the base of the Danish Sirius Sled Dog Patrol, our aim for the day was to land at a place called Zackenberg which was a few hour travel further up the Sund. At Zackenberg (74º30' N, 21º00' W) there are two old huts, one being an old trappers hut, the other which is in very poor condition was an old disused British weather station, a few kilometres away there is a modern Danish research station, after landing we wandered up over a nearby hill and to our surprise there was a heard of Muskoxen grazing, we were kept at a reasonable distance as they can be very skittish. On our return to the old huts I noticed a visitor from the Research station had turned up, he later gave us a very interesting lecture on what research is being conducted at the station. Around the huts there was a lot of rubbish, when asked why it is not cleaned up we were told that as the rubbish is very old it is heritage listed and is unable to be touched, I had a great time checking rubbish out and photographing some of it.
After Zackenberg we cruised down to Daneborg and to our surprise we were told that we were going to visit the Sirius Base and that this was very special as Sirius normally does not allow visitors. The Sirius patrol is responsible for patrolling and Policing the Northeast Greenland National Park world’s largest National Park. On landing at Sirius we were split up in to groups and assigned a guide who was a Sirius patrolman. First we were shown an old hut that had been occupied by the Germans in WW2, then we were shown the workshop where the sleds are made and maintained, then we were allowed into the patrolman’s sled dog pen, now we have all heard how vicious sled dogs can be but at Sirius any dog that has got a friendly nature is removed, we all had a great time patting and cuddling the dogs and the dogs enjoyed the attention, the visit to the Sirius Base and meeting the sled dogs was one of the highlights of my trip and unfortunately I was not allowed to stay for the winter. Just before we boarded the boats we were allowed to wonder though the small and interesting Sirius Base Museum, I took photos of the old stoves in the museum. This was not to be the end of our association with Sirius.
After Sirius we headed off to further south to Dead Man’s Bay, which was the former headquarters of the Sirius Sledge Patrol then called Eskimonaes, the base was destroyed by invading Germans on March 13, 1943, while wandering around I noticed a 44 gallon drum with machine gun shells in it. Dead Man’s Bay is also the location of the last known Inuit settlement in Northeast Greenland, last seen in 1823, they disappeared from Dead Mans Bay after a visit from some explorers.
We then headed deeper into the Keyser Franz Joseph Fjord to the Blomsterbuka Glacier face from where we could see the Greenland Ice cap, on the way we passed a magnificent Greenland Iceberg.
Some sea ice
First sighting of Greenland
Some typical Greenland coast
Muskoxen
Sirius Base
Me getting some attention from a sled dog
Zackenberg rubish
Some old bones at Zackenberg
A sirius Dog Sled
The Sirius patrolmans day bag
An Iceberg near our ship
Some geese heading south
Some old bones at Zackenberg
Machine gun shells at Dead mans Bay
Remains of historic Inuit house
Remains of Dead Mans Bay Inuit village
Tyical Greenland Iceberg
Blomsterbukta glacier with Icecap in background
The sunset were spectacular
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