Traversing the Northwest Passage 1 - 27 September 2025
17 September 2025: Day 17
Cruise Day 10: Greenland
Introduction
After a fairly rough crossing of Baffin Bay we arrived off the west coast of Greenland, at a place the expedition crew named as Sukassat, east of Upernavik.
Here we boarded the Zodiacs and motored around the coastline, looking at stunning outcrops of columnar-jointed basalt lava, some of the best I have seen after the
Giants Causeway in Ireland. We also stopped at a sheltered bay to examine the tundra and the remains of an early Inuit turf house - rectangular this time. The beach was strewn
with plastic debris that had washed ashore, but also hundreds of shotgun cartridges where the locals had been hunting birds, mostly geese. We then sailed across the sound to
the location of a small waterfall with abundant plants. High up we saw an eagle's nest, now abandoned for the Summer.
After lunch we were still moored in the sheltered bay and as the weather was fine it was decided it was time for the "Polar Plunge" - a leap into the freezing water of the Arctic.
Brrr...!
Chart showing our progress across to Greenland
Plan A: 0850 Zodiac cruise
Early morning light
We were being watched..
Arrivign at the basalt columns
Glacial erratic boulders high above the sea
A location beacon for the hunters
The basalt columns
Landing at a small cove with old turf house
Remains of the house
Abundant sea life here
Evidence of transport options in Winter.
More basalt
Granite underlying he basalt
Heading towards the waterfall
Eagle's nest
More glacial erratics
Back to the ship, with time to examine it more closely
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