Greenland - Scoresby Sund

This was my second leg of the tour in Greenland which was in the East of Greenland. Having completed the one in the West, my expectations was very high. From Ilulissat I took a direct flight to Reykjavik operated by Air Greenland. Before the start of the East tour, I had about 3 days in Iceland and I used this opportunity to do a quick self-drive tour in Iceland covering a few locations in the South coast.

Travel Date : 21st Aug’19 to 28th Aug ‘19

Company : Iceland Photo Tours led by Raymond Hoffmann

No of Participants : 11

From Reykjavik domestic airport, we took a chartered flight to Constable Point and the flying time was about two hours. There are no regular flights to Constable Point and hence you won’t see this in the airport list. Only chartered flights operate to Constable point. The entire flight was very scenic. The landing strip here is not a normal one but is made of gravel. From here we had to walk about 15 minutes to the ship.

Constable Point Airport

Our ship, Dona Wood was waiting to receive us for the exiting journey to the fjords of Scoresby Sund. Donna Wood is a beautiful oak ship, designed and built as a lighthouse ship in Denmark in 1918. It underwent significant restorations during 1990, when it was modernised and equipped with the sails and rigging. It has carried out numerous expeditions to Iceland and Greenland, specialising in the pristine fjords of Scoresby Sound. There are 7 passenger cabins on the vessel, all equipped with wash basins and closets and with a dorm type sleeping. The hallway features spacious shared shower facilities and toilets. The ship can accommodate a total of 12 passengers. The ship also has ample room for discussions and dining. The ship weighs 500 Tons without fuel, water and people and can hold 8000 liters of fuel and 6500 liters of water. Description of Donna Wood is not complete without a mention of Sune Jensen who was our Chef on board. The tour included all meals and every meal was so tastefully done. Being a vegetarian and given up dairy products, I had informed them well in advance my dietary requirements and was taken care by Sune. Food served in the ship in itself is an experience.

Inside Dona Wood

We started sailing on 21st August. It was quite choppy on Day 1 and most of Day 2 and it was absolutely smooth from Day 3 onwards. Being summertime, the sun rises quite early and sets quite late. So, we had good lighting throughout to capture the magnificent ice bergs, landscapes, mountains etc., of course subject to that day’s weather condition. We had one opportunity to get off the ship and go to the land to capture the sunset as on other days the weather did not cooperate. When we are off the ship, we were taken in a zodiac boat which is an inflatable boat made of flexible tubes and powered by a motor engine. During the entire sailing, in and around Bear Island and Red Island, we had great opportunity to capture different landscapes, innumerable icebergs with different sizes, shapes and structure. The icebergs are just endless.

The sailing route

While Sailing ....

The highlight of the trip was a zodiac trip to Ice city in Red Island. It’s a mini township of Icebergs. I got lost seeing the structures, the reflections in the calm water and the turquoise colour. These Icebergs left me baffled and wondering from where these came and what nature can do. We also had an opportunity to visit Greenlandic Village, Ittoqqortoormiit and experience the colourful arctic houses.

Ice City, Red Island

And some self portrait opportunities !!

The group .... (Picture Credit Raymond Hoofmann)

My blog is not complete without a mention of our photography master Raymond Hoffmann. Right from the time he met us at the welcome dinner in Reykjavik till we returned to Reykjavik he took care of us in all aspects. He planned every single day very carefully to ensure the participants get ample and unimpeded photography opportunities. He constantly monitors the weather, discusses with the captain to change the course of the ship so that as photographers we were not affected. More important he was constantly guiding us for opportunities, compositions, exposure parameters etc. It was a truly delight to be with Raymond.

To view the album ---> https://gvgops6.wixsite.com/greenland--score-1