Lying in my cosily-lit bunk last night off the coast from Kangerlussuaq, as the sea slowly rolled us around, it felt like being in a giant cradle, rocked by a patient, powerful hand. Our ship is a steady big ole affair with dashing (both senses) Russians, crewing like troopers. We’ve been fed a great, great deal of food and not yet had landfall as we’re trying to get to a specific place where the scientists can throw something over the side, but in a productive way. Science is so reassuring. And yet not. And we seem to already be growing fat.
We’ve had a day of lectures, visuals and conversations about climate change: the science, the apocalypse and the good news. Gallons of each (actually, bit less of latter) to mull and ponder and shape into something useful. All the while remembering how to be practical in plan and grand in ambition. Tricky. This ship seems full of fast-breeder, original minds and cross-pollination is already in full, filthy congress. A sprawling, ideas-kicking friendly match. A kind of weather condition of thinking. In some ways the more ridiculous the ideas the better they seem, but that could be the lack of sleep. Extreme left-field thinking and trying to keep one’s pecker up in the face of colourfully illustrated catastrophe seems the ticket.
Continue reading
Kangerlussuaq means big fjord and the big fjord that runs from the airstrip to the sea is 90 miles long. Karen Filskov a native of Greenland joins us here as guide, the first time Cape Farewell has had an Inuit crew member. The Grigoriy Mikheev was built in St Petersburg as a research vessel and now runs trips to the arctic from April to September and the Antarctic from October to February. Being designed as a research vessel it is perfect for this expedition as our itinerary is built around the research programme of the four scientists.
To read more of Sunand’s post visit his blog on The Architect’s Journal website.
Ko de Korte, our expedition leader from Oceanwide Expeditions, and Cape Farewell director David Buckland.
Late afternoon as we head North towards Disko Bay
Continue reading
Communicating to the rest of the world via KT Tunstall.
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.
Subscribe to the podcast for more clips.
An MPEG 4 version of this clip is also available to
download.
Martha Wainwright and Jonathan Dove on the front deck of the Grigoriy Mikheev as we head North towards Disko Bay.
Carol explains the kit she’ll be using during the voyage - the sparker unit - which uses acoustic pulses to image the sea bed and sediments below the sea bed. The ship’s acoustics leads to some initial frustration, followed by success!
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.
Subscribe to the podcast for more clips.
An MPEG 4 version of this clip is also available to
download.
The good news on reaching the Grigory Mikheev, our home for the next 10 days, was that it was the BGS container that made it on-board, and not one full of toothbrushes (my recurring nightmare of the past week or so), and it was dry inside and not flooded (Dave Smith’s recurring nightmare of the past week!) The bad news is that as we steam up the fjord from Kangerlussuaq, western Greenland, there is a Force 6 south-westerly waiting for us at the mouth of the fjord - 4 hours and counting until we start rolling around! I’m starting to spot a theme here after last year’s “rough seas” Cape Farewell Expedition across the Greenland Sea!
Continue reading
When music star Feist signed up to be on the expedition, she said that it sounded like “summer camp” for kids. Although I never attended summer camp as a child. I imagine this must be what it’s like.
Or perhaps it’s more like MTV’s The Real World: The Arctic. Forty-six strangers picked to live together at the top of the world aboard a Russian Sea Vessel. And when the sea stops being polite, suddenly it stars getting real. Hey, we are even being filmed (though for the Sundance Channel and not music television).
Last night the waters began getting rough. In fact, I am writing this blog entry with blurred vision.
Continue reading
Julian Stair on birds and renewable energy sources. Audio by Vicky Long.
An MP3 version is also available to
download.
Recent Comments