THERE was barely a sound, just an eerie creaking and cracking. Everyone was on
deck, bundled up against the cold, sunglasses under our hoods to protect our
eyes from the painful dazzle. An edge of indigo water, pocked with
turquoise, then just white, stretched away all around.
Stopped by solid ice, the Fram slowly turned with a huge blast from the
whistle, and a round of applause. We had reached N78 49', only 671 nautical
miles from the North Pole.
My new binoculars, which barely left my neck on our two-week voyage, were busy
scanning for polar bears as we made our way back down Smith Sound between
Ellesmere Island and the uninhabited north of Greenland.
There was a prize of a bottle of chianti to the first to spot a polar bear.
Meanwhile, we were being lured inside. Waffle hour in the Panorama lounge
was about to begin. This was a cruise after all. Though an unusual one,
veering between pioneer and plush.
The new Fram (named after the ship that took Nansen to the Arctic and Amundsen
to the Antarctic 100 years ago), launched last year, and is an expedition
vessel in cruise-ship clothing. Built specially for polar waters, it isn't a
floating resort, yet has a vast glass-walled lounge with bar, chic decor
adorned with contemporary works by Scandinavian artists, airy cabins with
kingsize beds (though most have flap-down bunks), internet café, gym, sauna
and hot tubs on deck. Other cruise-ship staples - casino, beauty parlour and
cabaret shows - are absent.
A Norwegian singer-keyboard player in a check shirt and cords who managed to
make Summer Holiday sound sad was about as boppy as it got. Other
after-dinner entertainments were a slide show on Spitsbergen or a 1930s film
of the Arctic in the two lecture rooms.
Seeing Greenland, not dressing up and partying, was the point of the trip for
the 212 passengers - a mix of Germans, Scandinavians and assorted English
speakers, and doing so by ship made perfect sense. The country is 85 per
cent inland ice, with only local roads around the coastal towns and
settlements, making a land tour impossible. From the southernmost point
(which is on the same latitude as Oslo) to Cape Morris at the top of the
country is about 1,670 miles (2,680km), and on our round voyage of 2,183
nautical miles starting just inside the Arctic Circle we saw calving
glaciers, monumental icebergs, Inuit villages, mountains meeting fjords, the
midnight sun and the Northern Lights all in one holiday.
On our first day a slippery-scree hike up the mountainside at Evighedsfjorden
(Fjord of Eternity) gave us a guillemot's-eye view of the ship at anchor and
a turquoise-streaked glacier that calved thrillingly with loud cracks all
day, sending out new icebergs. The world's loss is tourists' momentary gain:
glaciers are moving faster thanks to global warming.
At Qeqertarsuaq, the capital of Disko Island, we joined the walk led by the
ship's “Expedition Team” through the town to the Valley of the Winds and
some waterfalls. On the way out of town, past neat piles of sledges laid up
for the short summer outside the “Lego” houses, built from flat-packs in
primary colours, we had to watch our steps to avoid surprising sleeping sled
dogs. I was concerned about not being their next meal (they are fed every
two days in summer), but dog lovers who were already missing their pets were
distressed to see these groups of grimy creatures that are kept chained up
by law, with no exercise and only rocks for shelter for up to three months
of the year.
The culture shocks kept coming. In small harbourside markets, different cuts
of whale and seal meat were laid out on the counter. In one, limp guillemots
with blood-matted feathers were selling for about £3 each. Baby seal skins
dyed in different colours cost £30 in the supermarket at Qaanaaq. The museum
at Upernavik had 3m (10ft) narwhal horns for £1,100.
Almost all our sightings of wildlife were hanging out to dry on rickety
balconies - sides of seals, Arctic foxes, musk ox coats, walrus heads with
long tusks. Strolling in one village, I came across a polar bear skin on a
rack, complete with face and paw pads. In the northern settlements, guns and
motorboats have replaced kayaks and harpoons, but the hunters and their
families still use every bit of the animal, for clothing, food and artefacts
(which they are licensed to sell). So we weren't very surprised that the
chianti went unclaimed.
I was sadly wondering if I would manage to end the trip with only three dots
of seal heads, a scattering of seabirds and a distant hare on a hillside on
my I-Spy Arctic wildlife checklist. But on our penultimate day a tour in a
local boat of the Ice Fjord at Ilulissat turned into a wonderful whale
matinee with two humpbacks frolicking yards from us.
Iceberg spotting was so much more satisfying. With the variety of shapes and
sizes, the changes in colour from the weather and light, chunks falling off
without warning, they were mesmerising. One morning we all took our turns to
pile into Zodiacs, ploughing through crunchy white soup on a chilly photo
frenzy among the massive, sculptural and obligingly slow-moving icebergs in
Melville Bay.
Greenland is rich in polar exploration history, and we wandered through the
remains of the trading post of Thule set up by Knud Rasmussen in 1910. In
Ilulissat, the vicarage where he was born is a museum with many photographs
and memorabilia of his life and work.
At Siorapaluk, the northernmost “natural” settlement in the world with a
population of 80, a school holiday was declared for the day of our visit and
the children came aboard the ship. It was eye-opening to witness their
curiosity and wonder at such alien things as the lifts and the hot-chocolate
machine. In Qaanaaq, we went to a delightful performance of traditional
songs by the local choir in the vast sports hall, a reminder that for most
of the year games and social events can't take place outdoors.
Every day we had some new experience, the freshest air and the most exercise
I've ever had on a cruise. After a long walk across the tundra, getting back
on board the Fram for a sauna, buffet and iceberg-gazing wrapped in a
blanket on deck, made it a round-the-clock Arctic experience with no
hardship involved.
Need to know
Hurtigruten (020-8846 2666, www.hurtigruten.co.uk)
offers 15-night Voyage to the Inuit North cruises aboard the Fram sailing on
August 14 and 28. The cost, from £3,795pp, includes return flights from
Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq, transfers and some excursions. Flights to
Copenhagen can be arranged at extra charge. Eight-night Disko Bay cruises,
sailing June to August, are from £1,945pp.
Reading Greenland & The Arctic (Lonely Planet, £19.99).
