Shortly before the Knud Rasmussen Glacier we anchored in the evening in a small, quiet bay, so as to sail up to the glacier edge the next morning. Overnight light rain moved in and bathed everything in a cold, muted light as we glided past huge icebergs. Our favourite pastime couldn’t be missed all the same: ice bathing, even though after the cold night a thin layer of ice lay on the water.
With the drone above the icebergs
The next morning, lugging the drone around really paid off. After sunrise we sailed past the enormous icebergs again, and I couldn’t resist: I wanted to photograph the icebergs together with our boat, the Aurora Arktika, to show the sense of scale. Taking off from the boat was risky. Radar and radio interfered with the signal, the Mavic “wobbled”, and flying it under control wasn’t easy at all, especially with all the ropes on board. After a minute, though, it stabilised. The series of pictures here comes from a video – handy that you can pull photos from the flight. So I stood below in the boat as we chugged slowly along and let the Mavic glide above and beside us. Speechless.
Northern lights and farewell
The next two nights gave us beautiful northern lights, then it was time to say goodbye to the crew around Captain Siggi and our fun group of ice swimmers. A real shame! The landscape, the hikes and kayak trips, but also the cosy evenings with fresh fish and whiskey on the rocks, I was already missing on the plane back to Iceland.
A deeply furrowed turquoise iceberg in the cold, muted light after the rain.Left, a small blue iceberg in front of a hill; right, a white block by the rock.An iceberg with a slender tower in the mist, pale mountains behind.Blocky icebergs in thick mist, small floes on smooth water.Low icebergs far off on the horizon, otherwise nothing but grey.Left, distant small icebergs; right, a closer block with a pointed end.An iceberg with a hollow and turquoise water, a second one in the mist behind.A massive iceberg with two peaks as we glide slowly past.An angular white iceberg between dark mountains.A flat iceberg in front of the slope that disappears into the clouds.The bow with the red kayaks, the Knud Rasmussen Glacier ahead.The ice wall of the Knud Rasmussen Glacier, a large floe in front.The glacier’s calving front with its blue spikes, twice.Ice bathing is a must – even with a thin layer of ice on the water after the cold night.The glacier between two rocky headlands, drift ice in the dark water.From the rigging: shoes in the net, kayaks and ice floes below.Climbing the rigging in a blue anorak, the Knud Rasmussen Glacier ahead.The ice wall beneath mist-shrouded, snowy mountains.The blue calving front with dark hollows at the waterline.A pointed iceberg in front of a reddish scree shore.Two icebergs beneath heavy clouds, layered on the left, blue and jagged on the right.A calm bay with a rocky island and scattered floes.From the rocks: a bay full of small ice floes.Left, a rocky channel with ice; right, glowing turquoise floes.A rocky bay with islands and scattered drift ice.The Aurora Arktika in a narrow rocky bay, her masts reflected in the water.Flying the drone alongside the boat: only then do you see how huge the icebergs are.The Aurora Arktika in front of the sheer face of a tabular iceberg.Leaving a wake between the icebergs – chugging slowly along.Left, a large iceberg; right, the tiny Aurora Arktika.A jagged iceberg in front, the ship small at the edge.An irregular iceberg with a turquoise rim, the ship at the top right.A layered iceberg with a long point, a turquoise fringe in the dark water.The ship among icebergs, one of them with an arch.An iceberg with a gap through it, the ship in front in the sunshine.An iceberg with a great arch, the ship in the turquoise water on the right.Beneath the tall arch of ice in front of the rocky coast – speechless.The horizon, twice: distant icebergs in front of mountains and single blocks closer to the water.A long iceberg with many spikes in front of snowy mountains.A pointed iceberg with smaller floes in front.Pencil on the coastal chart – planning the route.A yellow kayak in front, red ones behind, a flat iceberg against the rock face.Ice on the kayak deck, a bottle of whisky beside it – whisky on the rocks, ready to serve.A broad iceberg with a steep edge, birds in the grey sky.An iceberg with an overhang and a turquoise fringe, a flock of birds on the left.Left, a summit in cloud with a snowfield; right, a steep rock with small patches of snow.A rocky summit in warm light above calm water.Low sun on sharp ridges, layered clouds over the slopes.Left, a pointed summit in cloud; right, a long jagged ridge.Pink and grey clouds above rocky summits.The mountain range with pink clouds reflected in the dark water.Green aurora fans out above the snowy peaks.Left, violet-green rays above the mountains; right, green bands.Aurora above a small iceberg, mirrored between rocks.Left, green rays above a ridge; right, a blue-and-white spiral.The Knud Rasmussen Glacier beneath brown mountains, mirrored in the water.Crevassed glacier ice with blue fissures, brown water at the edge.Left, deep lengthwise crevasses; right, shallower blue cracks in the ice.A snowy glacier surface with long cracks and brown debris.Left, crevasses by the turquoise shore; right, a dark inlet in the ice.A narrow green arc in the starry sky – farewell to Greenland.
