It seems to be either famine or feast in the Arctic in terms of wildlife. We haven’t seen much at all, but this morning during breakfast there is an announcement from the bridge that they have spotted a blue whale and are slowing down for a better look. Hunted almost to the point of extinction, seeing a blue whale in the Arctic is a big deal, so there is a mad scramble to get outside to see it. The largest mammal (in fact the largest living anything) on the planet, 99.95% of the blue whale is hidden below the surface of the water. This one seems unfazed by our presence, and surfaces 3 or 4 times in 15 minutes. Eventually it tires of being the centre of attention and dives below the water.
Shortly after, the bridge also spots a polar bear on an iceberg on the way into the settlement of Ittoqqortoormitt. The polar bear is startled by what must appear to be a monstrous orca circling his hunting ground, and jumps off the berg into the water to get away from us. Unfortunately he swims into our navigational course and has to turn around and swim back to his berg. It’s sad that we got too close to him, and forced him to burn up calories swimming without the prospect of a meal at the end of it.
Later when we arrive at the Inuit settlement of Ittoqqortoormitt, we learn that they have already taken their quota of 10 bears, so at least this one won’t be a casualty of the hunters. They have also caught narwhals under quota in the nearby Fohnfjord, and we are hopeful of sighting them when we head in that direction tomorrow.
The Inuit settlement is interesting for two reasons. One is the resident dog handler, Gary Rolfe, who patiently fields all of the dumb questions thrown at him whilst feeding his Greenland dogs. The other is the Danish policeman on a two year assignment, who discloses in a chat on the ship that he spends all of his time either breaking up fights, mopping up after drunks, or organising search and rescue parties for those that come to grief in the unforgiving landscape around the settlement.
Later in the afternoon, a helicopter buzzes the ship, which turns out not to be a search and rescue chopper but rather what could be the most expensive airport transfer in the region – ‘tourists’ to Ittoqqortoormitt can only arrive either by ship, or by a helicopter transfer from the nearest airfield, 40 miles away.
