Greenland via Icebreaker

Ponant's Le Commandant Charcot - March 19 - April 05 2025

This is the second time that I have been selected to represent The Explorers Club on one of Ponant's voyages to Greenland. The two companies have a partnership where club members are selected to give talks on board. This time, I was extra excited because I really wanted to experience Ponant's flagship Le Commandant Charcot. It is currently the world's only PC 2 ice class luxury icebreaker. The 2315 nautical mile (4287 km) voyage started in Iceland, then continued to the southern tip of Greenland, then up the west coast into the sea ice of Baffin Bay. We were able to visit places and communities at a time of year when no other ship could due to our ice breaking abilities.   A few stats about Le Commandant Charcot: Length: 149.9 M Ice class: PC 2 Passengers on this voyage 89 (240 max) Captain: Etienne Garcia - Expedition Leader: Florence Kuyper - Cruise Director: Tino Carillo

Day 01 - 2025 03 19 - Depart Toronto

Day 1 - The journey begins. I took an overnight flight to Reykjavik, Iceland and from there I will board Le Commandant Charcot and depart for Greenland. On the flight I had a north facing window seat, and there was a nice display of northern lights out the window. I had no way to photograph them with me at the time, so there are no photos. This was the first time I recall ever seeing them from an airplane.

Day 02 - 2025 03 20 - Reykjavik, Iceland

Day 2 - Arrived in Reykjavik in early morning and dropped bags at the hotel and had a bit of breakfast, then went for a walk around the city. It was overcast and rainy, which was not ideal, but was not too bad.First up, I visited the iconic Hallgri´mskirkja Church, the tallest building in Iceland. After that I walked along the shoreline and saw the famous Sun Voyager sculpture. In the afternoon I visited the Penis museum (Which was actually pretty amazing), and had an Icelandic hot dog for lunch from a street vendor. In total I spent about 4 or 5 hours walking around the city. Tomorrow I board the ship.

Day 03 - 2025 03 21 - Boarding Le Commandant Charcot

Day 3 - I got picked up in the late morning and and headed straight to the ship. Le Commandant Charcot is a small, but very impressive expedition vessel.   The weather today didn't know what it wanted to do. It went from sunny to snowing to sunny to snowing countless times. In the late afternoon after I got settled in my cabin we left the dock and set sail. The scenery was really nice as we pulled away. I need to come back Iceland again We had some mandatory group meetings and was surprised to learn there was only 89 passengers on board, with just over 20 English speakers. The rest were all French speakers.   In the evening, the captain made the announcement that the northern lights were out. I brought my tripod, but trying to take steady shots of the aurora borealis on a moving ship in the north Atlantic with the wind howling and waves crashing was near impossible.

Day 04 - 2025 03 22 - At Sea in the Denmark Strait

Day 4 - We sailed southwest towards the southern tip of Greenland. There's some bad weather coming, and the wind and swell will be bad if we tried to go to east Greenland, so our plans to go there have been changed. A bit disappointing, but I get it. We had some more mandatory meetings, and I spent some time up on the bridge. It was also the Captain’s gala evening, so I got to dress up for dinner.

Day 05 - 2025 03 23 - At Sea in the Denmark Strait

Day 5 - Very windy (gusts up to 70 knots) and some wild waves. We started to get into the sea ice today, which was awesome. The ship is really stable. Even with the stabilizers off (which we did for a while) it wasn't too bad. I had some concerns about this crossing, as I often get seasick. We spotted our first icebergs too, and at one point, the sea ice was pretty intense. In the afternoon, I gave my first talk of the trip (Exploring Earth’s Extremes).

Day 06 - 2025 03 24 - Qaqortoq

Day 6 - The town of Qaqortoq, is the most populous in southern Greenland. It is home to about 3000 people is the capital of the Kujalleq municipality. The area around Qaqortoq is quite historic, having been inhabited since prehistoric times. Conditions going ashore were a bit tricky with 25 knot winds, but once we were there, we got to visit the local museum, tasted some local food including crab, shrimp, cod, lamb & muktuk narwhal skin & blubber), and walked along the waterfront.

Day 06 - 2025 03 24 - Eqaluit

Day 6 (Continued) - We had afternoon plans to visit the tiny village of Igaliku, but the weather conditions did not cooperate. It was too windy and the seas too choppy to land the Zodiacs, so instead we continued on to the more sheltered area of Eqaluit in a more protected fjord. We went ashore to an area that sees a lot of sheep farming. Here in the south of the country is the only place in Greenland where the locals can do this kind of farming. It was the most picturesque sheep farm I've ever seen!

Day 07 - 2025 03 25 - Uunartoq

Day 7 - Uunartoq, Southern Greenland. We went ashore to a spot that has thermal hot springs that have been in use since at least the Viking days. The day was overcast with gentle snow, and once we were ashore it was a short hike to the hot spring. The water felt great, nice and warm with a few bubbling hot spots. The scenic landscapes around us were spectacular with dramatic mountains and icebergs. Back on board we were treated to some really great sea ice & more icebergs as we exited the fjord back out into open water. In the thick ice we encountered numerous harp seals, many of them newborn pups. At least one still had its umbilical cord attached, meaning that it was no more than a day or two old. We probably saw at least 50 of them, lying on the pack ice that had been pushed in from the recent storm. Southern Greenland is not a place that is really known as a spot for harp seals to give birth, making this encounter extra special.

Day 07 - 2025 03 25 - Prince Christian Sound & Sea Ice

Day 7 (Continued) - In the afternoon we turned north into Prince Christian Sound, a long fjord. The mountains on either side were spectacular, reminding me of the Lemaire Channel in Antarctica. The wind had really picked up, that’s why we were seeking shelter in there. Eventually the weather cleared and the seas got calm. We went all the way up to the tiny town of Aappilattoq, which has a population of 83.   We stayed here for the night and at about 1:30 AM it was announced that there were really good northern lights. They were quite spectacular with undulating greens and reds. The ship was pretty flat and calm, but was rotating ever so slightly, so I'm not super happy with my photos, but I got a couple of decent ones. The aurora reflecting in the water, and turning the snow-covered mountains green was spectacular.

Day 08 - 2025 03 26 - Aappilattoq

Day 8 - Woke up early and caught a nice sunrise in the mountains, including some alpenglow as the warm sunlight hit the distant high peaks. It was windy and very cold this morning. The weather improved dramatically and we had sunshine for our visit to the town of Aappilattoq. It was tiny, but tucked away in a natural harbour. The streets were very icy, so we wore slip on crampons which worked great. The town was completely surrounded by massive, sharp mountains, really gorgeous. We walked around and took photos for a while, then made our way to the little red local church where 8 residents sang some hymns and songs for us.   The ship’s helicopter took off to go scout ahead in our planned direction of travel this afternoon. and another helicopter took off from town to do a polar bear patrol.   Getting into the Zodiac to go back to the ship, we noticed a bunch of seal carcasses in the water. The locals hunt them, then temporarily store them in the cold water to keep them fresh.

Day 08 - 2025 03 26 - Prince Christian Sound & Sea Ice

Day 8 (Continued) - We continued east down Prince Christian Sound where we encountered an area of fast ice (sea ice that is frozen to the shoreline). The channel was covered in it, but there was evidence that a ship had broken through it recently. It was actually the Charcot from when it came through here about 10 days previous. We slowly pushed through the sheet of ice as an arctic fox trotted by on the ice. We also passed several beautiful blue glaciers along the way.   We spotted fresh polar bear tracks in the snow, and eventually we found it at the floe edge, the bear was resting on the ice. We slowed to a crawl and kept going forward. The bear eventually got up and jumped into the water. It kept a close eye on us as it swam away.   I was supposed to give a talk this afternoon, but it was postponed because they had an idea for an excursion in an area nearby spotted by the chopper.   We turned around and back-tracked to the bigger glacier (not sure of the name) and pushed through the ice until we got pretty close. We then got to exit the ship onto the sea ice. This was the first time I've ever taken a gangway ramp onto ice like that. Some of the group trekked closer to the glacier, I stayed close to the ship to get photos. The science teams on board were also doing some work on the ice, measuring the thickness to help gather ground-truth for calibrating satellites.   I did the cliche “pushing the bow of the ship” shot, and they served us champagne on the ice. Very posh.   After this, a bunch of us, including all the scientists on board had dinner reservations in the main restaurant on board. Lee-Gray, Adam (U.S.) and Carolina, Eva & Ferran (Spain). I skipped desert because the captain announced there were more northern lights. I grabbed my camera and headed out to the heli-deck. There were nice greens and purples in the sky straight ahead as we continued down the sound. I took shorter exposures this time to try and keep the blur to a minimum. That’s 2 nights in a row for northern lights!

Day 09 - 2025 03 27 - At Sea

Day 9 - Today was a sea day, repositioning from south Greenland up to Sisimiut.   In the morning was a polar bear lecture, then at 2:00 I gave my second talk (Greenland skies). Immediately after my talk we got a tour of the science labs on the ship. First the wet lab where they have the ability to continually study sea water, There's also a small moon pool, freezers, and ice core drills.   In the evening there was the officer’s gala dinner. The theme was white, so I borrowed a white jacket and vest from Adam Weaver, one of the scientists on board.

Day 10 - 2025 03 28 - Sisimiut

Day 10 - We arrived in Sisimiut in the late morning, and because of the sea ice situation, it was unclear if we would be able to actually go ashore. The harbour in town isn’t deep enough for us to dock, so Zodiac is the only way to get ashore. It was a very cold morning with reports of wind chills to -25.   Luckily we were able to take Zodiacs ashore, but our landing site was a beach outside of town where we were shuttled to the cultural center. From there, we took a quick snowmobile ride to Dog Town on the edge of town where all the sled dogs are. Once there, we met up with a local guy with a team of 10 sled dogs. One of them must have peed on the sled at least a dozen times while we waited. Myself, Michele and Philippe got on, and it quickly became obvious that there was too much weight on the sled. Each time we went uphill, the musher directed me (in broken English) to get off and run & push.   I ran like crazy to keep up, then he directed me to hop back on. To do that I had to accelerate after already being winded from sprinting while wearing heavy winter clothing, then I had one chance to jump onto the moving sled. This process repeated 3 or 4 times during our loop around town. Towards the end, we rode through part of the actual town and back to the cultural center.   The next activity was to go for a proper snowmobile ride. Michele and I rode on the back of one of the sleds and we had a nice ride out into the mountains. It was cold, but not too bad at all. We stopped at a photogenic spot for some pics, then continued on to an area where some tents were set up. There we had some musk ox soup which also had pasta and veggies & some hot chocolate.   We rode back to the cultural centre and from there we walked into town. This is the first time I've seen Sisimiut with snow. It was nice, like a completely different place. We walked to the gift shop & museum, then continued to the waterfront and started to work our way to the beach to take a Zodiac back to the ship.   On board I got to try on one of the ship's survival suits, meant to keep you warm and dry in case you end up in the frigic Arctic waters. They are about as fashionable as a giant ornage traffic cone, but they will keep you alive. Speaking of cold water, the geometric ice formations off the side of the ship this afternoon were really amazing.

Day 11 - 2025 03 29 - Partial Solar Eclipse & Sisimiut Dog Sled Race

Day 11 - It was overcast when I woke up, so I had low hopes of capturing the partial solar eclipse this morning, but it cleared up enough to be able to see it with filters and photograph it. I set up on deck 9 and passed around the couple of pairs of glasses I brought.   After that, it was straight ashore via Zodiac and back to the cultural center on a shuttle bus. We had another food tasting, then we walked all the way outside of town for the big dogsled race that’s been in the news lately. The one that U.S. vice president J.D. Vance was supposed to attend. Anyway they weren’t there. We got a good viewpoint up on some rocks and as they started the race.   It was absolute chaos at the starting line. Most of the teams stayed on target, but: Some of the dogs got into fights with the other team’s dogs. One dog’s rope snapped and he ended up wandering through the crowd. Two of the teams’ dogs decided that they wanted to go in the completely opposite direction, and there was no convincing them otherwise! It was hilarious.

Day 12 - 2025 03 30 - Qasigiannguit

Day 12 - Qasigiannguit Plenty of uncertainty today. There was a lot of sea ice in Disko Bay, so our options were kind of limited. We were near the small town of Qasigiannguit and we kept trying to nudge the ship into the ice in a way that would allow us to have some kind of off-ship excursion. By the afternoon, a plan had been formed. We got close enough to town for the expedition team to check out the ice, and they determined that we could go ashore.   My afternoon talk was postponed, and after lunch we went out onto the ice. It was about a 1 km walk across the sea ice to the town. The weather was amazing. Blue skies, and not too cold at all. Really pleasant, and there was a layer of fresh, glinting powder snow. In town, we visited the local museum, then walked through the town. We stopped by the edge of town where there were a bunch of sled dogs. The owner came by and told us he was about to feed them. They went crazy, and then one of the kids brought us over a newborn puppy. It was so cute, still had its eyes closed.   We walked back to the ship and they had a table set up with some local food, including dried and raw minke whale, reindeer jerky and caiplin fish.   Things got a bit wild when some of the locals were invited onto the ship. It turns out that 350 showed up. There was a choir group that sang for a bit in the theatre and there were kids everywhere.

Day 13 - 2025 03 31 - Eqi Fjord & Ilulissat

Day 13 - Pretty good sunrise over the mountains at the entrance to Eqi fjord. The pastel colours were reflected in the sea and the windows of the ship. We tried to get into the fjord, but there was too much fast ice, and the captain wanted to leave it alone for the local hunters. We did manage to park the ship pretty close to shore, at another point at the fjord entrance.   A small group of us (4 plus 2 guides) did a long hike with crampons across the sea ice, then onto land and up the hillside on the old lateral moraine. Even though it was cold out, I got too hot and stripped right down to my shirt. We came across lots of arctic fox & arctic hare tracks. In total we walked about 7km with about 250 meters of elevation gain. The powdery snow glinted with colourful iridescence and the light was constantly changing. At one point the iridescence n the clouds around the sun was spectacular. We had a great view of the ship, and the track it left through the ice. The helicopter did a couple of operations while we were away as well, and I got some nice shots of it near the ship.   Afterwards, we attended a lecture by Adam and Lee-Gray about caving and methane hydrates respectively. After that I spent a bunch of time up in the observation lounge on deck 9 as we approached the icebergs around Ilulissat. It was interesting to see this place in the winter. I had been here several times before.   I watched them put away the helicopter, which was fascinating. They remove the rotors, then wheel the chopper over a hatch with a lift that takes it below deck for storage. The crew also set up some drink stations outdoors in the cold on the helicopter pad. We had some champagne and posed for a group picture.

Day 14 - 2025 04 01 - Disko Island

Day 14 - Woke up this morning positioned at the southern tip of Disko Island, near Qeqertarsuaq. Not far from the cliffs and basalt columns.   It was foggy with very light snow. The expedition team went out and evaluated the sea ice, but it wasn't good enough for us to go out. It was about 10cm thick, but not of great density. They had scouted the location with the ship's helicopter yesterday, but from the chopper it's hard to tell the thickness and quality of the ice.   It got cold, windy and foggy with wind chills around -23. I was warned that my 2:30 lecture might get postponed again (for the 3rd time)… It did, no big deal.   After lunch we repositioned to the west side of Disko Island and into Disko fjord, just south of a small island, west of the little town of Kangerluk. There we stopped in the sea ice, making sure to not go too far into the fjord, as locals use the fast ice for hunting.   It was overcast and snowing & cold (about -8 or so). I left the ship and went skiing across the sea ice with a small group. We skied north to the edge of the island where the tidal movement had caused the sea ice to heave and buckle. We ended up doing about 7km or so. It was fun to be out on the ice on skis. The atmosphere was moody and the snow really deadened the sounds.   Back aboard, there were cocktails, and a caviar tasting, then dinner up on deck 9. I noticed that the sky had the potential for a nice sunset, so I quickly downed some dessert, then grabbed my camera and headed for the observation lounge. The sunset got nice, and then some Bowhead whales showed up right ahead of us. They stuck around for quite some time, but the light was fading.

Day 15 - 2025 04 02 - Baffin Bay

Day 15 - I finally got to give my Fire & Ice talk after it being postponed 3 times. That's the nature of these expedition cruises, you have to be flexible. We sailed west out into the middle of Baffin Bay about halfway to Canada, looking for wildlife and hoping to get into the sun for an afternoon ice floe landing.   Shortly after I was done my talk, 2 polar bears were spotted on the ice. There was also a seal in the water. The mama & cub wandered around at a distance for a while, occasionally rolling in the snow to dry off after being in the water. They got curious and started to walk towards the ship. Mama stopped and was sniffing the air. The wind was blowing towards them, so she definitely smelled us. She didn't run, but decided that we were not worth checking out, and they wandered off.   Right after this, we were treated to a nice seafood buffet in the main restaurant with champagne too. Nice.   I spent a bit of time up on the bridge, then we made a nice sea ice landing in the afternoon.   It was bitter cold, but totally worth it to go out on the ice. It was over a meter thick and there were all kinds of hummocks and pressure ridges everywhere, with amazing blue ice piled up. We went for a walk on the ice and almost immediately came across very fresh polar bear tracks. It is a bit unnerving to be standing on ice, in the middle of Baffin Bay, knowing that there are bears out here too, and that we are not at the top of the food chain.

Day 16 - 2025 04 03 - Baffin Bay At Sea

Day 16 - I got up early and noticed the crescent moon had risen, so I grabbed some photos from my balcony, then got dressed and went up to deck 9. The sunrise was really nice with clear skies, sea ice, and one really great iceberg that perfectly aligned with the rising sun.   I gave my "icebergs" talk in the morning, it was well attended and afterwards, the scientists on board presented their results, then at lunch on deck 9 they served up some lobster! I've been totally spoiled on this ship.   In the afternoon there was a talk on bowhead whales, then the captain decided to show off by demonstrating how the ship can break ice while in reverse. He used the aft bridge and spent quite some time chewing up the ice. Very impressive.   In the evening there was the farewell gala, more cocktails, and music.

Day 17 - 2025 04 04 - Eternity Fjord

Day 17 - We arrived early at Eternity Fjord and the plan was to do our first (and only) Zodiac cruise. We were out at about 9 AM and the first thing we did was head to the left side of the Evingheds Glacier where it is more active and still reaching the water. There's a small beach there with numerous growlers that are beached. We only had about 10 minutes because the tide was rising and the other groups also needed to visit. It was amazing! Huge beautiful blue pieces of ice on the small beach. Got lots of great pics there. I've been here several times before, and this was the first time I've ever set foot on the beach.   We then got back in the Zodiacs and worked our way along the glacier to the less active side. The weather was great at first, around 0C with sunny patches, but it started to deteriorate rapidly. Soon, it was overcast, windy and choppy. We all got pretty wet when the waves splashed over us. It was a cold, wet ride back to the ship. Once back aboard I took a long hot shower, and got a burger for lunch.   I gave my last talk (Arctic Weather) in the afternoon. A bunch of us hung out in the lounge after the last afternoon briefing, then went to dinner with the science team.

Day 18 - 2025 04 05 - Nuuk

Day 18 - Time to get off the ship. The past 2 weeks have been amazing, and I'm really going to miss being aboard Le Commandant Charcot. I hope to be back aboard soon. We docked in this morning in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and after breakfast walked down the gangway one last time and boarded a bus that gave us a little tour of the town before heading to the brand new airport that's only been open for less than a year. Ponant had arranged a charted flight between Nuuk and Paris, and when I checked in, my boarding pass was literally a blank boarding pass with my name hand-written on it. No date, no flight number, no seat number, nothing. I'm certain that I will end up back in Greenland again, this place just keeps calling me back. This was my 3rd time here in the past 9 months.

Day 19 - 2025 04 06 - Paris to Toronto

Day 19 - The end of my journey. I spent the night in an airport hotel in Paris, then flew back to Toronto via Reykjavik. It was a bit of a convoluted route to get from Greenland to Canada, but that's just the way the flight connections were. Many thanks to Ponant and The Explorers Club for inviting me to be on this voyage, and special thanks to the staff, crew, expedition team, and passengers of Le Commandant Charcot for making my experience aboard a great one!

 

 

 

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