At the airport we were picked up by the same bus, which had brought us to the airport earlier on. We were now transferred to the starting point for the short hike from the outskirts of Ilulissat to a number of view points overlooking the icefjord.

Following a boarded walkway I made my view towards the fjord – with the first icy bits already showing up in the background. These grew bigger and bigger the closer I got – until I finally made it to the first view point.

I now had a superb view of the icefjord and its (unbelievable) beauty – and this time with the right frame of reference to actually get an understanding of the sheer size and magnitude of the icefjord – and the amount of ice floating down the fjord.

I spent a bit more time just watching and enjoying this special moment (and really the reason for me being here) – before making it into town for a bit of exploration there, to then head back for the ship.

In retrospect I have to say, the combination of helicopter and walk made perfect sense – thus getting in both views and angles – – to ultimately put a more complete picture of the icefjord together. The flight provided the ‘end-to-end’ view (from the icecap to the iceberg in the bay), while the walk was the more ‘intimate’ experience, that also gave a clear feel of size. For me this was indeed probably the highlight of the trip – and clearly the right point in time to throw in some celebratory champagne for lunch 😉

Today was THE DAY … the day, why I had booked this trip … hoping it would turn out better this time – with access to Ilulissat and as such the opportunity to see the icefjord.

Things worked out this time, the bay was (relatively) free of ice, Hanseatic easily maneuvered to its anchor point just in front of town; tender ships were used to get us a ashore.

I had booked the helicopter flight to get a glimpse of the ice fjord from slightly higher up – and also to see the ice flowing in from the ice cap and the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier.

I was in the first group to go … a bus was picking us up from the port, bringing us to the airport. Here – after a short safety briefing – we boarded the helicopter (a Bell 212) and were on our way for a 20 minute flight out to the ice fjord with views of the icecap, then across the fjord and out towards the bay – and back to the airport.

While the views during the flight were amazing, it was fairly impossible to put things into perspective. There are no reference points here, so it all felt very abstract, without a real sense of size … one has to know, that we were looking at five to seven kilometers from one bank of the fjord to the other.

We made our way to the mouth into the bay. It is here, that an underwater threshold blocks the ice from freely flowing into the bay. Pressure needs to build up before  icebergs are released into the bay. The threshold was clearly visible from the helicopter – as a clear line separating the fjord from the bay. After a quick circle flying over some icebergs and the ship we made it back to Ilulissat’s airport.