The Northwest Passage Day 13
“We shall not cease from exploration, at the end of all of our exploring we will arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Elliott
Greenland is quite different from the pebbled and rocky land of the Canadian Arctic. It’s thick with vegetation and very squishy to walk on. The lushness invited us to lie down and rest. It feels like a tempurpedic mattress. The only caveat is that you have to find a spot that doesn’t have goose poop, as the geese recently migrated from here.
Tasiusaq means “an inlet that is like a lake.” It is located in the Upernavik archipelegoe, a large group os islands on the coast of northeast Baffin Bay. It is one of the earliest settled places in Greenland. The Thule people, ancient ancestors of the Inuit, left many archeological sites, including the remnants of the sod house you see here. Susie one of our Inuit staff explains the history.
One of the on-board botanists warned us that we would become obsessed looking at tiny plants. I did, as you can see by the photos of such things as black lichen and arctic cotton. It was a treat to see so much vegetation, so densely packed. I did manage to rise up and take a look at the lake and the inlet. What a gorgeous place.
Arctic Cotton, used by the Inuit for lamp wicks
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