The seal

The seal                                                                            24^th April 2013

The second attempt was good. The pilot had given up late during the first try, mountains and clouds don’t mix well so the engines roared to full power and the wheels came back up with a clunk as we soared back up into the safety of the clear sky. We rolled to a stop on the cinder runway, just outside the small grey terminal building. Our luggage was plonked on to a trolley and taken to the door of the building where we each grabbed our bags and toted them inside. It was a first for me – an airport terminal building with a polar bear skin pegged out on one wall and a view of icebergs out of several of the round windows.

      ‘Welcome to Kulusuk,’ said Dinas, who was to be our boatman and guide for the next two weeks. ‘I suggest you put several layers of clothing on as it will be very cold during the two hour crossing to Ammassalick. Please follow me to the jetty when you are ready.’

      It was a bit of a struggle carrying all the gear the few hundred yards down to the sea where Dinas had his boat waiting for us. We were all hot and sweaty when we got there but would be glad of the warm clothing when we got out into the open sea. We slowly edged out of the small fjord, dodging several growlers in the shallow water and then accelerated as we entered the polar stream of Sermilik fjord with its majestic procession of huge icebergs, some a hundred metres long and over twenty metres high.

      We passed a long, low ‘berg. ‘Look, there,’ called Dinas, as he pointed to the ice. There was a seal laying on top of the ice, seemingly unconcerned by our presence as Dinas slowed the boat and steered nearer to give us a good look. The seal stared back as us with its big, black, baby eyes.

      It suddenly rolled over and wriggled its way frantically to the edge of the ice and dived into the sea. As he saw this, Dinas quickly revved up the engine to full power and steered us away from the iceberg.

      As we got a few metres away from the ice, there was a loud grinding noise and the mighty iceberg slowly rolled over. Dinas turned the boat so that it was pointing at the ice to minimise the rolling from the resulting wave – an icy tsunami.

      ‘I think the seal saved our lives,’ said Dinas, ‘the iceberg would have rolled on top of us and sunk the boat. Here in the wilderness you must watch the birds and animals because they always know what is coming. Welcome to Greenland.’