Nov 1.
As, I mentioned earlier, after a 4 day weather delay, the Norland Air twin otter finally arrived. The flight from Summit to Constable Point was well worth the wait though! Constable Point is on the east coast of Greenland, amidst their fjords, and is a tiny little airport for us to refuel. The flight there was perhaps the most scenic flight I have ever been on! And I definitely saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen! The first half was just flying over the icesheet, which was nothing special, but then all of a sudden, Nate yelled "Rock", and we saw our first piece of earth in 5 months, in the form of a nunatak (top of a mountain completely surround by ice). As we flew further and further, mountains began to appear, and then giant glaciers, and then ice-covered fjords with glaciers flowing into them, then open water fjords choked full of icebergs and closed in by snowy peaks. Eventually it got too dark to see much, but all of a sudden we saw the tiniest of runways, lit up by lights, at the inner reaches of a fjord.
We walked outside while they fueled the twin otter. It was probably around 30F, but it felt so warm and balmy and so humid.
We boarded again and began the 2nd half of the journey to the north atlantic town of Akureyri. We checked into our nice rooms and all showered (if you remember we were only supposed to take 1 shower a week at Summit to save on snow melting). It was funny b/c the hot water smelled like hot springs b/c in most places the hot water comes directly from geothermal water. We went down to the bar where Matt bought us all beers.
We then went to a nice restaurant (Rub 25 I think) across the street. Iceland is extremely expensive and I was aghast at the prices of the meals. I was getting prepared to order a $30 small appetizer, but luckily Martin and Matt ordered first. They ordered $75 meals (duck), so I didn't feel too bad ordering a $65 mixed grilled fish platter. My meal was delicious and had cod, salmon, char, scallops, shrimp, and langostine (small lobster). It was the most expensive meal I have ever had! Matt also got 3 fancy bottles of wine for the table. For some comparison of prices, a footlong subway sandwich in Iceland is $15-20 and a thai curry about $30-40. While on our roadtrip, Elisha and I ate "out" once. There was a good deal for hot dogs with a gas club card that the van company gave us. 2 small hot dogs for about 6 dollars I believe.
The crew went out for some bar hopping after dinner, but I didn't feel like spending a ton on drinking and wanted to get some rest, so I went back to my room and shaved my beard and went to bed.
Nov 2.
The hotel had an amazing buffet breakfast. We had an early flight (8:30), but b/c the airport was so small we didn't have to leave our hotel until ten til 8. The crazy thing was that the Akureyri airport had absolutely no security. No metal detector or xray machines for bags. Nice to be in such a safe country!
It was a short flight to Reykjavik, and we got to see the beautiful sunrise during the flight. We arrived into Reykjavik's tiny domestic city airport where Elisha was there to meet us. So great to see her again!!!
As, I mentioned earlier, after a 4 day weather delay, the Norland Air twin otter finally arrived. The flight from Summit to Constable Point was well worth the wait though! Constable Point is on the east coast of Greenland, amidst their fjords, and is a tiny little airport for us to refuel. The flight there was perhaps the most scenic flight I have ever been on! And I definitely saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen! The first half was just flying over the icesheet, which was nothing special, but then all of a sudden, Nate yelled "Rock", and we saw our first piece of earth in 5 months, in the form of a nunatak (top of a mountain completely surround by ice). As we flew further and further, mountains began to appear, and then giant glaciers, and then ice-covered fjords with glaciers flowing into them, then open water fjords choked full of icebergs and closed in by snowy peaks. Eventually it got too dark to see much, but all of a sudden we saw the tiniest of runways, lit up by lights, at the inner reaches of a fjord.
We walked outside while they fueled the twin otter. It was probably around 30F, but it felt so warm and balmy and so humid.
We boarded again and began the 2nd half of the journey to the north atlantic town of Akureyri. We checked into our nice rooms and all showered (if you remember we were only supposed to take 1 shower a week at Summit to save on snow melting). It was funny b/c the hot water smelled like hot springs b/c in most places the hot water comes directly from geothermal water. We went down to the bar where Matt bought us all beers.
We then went to a nice restaurant (Rub 25 I think) across the street. Iceland is extremely expensive and I was aghast at the prices of the meals. I was getting prepared to order a $30 small appetizer, but luckily Martin and Matt ordered first. They ordered $75 meals (duck), so I didn't feel too bad ordering a $65 mixed grilled fish platter. My meal was delicious and had cod, salmon, char, scallops, shrimp, and langostine (small lobster). It was the most expensive meal I have ever had! Matt also got 3 fancy bottles of wine for the table. For some comparison of prices, a footlong subway sandwich in Iceland is $15-20 and a thai curry about $30-40. While on our roadtrip, Elisha and I ate "out" once. There was a good deal for hot dogs with a gas club card that the van company gave us. 2 small hot dogs for about 6 dollars I believe.
The crew went out for some bar hopping after dinner, but I didn't feel like spending a ton on drinking and wanted to get some rest, so I went back to my room and shaved my beard and went to bed.
Nov 2.
The hotel had an amazing buffet breakfast. We had an early flight (8:30), but b/c the airport was so small we didn't have to leave our hotel until ten til 8. The crazy thing was that the Akureyri airport had absolutely no security. No metal detector or xray machines for bags. Nice to be in such a safe country!
It was a short flight to Reykjavik, and we got to see the beautiful sunrise during the flight. We arrived into Reykjavik's tiny domestic city airport where Elisha was there to meet us. So great to see her again!!!
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| nunatak |
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| Elissa and Nate on the Twin Otter flight |
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| approaching constable point air field |
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| constable point airfield |
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| re-fueling at constable point |
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| nate and martin enjoying the balmy east greenland air |
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