- Joseeivissa 2.0 / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
It’s been said that “once you’ve seen the world, you can go to Greenland”.
Increasingly, savvy travelers seeking destinations that are different are looking northward toward this vast, remote land,discovered and named in AD 910 by the Viking Erik the Red.
Even among those intrepid travelers who have visited Greenland, there are very few who have journeyed to the isolated eastern coast – known to Greenlanders as the “back door”.
This remote land has a noticeably different feel to it than the more populous west coast. East Greenland remains dependent on hunting and subsistence fishing.
Tourism has not yet really arrived here, so there is still time before changes come to this beautiful area.
In the summer of 2014, there will be a new (yet very traditional) way to explore this unspoiled region — sailing its pristine coastline and visiting its spectacular fjords and small, colorful villages on an old-fashioned wooden schooner.
A 10-day, 9-night voyage “Greenland by Schooner”, priced at $6350, is offered as an exclusive charter by The Great Canadian Travel Company, North America’s foremost experts in travel to “The Top of the World”. There is just one departure: August 12, 2014 from Reykjavik, Iceland, limited to only 12 passengers.
On this program, you fly into Reykjavik for an overnight stay before departing the next morning by air for Constable Point, a small airfield on Hurry Fjord in Greenland’s Jameson Land. Here you embark on the two-masted wooden schooner Opal and set sail between magnificent icebergs that drift down after calving from glaciers originating in the Inland Ice.
Newly restored, the Opal has six double/twin cabins plus crew facilities. She has three bathrooms and two showers. She comfortably fits 12 passengers, plus her crew.
You’ll explore Hekla Havn, the site of an old Inuit settlement and wintering camp of the first scientific expedition to Scoresby Sound over a hundred years ago.
Other areas on the itinerary include the Hjørnedal, with some of the lushest vegetation of the eastern coast line; an old Inuit settlement on the island of Mågetuen; and the abandoned trading post at Sydkap, where travelers can help local hunters prepare muskox meat for a BBQ on the rocky beach.
You’ll visit the small, isolated village of Ittoqqortoormiit (population 452), the most northerly settlement on the east coast of Greenland. The village’s quaint houses dot the rocky slopes of south Liverpool Land, with magnificent views of KapBrewster and the Volquart Boons Coast to the south.
The Greenland by Schooner program includes accommodation and all meals on board the schooner, the services of crew, all excursions and arrangements as noted in the itinerary, round trip airfare between Reykjavik and Constable Point, accommodations for two nights in Reykjavik, and airport transfers in Iceland.
Airfare between North America and Reykjavik is not included. The price of $6350 is based on double occupancy; single supplement is available on request.
Reservations and additional information available from The Great Canadian Travel Company, 800-661-3830, www.greatcanadiantravel.com.
