July 23 – Toronto to Greenland

When you think of getting a charter flight from Toronto, Canada to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, naturally you think you'll be flying on Miami Air, right?

Apparently this choice of airline was a surprise to them as well since the pilot greeted us with “Welcome to Flight 664 from Toronto to Kang- kanger – ummm... I don't know how to pronounce that... Heck, I've never been there before, but hopefully we'll get you there alright.”

We got to Kangerlussuaq without issue and were greeted by the friendliest customs officers in the world: a sign taped up behind them read “Always look on the bright side of life, da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum” and they we're happily greeting each passenger with a smile. Apparently the international treaty doesn't apply here that dictates that all customs officers must be snarly grumps who hate their jobs as well as their customers.

Before heading to our ship, we had a quick tour to the top of a local hill for a view of Greenland's ice cap in the distance.

Next on to our ship, where mostly the evening was consumed with orientation, evacuation drills, and general first-day activities. There were warnings that they might come on the intercom during the night to wake us if there were northern lights, and a joke about whether anyone was foolish enough to opt out of the wake-up call. Having spent a winter in Fort McMurray I've seen plenty of aurora, and having gotten up at 3AM Calgary-time to catch our flight I was sorely tempted to take the opt-out seriously.

What didn't make sense was that we are right on the edge of the Arctic Circle so should be far enough north for midnight sun, or at least midnight twilight given it's a few months since the solstice. Our guide claimed it was possible since we were still in Søndre Strømfjord (the longest fjord in the Northern Hemisphere) and the fjord walls cast enough of a shadow for it to be dark, but when I awoke late at night and went for a stroll it was still quite light, and no aurora wake-up call was made.

Now we push ahead towards the open space of the Davis Straight and then north up the coast of Greenland.