It's the wee hours of July 6, 01:15 in the morning to be exact. Arne is up in the crow's nest maneuvering the ship through heavy pack ice in Scoresby Sound. At some point in the next five or six hours we will hopefully be out in open water, heading north. Martina and I are both at work on our laptops, trying to be productive since it's not worthwhile to even try and sleep with all the jarring and scraping from the ice.

The previous night, when we arrived at Ittoqqortoormiit, we moved the ship's clocks forward one hour so that we would be on Greenland time, and in the morning put up posters around the village offering rides out to the ship for open boat - from 15:00 to 17:00, and then again from 19:00 to 21:00. This should have worked out well since it gave the crew a couple of hours to see the village before having to get back to the ship to host open boat. But five minutes before the first open boat started, we found out that all (or most) of east Greenland is on Greenland time, EXCEPT for Ittoqqortoormiit, which sets its clocks one hour ahead. Honestly, I still don't understand exactly what happened, all I know is that we all got an extra hour of sleep last night, but we had a major scramble and some moderate pandemonium when our open boat started with most of the crew still ashore.

At any rate, the open boats were fantastic. Five hundred people live in Ittoqqortoormiit, and although I don't know what percentage of the town's adults came to the open boat, I know for sure that close to 100 percent of the kids visited. Twice. They loved it and so did we. The crew did a great job managing enthusiastic, energetic kids getting in and out of boats and around the ship, along with the many adults who came out to visit.

We also heard some heart breaking stories about the impacts of global warming on the village and their lives. The mayor talked about how much less food the hunters are able to bring in, now that sea ice appears so late in winter and breaks up earlier in spring. Likewise, he described how the dog sledding season used to start in October, but these days cannot start until Christmas because the ice is too thin to support a sledge and dog team. Although Greenlanders are used to adjusting to changes in the climate, the mayor said changes are now taking place so quickly that folks are unable to adapt.

I wish we could have spent more time at Ittoqqortoormiit, but we have a schedule to adhere to and one can never really tell what the ice conditions will be like until they're encountered. Weighing all the options, it's really best to lay down some tracks for Zackenberg and allow for a few "ice days" along the way.

- Melanie

Last night we arrived at Ittoqqortoormiit near the mouth of Scoresby Sound, and went to anchor a bit off shore surrounded by floating ice chunks.

One of the younger villagers paddled out in his kayak. He chatted with Millie, our translator, and took calls from shore on his cell phone. Yep, with a population of about 500, they have cell phones (about 300 of them), and high-speed internet access.

[So a special hello to anyone from Ittoqqortoormiit reading this. Thank you for letting us visit your village, and it was great talking with the many of you who came on board.]

About the village

The first things I noticed were the colorful buildings - blue, red, green and yellow - not clashing with the landscape but accenting it. The next thing I noticed was the sound of the dogs. You could hear them all the way from the ship - a yowling noise different from dogs back home. Once ashore, I got a closer look. They seemed friendly enough, but were working dogs - not the sort you pat on the head and throw a Frisbee. They looked tough, and like they had a lot of character.

Later I watched one of the villagers cutting up red meat for his dogs. The dogs watched too, with considerably more intensity. They howled in concert, working themselves up in a frenzy, but once fed quieted right down - not wasting time begging for more.

My hour ashore almost up, I headed back to the boat landing. On the way, I surveyed the town's layout. There was a church in the center, a small hospital (with a dental clinic), a little tourist office (they occasionally get tourist ships here) and a general store. Not much food in the store though. No fresh fruit or vegetables. You can't farm in this part of the world, and there's been no supply ship for months.

Later, discussing global warming, villagers told our translator Millie that years ago they used to hunt for almost all of their food. Now, because the ice has become too thin to hunt on for much of the year, they are now forced to rely more and more on store bought food.

Open boat

Phil (bosun) was shuttling people out in one of our boats, but it seemed like every kid in town was trying to get on board. Driving slowly to the ship, Phil let village kids take turns putting their hands on the wheel to "help him steer." You could see they loved it. On the ship, kids were everywhere - examining things, climbing ladders, and playing tag on deck. Despite all their rambunctiousness, I saw they respected the boundaries we'd set up. None of them went past the rope put across the stern to keep people away from the helicopter, and none of them went into roped off accommodation areas.

One Greenland custom is dropping in on friends for kaffemik (coffee) to celebrate special occasions. It's a nice way of wishing well, so we had some out for our guests.

Meanwhile, the kids went crazy over the apples Isha handed out. Many of the younger villagers spoke English. We talked about what it's like to work on a ship, and live in a Greenland village. I was only a little surprised to find out they have a disco here, and listen to a lot of the same stuff as in the U.S. One teenager with a big "50 cent" patch on his pants told me they like a wide variety of music. Apparently, Eminem's big, along with Metallica and pop music in general, but the only live music in town is traditional Greenlandic.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay to hit the disco. (I'm guessing Tuesday is a slow night anyway.) We're eager to head north to Zackenberg station, where they've been studying the effects of a changing climate for a decade.

- Andrew