Unable to find a good anchorage further down, we traveled all the way to the head of the fjord. Pete (chief mate) is driving now. On the bridge with him are Hettie (second mate), Hughie (pilot), Gordon (glaciologist) and Dave (chief engineer).

You ever had a car full of people telling you where to park? It's a little like that. Hettie is being a good second mate - mainly keeping track of the distance from shore and water depth. Hughie has scouted this area more than anyone. Gordon is giving some advice about the nearby glacier, and guesses about the geology of the fjord bottom. Dave is simply taking an interest.

We end up parking in a tiny inlet around the corner from the Kangerlussuaq glacier, which means shorter heli flights and a larger margin of safety for the glaciologists. Judging from the landscape, our anchorage used to be under an offshoot of a different glacier - something the detailed area map seems to confirm. Melting glaciers are a clear sign of global warming, although we can't be sure about the one next to us since it's never been properly studied like Kangerlussuaq. Nonetheless, not many ships come here, and Arne (captain) guesses that we are likely the first ever to anchor at this spot.

I hitched a ride to shore on our jet boat - a handy thing for traversing ice choked fjords since it doesn't have a propeller to be wrecked by the ice - and walked out to a point at the edge of our inlet to shoot this panorama. The Arctic Sunrise is in the direction of the closer glacier, but blocked from view by some of the bigger chunks of floating glacier ice.

- Andrew