Iceland & Greenland - 2019

3 hour boat cruise to the Equip Glacier north of Ilulissat. The most active in Greenland. Sat at the glacier for 3 hours watching ice calve off. Saw more whales outside Ilulissat on the way back. Dinner back at the lodge in Ilimanaq.

Close call: Had flown the drone about 2km away and had it hovering at the glacier face for about 15 minutes to capture some calving. When bringing it back our boat had drifted significantly. The app shows a line back to “home”, but that was where it was launched from. There’s also a blue dot that shows where the transmitter currently is, but we had moved so far that it was offscreen. Spun the drone around looking for the boat, but a white boat is tough to spot on a small screen when it’s in a field of ice! Saw a flat topped iceberg and managed to land the drone there as the battery dropped to 5% and then shut down. We used the last images on the drone to search the ice until we found it sitting at the edge of an iceberg where we were able to nose in and pick it up. Whew!

Had a local guide show us around town for an hour. Had lunch then boarded a Targa back to Ilullissat. Checked back into Hotel Arctic, relaxed for a bit. Took a van into town for final dinner.

After breakfast we all met to trade photos and emails. Hung around the Hotel Arctic until our flight at 3:40. Made one stop for refueling (or something), landed in Reykjavik around 10:30pm. Cabbed to Northern Lights Inn right next to the Blue Lagoon. Had a nightcap and then sleep.

Had an early breakfast and then a 9am transfer to The Retreat at The Blue Lagoon. It’s a new section with a quiet restaurant and private spa. Lounged in the geothermal pools and enjoyed the lava and salt scrubs with warm showers in between. Lunch and then a cab to the airport. After a bit of time in the lounge took nonstop Iceland Air flight back to SF.