Wednesday 3rd August - Eqi: new friends and final day

Frank and Catharina kindly invited me to join them for dinner which made it a far more enjoyable experience. Travelling solo is fun and liberating however every now and then it's nice to chat. Greenland (slightly surprisingly) is not really a destination for independent travellers with everyone I came across travelling either as couples or families and less inclined to welcome random strangers such as myself. It was wonderful to have an opportunity to practice my German as well as find out about life in the former East Germany, their travels across the world as well as some good tips on how to improve balance in old age (apparently more elderly people die from falling down than cancer...).  Wonderful people!

Frank and Catharina also invited me to join them on a trek to the moraine at the edge of the glacier on our final morning. This was a fantastic opportunity as the alternative was to join the crowd of about 20 people that was going with the guide from the Lodge. Leaving about 20 minutes before the main group, we hot-footed it the 5km or so across to the moraines and spent a good hour in the sunshine, just 750 metres from the front of the glacier watching and listening as it continued to calve away.

(Left) final selfie with Eqi Glacier, (centre) listening to the glacier (having taken off my net to be more photogenic and immediately having to swat away the little blighters) and (right) Frank and Catharina get their final shots of Eqi.

Under strict instructions to be back at the Lodge by 2:30pm in order to catch the boat back to Ilulissat, we arrived back at about 2:00pm in time to eat our packed lunch and then muster down below at the safety point (with tsunami lookouts in place) in order to embark on our ride back to Ilulissat. Watch the short video and see if you can spot the boat.. It really never seemed to be that far away when we were on it!

Back in Ilulissat, a minibus deposited us back at the Disko Line office that we'd left just two days earlier, and I made my way back to the Hotel Hvide Falk, ready for a relaxing evening before a leisurely breakfast before my 8:45am transfer to the airport for my 10:00am flight back to Kangerlussuaq... 

As I checked in, the young man mentioned about my transfer and I said (being pleased that they had it on record), "Yes, yes that's fine."  He remonstrated apologetically with me and handed me a scrap of paper which informed me that my civilised 10am flight had been brought forward THREE hours to 7:00am meaning a 5:30am transfer and no breakfast... However if that's the worst that Air Greenland was going to throw at me, I was very lucky!