when the internet erupted in self-righteous fury. Martha Stewart used a chunk of “iceberg” to chill a cocktail during her own Arctic expedition into the fjords aboard Swan Hellenic’s “SH Vega.”Forget Greece. Travelers Are Heading to Scandinavia and Scotland to Keep Cool This Summer.. The parlor trick is, of course, harmless.
In the end, we were lucky to see a few humpback and fin whales at a distance through binoculars, as we hopefully scanned the horizon and waited for something—anything—to appear out of the oppressive fog. Greenland may be one of the most stunning places you’ll ever visit, but it’s also one of the emptiest.
There’s a reason behind Greenland’s lack of wildlife. Overhunting species to the brink of collapse has plagued the island for centuries—so much so thatnow believe the overexploitation of walrus tusks led to the once mysterious abandonment of Greenland’s Norse colonies in the 15th century. Humans haven’t learned much in 600-plus years. Despite the best efforts of international organizations including NAMMCO and the United Nations Environmental Programme, Greenland’s narwhals and belugas are expected to disappear within the decade due to lenientWhat had been sold to me as an Arctic safari through untouched tundra filled with frolicking muskoxen turned out to be a dystopian horror show.
During my voyage, the signs of global warming haunted us everywhere we went. Perched in a zodiac, we watched a waterfall pouring off the once-frozen—mosquitos which, deprived of animal blood, attacked us in furious droves. Another day, we couldn’t complete our sailing to Ittoqqortoormiit, one of the most isolated settlements on Earth, because the fjord was blocked by chunks of dripping, broken ice.