We changed into our swimsuits and walked over a massive lava walkway which made the entranceway of the lagoon. It gave the sense of walking into the center of the earth! The surface of water looks like a sheet of water with smoking steam rising off the surface. We had a gilda mud mask put on our faces to exfoliate our skins, and it looked like we had frostbite on our faces! As we swam in the water, we could feel patches of hot and cold water, and the hot water would move, forcing us to occasionally move when the water left us, making us freeze and panic, going off in search of hot water! As we swam in the lagoon, we drank their famous blue colored champagne before our Silica salt glow and massage appointment, just the thing we were looking forward to.

I had expected that our massage would have been done indoors, but when we found it would be done outside in the lagoon, we decided to go with the flow and try something new. Salt was first rubbed on our bodies and it was rubbed hard before oil was massaged on our skins for 15 minutes, really giving our skins a smooth clear feeling. Then we were led into the water and onto a floating massage table, giving us an extremely different sensation! When I closed my eyes and the masseuse worked her magical hands, I literally floated away into a different world and away from my body! Anyone who stops by Iceland must make the stop to the Blue Lagoon and experience it for themselves. If you miss the Blue Lagoon, you haven’t been to Iceland!

It was a great feeling flying home on our final leg of the trip after the Blue Lagoon. Our one way journey consisted of more than 8,000 miles in the air and 15 hours on a speedboat (in freezing temperatures, I might add!). As our plane approached Boston Logan airport, I saw so many sailboats in the water with their white sails reminding me of the icebergs that filled the waters of Greenland. As we approached land and I saw houses starting to line the landscape, I realized that already there were more homes, businesses, and cars in my sight than there were in all of Greenland. Thinking back to the wonderful people I met in such a far-off corner of the Earth, I struck an emotion deep inside of me and a tear fell as I thought of my week. I want to convey my deepest thanks and gratitude to Greenland Tourism, who gave us the opportunity to do this assignment and for allowing us to share the experience of a lifetime with our DeafNation viewers and readers. It truly is an overwhelming and very emotional experience to visit Greenland and witness the amazing glaciers and vast sea of icebergs. I would recommend any and everyone to visit and witness the amazing sights because one day, the ice as we know it may not exist anymore.

It was a three hour, uneventful flight to Iceland and we landed at the Keflavik airport under a heavy blanket of clouds. We rented a car to drive the 40km to Reykjavik to meet Deaf Icelandic Haukur Vilhjalmsson, a former student at Gallaudet University. I met Haukur back in 2004 when he was a special host for DeafNation doing video reports of Iceland. With little time to spend together, we decided to go to a mall where we ate at a delicious sushi bar and had a great coffee. We took David to Iceland’s capitol building, which was so small and simple compared to the enormous capitol building in America! It was so peaceful with no secret service or capitol police surrounding the building as there usually is in America, and it really was symbolic of how peaceful Iceland is as a country.

We met some more deaf people at a pub just 75 yards from the parliament, a stone’s throw. Wouldn’t it be great if there were that kind of accessibility in Washington! It was there after nine full days that we finally saw darkness fall. Although it was after midnight and it was only dark for a few short hours, it was a good warmup and adjustment for us as we got back to America where it is dark nearly half the time- you wouldn’t believe it but it really was great to see the sun fall! We checked in a nice Inn close to the Blue Lagoon, and after such a long time in the wilderness of Greenland, we were ready to pamper ourselves for the next few hours!

We wandered around town, but nearly everything was closed. There was only one big market in town, and there we bought some souvenirs to take home. The airport was just one mile away, but it was elevated 1,000 feet, making the trip to the airport a journey in itself. Thankfully an Upernavik policeman offered to drive us to the airport and we took him up on the ride. As we drove to Qaarsut airport, we could see the same icebergs we had seen when we first landed four days ago. Only this time, there was considerably more action in the water, and I was more trained to notice the ice’s movement.

We flew back to Ilulissat in a clear blue sky, devoid of even a single cloud. We returned to the Hotel Arctic, and since we were there in the early evening it was a perfect opportunity to see more of the town. The town is the third largest in Greenland, with 5,000 residents. Its main industry is fishing for halibut and the town has its share of fisheries and seafood.

There were signs posted for dog sledding routes, even when there was no snow on the ground. It is an odd sight to see these signs everywhere in town, as there’s no seasonal alternative to the signs, but I can only imagine how many dogs there would be in town during the winter! That night we ate at the Hotel Arctic’s fantastic restaurant again; roasted salmon, prawn-shrimp bisque, French pressed coffee, rich ceamy chocolate and blackberry sorbet made for an absolutely delicious meal to wrap up our trip! The soup was really something, and if I am within 500 miles of the Hotel Arctic, I will make sure to come again to order it!

That night as we went to sleep, I noticed an iceberg floating nearby that looks like a warship protecting our igloo over night. It was a surreal sight and made us feel secure that night! We will need the protection and rest as we have a long journey to Iceland tomorrow, with a stop through Nuuk.

It was a beautiful morning, and before she went off to her day’s work at the fishery, Niels mother stopped by to wave us good bye. The leader of the village also stopped by to wish us well on our way, and he wanted to know if we enjoyed our stay. I gave him a huge two-thumbs up and I really was sad to be leaving such a pure, remote location. It was amazing how warm and welcome the people were; it was a town where nobody locked their doors and nobody slept in fear of another with a crime rate of zero.

As we sped away on the speedboat, I strained to see the small village disappear into the distance, and with one last glimpse as we turned the corner of a mountain, my heart melted as I realized it would be a very slim chance I would ever return. The surface of the water was calm, reflecting the sky like a mirror. I was glad as this made the boat ride much smoother, but in the far off distance, a depressing sight reminded us of the fate of the Arctic as massive pieces of ice broke off the glacier and fell into the open sea, sending up large waves.

We passed through what could be compared to an asteroid belt, with so many icebergs, small pieces of ice, and ice sheets floating in the water as obstacles for us to cross. The rough water made for an exciting ride, but also made my butt uncomfortable and sore! As we approached Upernavik, we saw a tower on the mountain end of the shore with the same airport we came into, the runway dropping off the cliff 200 feet above us.

Tomorrow we will catch an afternoon flight to Ilulissat, a flight we can’t miss or we would be stuck another three days until the next flight! While we wait for our flight, we spent our time touring the small village and absorbing the little time we had left in Greenland. Our room that night was beautiful, with a full kitchen and living room to give us some additional space to really stretch out. Our trip home begins tomorrow!

Niels took us to his favorite secret spot for halibut near the ice sheet. With the 50 lure all hooked on a line to a metal weight, he threw the lure into the water 400 feet deep. At that point, we realized some ice was moving towards us, and the speedboats started up to break up the ice sheets. But an even thicker one was coming, and it became too dangerous for us to stick around. Pete broke up some more ice one more time, then dropped a large two-foot orange buoy into the water where the fishing line was laid. We would come back in three hours. We decided to head out to the open sea, where we navigated some fjords and iceberg mazes and headed towards Naajaat, a very small village with just 12 houses and 35 residents nearby Niels’ fishing spot. The town had four speedboats and one bigger boat for the open water to share, and the few people who lived there gave us a very nice greeting when we anchored our boat.

After seeing the town, we went back out on the open water and saw one of the biggest icebergs I had seen the entire trip, almost a half mile long and at least five stories tall. The iceberg had a beautiful blue strip along the side, an extremely rare thing for an iceberg. The stripe was old ice entombed inside at least 10,000 years of new ice. We saw another iceberg with an extremely tiny hole, but as we approached it, the hole got bigger and I realized we could go through the hole and into a cove inside the iceberg. It was like the fallen redwood tree in California where cars can drive through a hole cut in the tree. But the truly amazing thing was the top was just the tip of the iceberg, and as Niels and Pete drove our boats through the hole, we could see the bottom of the iceberg below the boat as well! After that, we saw another iceberg that I decided to mark and name the DeafNation Iceberg with Niels!

As we continued to tour the Arctic, we saw a bigger boat with four crewmen and a stronger engine breaking the ice. We followed the boats path to reach our fishing area, letting them do all the work of breaking the ice, as a layer of ice froze above the water we had just boated over, so instantaneously! When the larger boat stopped to check their line, I worried that we wouldn’t be able to break through a path of our own. Ice had frozen over the sea where we just were! But the small speedboats were strong enough to break through the ice, as the sun was shining and we were not gone too long.

It took Niels just 10 minutes to pull in his fishing line and to check his work, and in that span he found that 32 halibut and one sting (which was returned to the water) had bit, what a great haul! David, who is from Wisconsin, stood flabbergasted as he knew many fishermen who had spent entire days for just one bite, and Niels had 32 in 3 hours.

We took our fish back to Innaarsuit, and at one point went through a narrow fjord just 10 feet wide with our boats just squeezing through. Only a speedboat could make this passage, and other boats would have to find another path. It was a joyous mood among us all when boasting 32 fish as we arrived to show for the day. We took our fish to a fishing company that will clean and pack the fish for larger ships to be shipped around the world. The manager was nice enough to give us a tour of the facility but would not allow us to film to take pictures of the place. We were forced to wear a white suit and head cap for food safety, and I was surprised (and pleased) to see such stringent conditions in such a remote place of the earth. The warehouse was so neat and well organized, with piles and piles more than two stories high of halibut neatly stacked. Workers were efficient in their cuts and actions, and with everything frozen it was a very crisp and cool place. After our tour, we went on a tour of the rest of town, and we saw absolutely everything there was to see because it was such a small place!

It was amazing how the town operated, and life is so different considering the environment. The village has a huge water tank that is filled with melting snow and a nearby pond, and a small water house for the townspeople. Everyone who lives in Innaarsuit has to bring their own containers to the water house to fill and bring back to their home to shower, wash clothes, cook, and drink. Homes have their own water tanks for little needs, but that needs to be filled as well. The town as small as it was, even has a graveyard. The town “airport” is actually a helicopter pad, where a 20-minute flight to Upernvaik costs $400USD roundtrip!

We went to Niels parents’ home where we saw video of unicorn whales and their tusks. One of the trophy tusks was taller than Niels himself, now a gift to his father after he got it in Qaanaag, the northernmost town in Greenland. His parents beamed and talked with pride over how Niels is the best hunter in Innaarsuit, and has caught some of the largest fish and marine animals the town has seen. While I heard the story, Niels father cut me a piece of unicorn whale, a rare and special delicacy served raw. David and I would not eat halibut, explained Niels, because we were special guests, and we were handed a piece of raw unicorn whale. It tasted like sushi, the bite delicious, filling me with honor over the rare treat. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic journey to Innaarsuit. We would travel south as we returned to Upernavik tomorrow bright and early tomorrow morning. I’m sad about leaving Innaarsuit, but even sadder about the long, cold boat ride we have ahead of us tomorrow!

The sky had been overcast and the weather was drizzly, and David and I wondered aloud if our trip was still going to happen. When Niels and Pele arrived looking as enthusiastic as could be, we realized that this was perfect seal hunting weather, about 30 degrees and cloudy. I put on five layers of clothes after learning my lesson from the freezing speedboat ride the day below. We boated through fjords of snow capped rocky mountains. We rode through ice for an hour before arriving on a rocky shore where Niels would adjust his weapon. We anchored our boat on some ice, and Niels pulled out his gun and began shooting target practice. He adjusted his telescope after several shots, and started back on the boat where we rode to another rocky shore. We met another hunter and Niels chatted with him and learned that several seals were on an ice sheet by a glacier about five miles away.

Through my binoculars, I saw three seals, and Niels immediately started towards them walking on the ice sheet gesturing for me to follow. I wondered whether the ice was safe, and judging by Niels’ confidence, the ice would probably hold a small house. David could not follow as closely because he had committed the Cardinal sin of seal hunting; he wore black. If he had ventured out by himself, he was liable to get himself shot! I followed Niels for at least an hour, and along the way he pointed out small holes in the ice that led to the water. The seals create these holes for them to come up for air! At one point, Niels told me to stay as he was going to seriously track some seals and needed to do it alone; he had special shoes that made no noise on the ice, and I was about as noisy as an airplane! The new hiking boots I bought for the trip was not suitable for the wet ice, I sheepishly found out, and I instead wore a pair of borrowed plastic boots that slapped the ice with every step. As Niels walked away from me, I looked down at my plastic boots and felt as if I were all alone in the world.

Nobody was within miles of me. What if something happened? Who would help me? I was standing by myself in the Arctic wild, in the middle of volatile icebergs and glaciers; what did I get myself into!? I started planning my escape rout in case the ice beneath me started to crack and split; what side of the ice should I jump onto? Should I run, or ride the floating ice? Before I went crazy, I saw Niels waving at me and I snapped out of my turmoil and started running toward him. What happened?

Niels spotted a group of three seals, but they quickly disappeared beneath the ice sheet. We must have walked about three miles and I completely lost the shore we came from. The enormous glacier that I had seen off in the distance was now looming closer. We came across another hunter and learned that he shot a seal but it slipped down through a hole leaving a trail of blood on the ice. Although the seal was still alive, the trail of blood it was giving off in the water would surely make it instant prey for predators. With no more luck, we hurriedly moved to another location.

We went on a crazy boat ride, going so fast that the boat was breaking through a thin ice sheet creating a path where there was none before. We went through what seemed like an iceberg maze before arriving at another massive ice sheet close to a massive glacier. Snow sat on the still water which reflected like a mirror. When we landed the boat on the ice sheet, Niels said he and Pele would track alone. We watched them for a half hour as he approached a single seal off in the distance. He quietly flanked the seal and came extremely close, setting up a perfect shot before the seal simply rolled into the hole. Damn, “it was a smart seal,” said Niels! He made his way back to us before passing over to the other side. All of a sudden, the seal came up just 20 yards away, and I jumped to react!

I reached for my gun, but I didn’t have one (thank god!)… I waved for Niels and told him to get the seal, but as fast as the seal came up, the seal disappeared beneath the ice again. Niels groaned and wished I had a gun so I could have shot the seal, but I don’t think I would have the stomach to do so! We drove to the other side of the ice sheet before David saw a seal about a mile away. Niels was thrilled because it was a perfect target with the seal laying out sunbathing on an ice sheet! It’s extremely difficult to hunt them on the open sea.

We watched as Niels repeated the process all over again, slowly making his way to the seal. We waited 20 minutes, which seemed like an eternity. Hunting definitely requires a lot of patience! Niels crawled on his belly and lined up the perfect shot… Boom! Immediately after the gun cracked, Niels got up and sprinted towards the seal. Pele quickly told us to come, startling David and I. It was a peaceful scene and we were confused why the race was on. Pele explained that the seal was crawling away after being shot, and it would be a waste of a shot if the seal got away. My jaw dropped as Niels flawlessly caught up to the seal, slit its throat, and tied it with fishing line. He started dragging it towards the boat and we hastily walked to meet him. Instead of greeting us, Niels pulled out his hunting knife and made a long slit along the seal’s belly, spilling out the seal’s guts. He flawlessly cleaned out the insides and separated the seal’s thick skin from slabs of meat, washing them on the icy water. David and I stood speechless as the entire surgical procedure took place in front of our eyes, over almost as quickly as we realized it began.

The waste of the seal was left on the ice where birds and other animals would eat it and we got on the boat and made our way back. It was an amazing experience, one based on survival and not sport or pleasure. On our way back, we stopped at an iceberg, where we climbed to the top for the amazing view I described earlier. The water I drank was ice cold and quenched my thirst, and I wished I had a spring as pure running through my back yard. I was sure the iceberg I was standing on would break away and melt in the open sea in the next few years. Torrid rushing rivers of bright blue water gushed through holes in the ice, sending the melting water into the sea below the icebergs. Global warming was surely devastating the area, and I wondered if the ice would ever be saved.

Our time was up, and we had to make our way back if we were going to be back before dark. We put on our gloves and another layer of jackets and braced for the wind from the speedboat. We went back through the iceberg maze and it really felt good when we arrived in the village, back into civilization! I was surprised I would consider such a small town so out in the middle of nowhere civilized, but it was cozy compared to the vast ice sheets we came from!

We entered our cottage which felt so amazingly warm, and realized that our skin had wind burns. Never mind that, it felt so good when we took a warm cat nap and joined the Niels family for a dinner of seal meat. It was a true Inuit meal and I was honored to be able to have the opportunity to try. No fruits or vegetables grew in the area, and the only thing they ate was marine meats! Seal meat tastes like seafood beef, if there is such a thing, but it was no comparison with Kobe beef! After dinner, we watched Niels mother clear fat from the seal’s skin with a special knife for Inuit women called an Inuit Ulu. The skin was amazingly tough and strong and it was a tough task to rip the fat off the skin! She was able to easily do so in just 10 minutes when it would have taken me hours. The skin was going to be sold in Upernavik in the next few days for approximately 300DKK, or $63USD.

We went back to our cottage where we worked on our video files and blogs, and tried to get some rest. We’re joining Niels again tomorrow for another long day preparing bait to fish for halibut! I’m not used to having five consecutive days of constant sunlight, and my body is starting to feel out of whack. But wow, what an experience!

We took off from Ilulissat with a brief stopover in Qaarsut, an airport with a gravel runway! I was puzzled when the airport tower said Uummannaq, and the pilot explained when I asked that the town of Qaarsut is actually an island accessible only by helicopter, and is accessible from the Uummannaq airport with just 15 minutes of flight time. We took off once more and landed in Upernavik where a taxi quickly brought us to the pier. We didn’t have any time to look around the town, but we were more than happy to meet our hosts for the next few days! We met Nielsine Kunden, a hearing social worker who arranged for us to meet Niels, the Deaf hunter from Innaarsuit. We also met another person, Pele, who would accompany us on our hunting trip. The next leg of our journey would be by speedboat in the frigid Arctic cold! We rode two small speedboats, and I was stunned when I saw a dead seal floating by a fishing speedboat. We had to remind ourselves that we were experiencing and witnessing true Greenlandic life! David rode with Pele while I rode with Niels; we had to wear extra layers of clothing to keep ourselves warm in the open sea; the air was only 20 degrees but by speedboat, it was a 0 degree wind chill!

The speedboat coasted by several icebergs, giving us an even more up close view, allowing us to feel the different moods of the icebergs; some were happy, some angry, each shape had its own story to tell. Passing in between two enormous icebergs filled us with adrenaline as we realized how small and insignificant we were. I couldn’t imagine diving in the icy water, and I was putting all my trust in Niels to navigate us around the jagged ice edges. By the time we arrived in Innaarsuit an hour later, my face was frozen solid!

My first impression of the town was how rustic it was, with no roads, cars, restaurants, or hotels. Only 169 people lived in the town, and it was just a small true Greenlandic village that certainly was very colorful! Niels gave us the grand tour of the village which included a school, plenty of snow, and countless dead seal from the hunters daily work. We were invited to his house where we discussed plans for tomorrow’s video assignments before Niels brought us to his parent’s home. There, we saw a polar bear’s skin and skull and the head of a seal! Niels’ parents’ home was a true “trophy” cabinet, with more fur hanging, and four ivory tusks of narwhal (unicorn whale) which was 5 feet long and 25 pounds! The tusks were so beautiful and nearly flawless, it was an amazing experience just entering their home! Niels agreed to take us to different places tomorrow, and we were pleasantly surprised that Niels’ parents signed well enough to communicate with their son, considering he was the only deaf person in town!

David and I had to buy some food in advance because the kiosks in Upernavik and Innaarsuit would be closed by the time we arrived Upernavik very late. We bought amazingly delicious canned smoked salmon, yogurt, and biscuits. Our stomachs were satisfied and we settled in bed for a long, exciting day hunting tomorrow!

When we started our safari to search for musk ox, we were warned that just like an African safari, we may not even see any animals at all, because they can be unpredictable sometimes. As we drove up a mountain, we had a beautiful view of both sides of town; one side held the airport and the other had miles of treeless land. There was a view of a glacier 20 miles away, stunning even to the naked eye. Our guide found a musk ox with a special telescope, and looking through it we saw a tiny motionless animal that I could barely even see. I was happy to see it move and that confirmed that I was actually looking at a living animal. Too bad we didn’t get a greater view or see more musk ox! But fortunately the weather was beautiful and the clmate was great, explaining why we chose that spot to build an American base.

After our safari, we took off on another flight finally arriving at Ilulissat. We finally saw not just one iceberg, but countless icebergs floating in the sea! David and I were wildly excited to see the icebergs, because the view is simply stunning and breathtaking! We arrived at the Hotel Arctic, an extremely unique hotel with aluminum igloos! The igloos each have an amazing view, and it was absolutely one of the most unique hotels I’ve ever stayed at.

In Ilulissat, everything closes at 5pm, so we had to get an early dinner. We ate at the Mamartut, the coziest restaurant in town, with similarly excellent views. The restaurant grows its own herbs and has a signature homemade soup made of shrimp, fish, and potato. It was the first opportunity I had to taste musk ox steak, and with their secret gravy the steak was truly perfect. With a signature dessert of chocolate and blackberry sorbet, we needed a cup of coffee for our two-mile walk back to the hotel.

When we got back to the hotel, David and I didn’t feel satisfied because we wanted to meet a deaf person. So we asked around and one of the drivers at our hotel, Alf, knew a deaf person in town so he took us there. We had to knock on three different doors before we finally found a house that said the deaf person lived upstairs, and thankfully hadn’t gone to bed yet! We met Mikkel, who was absolutely thrilled to see another deaf person, much more two of us! With just one other deaf person in town who didn’t sign, Mikkel pretty much alone in town. He treated us to long stories about Greenland and Denmark’s relationship, and how many Greenlanders were educated in Denmark before they returned home. Many people who lived in Ilulissat have never gone north of Sisimiut, and Mikkel was awed and impressed that David and I were venturing so far north- are we insane or true adventurers? It was getting late (but not dark) and we agreed that we had to meet again on June 11th when we returned from our journey up north on our way back to America. At 1am, we had a difficult time getting to sleep with the sun shining on our igloo.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the beautiful icebergs which looked so peaceful and serene. I can’t wait for my day tomorrow, as we embark on our ultimate journey to meet the Greenlandic Deaf hunter!

We had a 3-hour layover, and we used the time to browse the stores and eat the best smoked salmon you can find! There was just a three hour flight to Nuuk, Greenland, and it was a much more pleasurable flying experience than I am used to in post-9/11 America. The pilots invited us into the cockpit and were extremely friendly, giving us a flight briefing (we would be flying 550kmh at 24,000 feet). As we approached Nuuk, we were rewarded with a breathtaking view of Greenland’s glaciers, and I got goosebumps when I saw a single iceberg floating in the sea. It was a nervous landing, as the ground was coated in dense fog, and we had to circle the airport for 20 minutes before making a landing on the short runway that ended on a cliff, dropping off any planes that failed to stop into the water!

Greenland is a Danish-owned country and is the world’s largest island in terms of square footage. Although the country is located in the Arctic wild, because of it’s relationship with Denmark it has always been politically involved with Europe. Our first stop was at the Nuuk Tourism office to find out if there was any new information we were not aware of, and paid our Bed and Breakfast fee. The owners of a Bed and Breakfast operate it out of their own 3-story apartment, and it was definitely a comfortable setup for us. After getting quickly settled in, we went out to meet a group of deaf locals at a Café. We first met with our interpreter, Maja Steffens and a Deaf local, Namma Broberg. With only 10 deaf people in Nuuk (it’s a small town!) 70% of the entire deaf community was in one café, a café that served fantastic coffee with French-pressed glass!

In anticipation of my week in the wild, I decided I needed to buy some hiking shoes and walked around town to find some. Walking around town, I saw one of the most unique things I’ve seen in my life; Santa Claus’ mailbox! It was the most enormous mailbox I’ve ever seen, and it’s no surprise considering the man gets billions of letters every year from children all over the world! When I found a nice pair and showed them to one of the local deaf people, I was shocked to learn that the shoes cost more than his monthly disability check from the government! Feeling badly, I decided to treat him to pizza and a chat. It was a good opportunity to learn about the lives of Deaf people in Greenland for my video reports. When we stopped by the hotel pub for a drink before we went to bed, it was still bright outside never mind it was 12:30 in the morning! The sun was shining as if it were the middle of the day, I felt like I was taking a nap, not going to sleep for the night!

Tomorrow morning we are going to fly even further north to Ilulissat with a stopover in Kangerlussuag. I’m looking forward to venturing deeper into Greenland, I wonder what we’ll find!