place. Thule boasts being the Northern most deepwater sea port in the
world. They also claim to have the northern most bar in the world, the Top
of the World Club; AKA the TOW Club. I did manage on one day to have a
couple beers in the TOW club but alas, my schedule was opposite that of all
the Thule residents.
Thule was established as a US Air Base in the early 1950's, yet I only saw
one plane fly over head during our stay, nothing landing, nothing taking
off.
From the ship I could see what I believe were two separate glaciers in the
hills surrounding the base. The jagged mountain sides straining to contain
the unstoppable ice sheets were occasionally bested by what looked like a
busted dam, where the ice seemingly poured out and down to the fiords below.
The blue water of the fiord in which we were docked was surrounded by
beautiful rock formations with sedimentary strata of differing colors from
deep browns to bright reds, black and sometimes I thought perhaps a little
green. Ice bergs flowed into the fiord and as I stood my watches, I would
witness the constant changing view. The ice came in so many shapes and
slowly the sun would circle the sky, casting new angles of light upon them
thus changing the appearance of each berg. Every day, every hour the view
of the fiord changed to my eyes.
On land toward the airbase, the windswept hills undulated into the unseen
lands beyond, or into the glaciers in the far distance. There are no trees,
no brush of any kind, and I had to look hard to find what I think may have
been grass. The hills were barren to my eyes and looked like a dessert, the
soil and dust had many hues so there was still a hostile sort of beauty in
them. The dust was heavy and did not blow, yet it was as fine as powder as
feet trod upon it. As I looked around this place it occurred to me, this is
the place that survival guy on TV needs to come. I would love to see how he
finds shelter in this land. Short of killing whales, seals or bears, I
think survival here would be impossible in the wild.
No animals did I see either, except for a few birds, gulls and ducks which
lived off the sea. There seemed to be no living animals on the land other
than people. I was told in the past six moths, two polar bears roamed into
the base. When this happens, the base is locked down until the bears are
destroyed. Apparently there is no practical way to save the bears from that
fate.
The weather in Thule was fantastic. When the air was still, you could
almost get away with wearing shorts and a Tee shirt, but if the wind picked
up, cold weather gear was necessary.
We are sailing south now; soon we will be reunited with night time and the
darkness we remember.
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