Etah, Greenland: August 8, 2025

Brother John's Glacier at the head of Foulke Fjord

Still heading north, the ship stopped in Foulke Fjord. When we arrived it was very overcast, but the afternoon brought brilliant sunlight and a better view of the fjord.

Etah lies on the 4,500 year old ancient migration route fork. waves of hunter/gatherer people traveling from the Canadian Arctic to Greenland. Etah was the point where the last migration of Inuit from Baffin Island crossed the Nares Strait at Ellesmere Island to reach the coast of Greenland in 1865. Some of the group continued traveling south to Pituffik. Their descendants were relocated to Qaanaaq in 1953.

Etah was once the most northerly populated settlement in the world, and it was the base camp for several North Pole explorations.

Today no one lives in Foulke Fjord except millions of Little Auks. They nest on the cliffs of the 610 m/2000 ft mountains defining the fjord. As a result of their presence, there is quite a bit of actual green. They are easily spooked by the zodiacs from the ship. Another result is that grazing animals like Musk Ox have something to graze. From the ship I spotted 9 musk ox who are clustered in a defensive position because hikers from the ship were on the ridge above them.

Using zodiacs, we landed at a shoreline littered with stranded icebergs to do a little exploring.

West of Etah, the northern end of Baffin Bay narrows into Nares Strait between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. It is usually frozen from October to July. Tomorrow, we will find out for ourselves. Leaving Foulke Fjord, we soon began to see sheet ice.

Tomorrow we travel Nares Strait headed north to Kane Basin.