Monday 1 September 2014

Day 6, 26.08, Aalborghus

The weather was not as good as many hoped for, but we were eager to get ashore to see and enjoy today’s destination. The destination was Aalborghus, a former Danish trappers’ station at Gefion Havn on the south side of Godfred Hansen Ø. The first group was set ashore at 8.30 hrs to start their exploring. Even the huts Danish flag was put up by one of the passengers which made the hut even more welcoming.
The area was, as most of the other stations on Greenland filled with history. The first building erected on the site was a trappers hut built in 1933. But when a trapper team of two arrived in august 1938 they build a hut in three days. The name Aalborghus was given as the house was built with funds raised in Aalborg and Nørresund, by a company called Nanok. The station was then manned in from 1938-41 and 1945-52, were also a shed was built. This contained a rather unusual toilette; even though it was only a bit more than one square meter it was combined with a sauna. The huts were later used and maintained by Sirius until 1988. After this it was left for itself until Sirius and the Danish Navy again did renovations both in 1999, 2002 and 2006. In 2006 the Queen decided to sponsored a new stove too the hut, after a previous visit by the queen and prince of Denmark. We could also see that someone else had visited the area recently, as it was polar bear track straight outside of the hut.
After venturing the huts, the guests could choose between two small hikes or both. They both gave beautiful scenery, one with a great overview of the area and the other one overlooking an area with plenty of huge stranded icebergs.
After boarding the ship, the guest could get back their warmth with a nice lunch. Following evening two members of the Expedition team held some very exciting lectures about their own experiences; Majken about her native country, Greenland and Bjarki about his three years as a member of the Sirius patrol.

Finishing off with a great dinner and a briefing for the following day, everyone seemed happy with another great day at the ship.