We leave Greenland with fascinating impressions and fond memories: the cruise in the icebergs, the remote location of Ilulissat, the look of its people and the immense size of this island. Happy Valley Goose Bay is a town of 7‘000 in Labrador, Canada.
Another long flight ahead of us; 5 hours and the last leg of crossing the Atlantic to Canada. From the old world to the new world! This means again jumping into our survival suits before take off. Visibility is not so good but the pilots do as usual a great job. Soon we are above the clouds and fly south along the coast of Greenland. And we realize again how big it is!!
Greenland is the world‘s largest non-continental island, largely within the Arctic Circle. Although it is still part of the Kingdom of Denmark, it was granted self-government effective in 1979, in effect making it a separate country with formal ties to Denmark. The budget of Greenland is 65% financed by subsidies from Denmark and the remaining revenues come from mainly from fishing.
The Danish territorial claim is rooted in the 10th-century explorations of the Vikings, though administrative power had changed hands several times over the centuries due to developments in Europe. The native Greenlanders are Inuit descendants of nomads from northern Canada („Eskimo“ is offensive in some parts of the Arctic).
With it 2‘166‘086 km2, it is 52 times larger than Switzerland and an estimated 410‘449 km2 are ice-free, 1‘755‘637 km2 are ice-covered. Around 57‘000 people live here of which 88% are Inuit (and Inuit-Danish mixed), 12% Europeans (mostly Danish). This gives roughly 0.02 person per km2.
With leaving the coast of Greenland, we start our last leg of the Atlantic crossing. We are not unhappy about it since we can get rid off our survival suits! After a long 5 hours with strong head winds we touch down in Goose Bay Airport. We are amazed about the size of this airfield – it is huge!! We learn that up till about five years ago it was a big airbase used by the Canadian Royal Airforce, the Royal Airforce, US Airforce, the Deutsche Luftwaffe and the Italians. During the cold war it was part of the Tactical Air Commando and strategically quite important. Later it was used by the different airforces for low level flying training. Guess all the the wild animals were using ear plugs in those days. When the base closed down, around 5‘000 people left with it. A major shock to the economy of Happy Valley Goose Bay area. Its population basically got cut in half with the big spenders gone!
Today the huge airfield is used by Air Canada, Labrador Air, some private pilots like us and the Royal Canadian Airforce. It is also an important Alternator which means that planes can make emergency landings here should Halifax or St. John be closed due to bad weather (which is often the case there). Security has its price!
We follow Captain Hartmann‘s recommendation and have dinner at „The Trapper“, the local steak house. We have to prepare our own steaks on the grill in middle of the restaurant – and wonder why we go to a restaurant for that. At home we can do it in a nice garden, not TV that is disturbing in the back and the wine is better too.
We stay at the Royal Inn and Suites, a typical American motel. Great feeling until the guest next door takes a shower at 06.00h in the morning; I have the impression he uses my bathroom. Insulation is not so great in these places.
