You may experience a brief service interruption

This evening, Dr and Mrs Essai depart for Reykjavík, Iceland, where they will join a photo expedition to East Greenland. “Expedition” is gilding it a bit—let’s agree on “excursion” with a lot of expensive cameras and long lenses and about a dozen photographers destined first for Kulusuk Island. From there, by helicopter to Ammassalik Island and the town of Tasiilaq, then by boat to a base camp just below the Arctic Circle on the east side of Sermilik Fjord.

On the photo agenda, whales and birds and arctic fox and glaciers and a lot of icebergs. The weather will be a daily toss of the dice, and we’re keeping one eye on that volcano erupting for the sixth time near Keflavik Airport in Iceland, but this has always been a provisional trip. This will be our third try; the first two attempts were scuttled by Covid-19, after Iceland locked down and locked us out in 2020, then Denmark closed down East Greenland a year later. We will believe we are there when our insulated boots crunch Kulusuk ice.

Base camp is so remote, we were required to get our personal physicians to sign off on multipage medical releases, prompting the doctor’s doctor to say, “I’ve never seen a medical form like that. Where the hell are you going?” This means internet access may be spotty or worse, so the next Joggle might be a bit delayed. But know that the Dr Essai will be taking pictures like a manic hamster and at least a couple of them will be worth your attention in mid-September.

You will receive the August book report in a week or so, prepared before the trip and auto-mailed while the Essais are watching for whales. And who knows, maybe a quick dispatch from near the Arctic Circle. That was a fun sentence to write.

As always, thank you, dear Jogglers, for reading. We will talk again in a couple of weeks.