Thule region is for many synonymous with ‘the true Greenland’. It is situated in the far north of Greenland, and is sparsely populated by Inuit hunters in a vast wilderness between the icecap and the open sea.

On board the small, brilliant cruise ship Ocean Nova we sail the inshore waters close to the Greenlandic coast. We pass through Disko Bay and Melville Bay all the way to the Great North – or Avanersuaq as Thule is called in Greenlandic. In July the ice in Melville Bay starts receding, and in the late summer we can sail through the bay’s clear waters. Magnificent nature and great chances of seeing seals, walruses, humpback whale and narwhal await us. At Kap Alexander, our turnaround point, we might observe the most outstanding animals of them all, the polar bear.

The fabled name Thule occurs in ancient Greek and Roman mythology as the name of a country or an island far north at the end of the world. The word Thule has allegedly also been used as a name of some foggy, inaccessible islands off the coast of Scotland. The Danish explorer, Knud Rasmussen, chose 100 years ago Thule as the name of his trade station by the settlements northwest of Cape York. Today, the name still clings to Greenland’s northwesterly corner, even though the main town is actually called Qaanaaq and the municipality is called Avernarsuaq, ‘The Great North’.