The Earth’s largest island, Greenland, is
almost completely covered by an ice sheet with a few places around the edges
where the land is bare. From time
immemorial, people have made their way from the West, across arctic Canada, to live in
these bare spaces – and hunt in the fish-abundant waters and on the ice. In more recent times (around the year 985), people from
Iceland migrated to the southern shores of Greenland. After some time their colonies failed. In the sixteenth century whalers from the
Netherlands and Denmark visited the waters between Greenland and Canada and
began to bring trade goods to Greenlanders – including iron needles and knives
and, perhaps, mast hoops useful in making coamings for kayaks.
Settlements were reestablished by the Danes in the 18th century and, overtime, Denmark successfully claimed title to all of Greenland. Since 2009 Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark. The national language is Greenlandic. Many people also speak Danish and English.
THE KAYAKERS
There were six of us – an academic dean, an iron
worker, a dentist and his son - a goat-herder/farmer, a retired lawyer (me), and a Greenlandic kayaker/roller/rope
gymnast. We joined Michael Gray (Uncommon Adventures) to visit the iceberg-rich
portion of Greenland's coast north of Illulisat and Disko bay. It was an eight day journey of some 125 miles, with a longest
day’s paddle of some 23 miles. Being north of the Arctic circle and near the summer solstice, the sun did not set - it was due south at local apparent noon and due north at midnight.
GETTING THERE
Travelling to Illulisat is not
straightforward. The most cost-effective
route led us to Copenhagen and thence to the Greenlandic international airport at
Kangerlussuaq (a former US airforce base) and finally, with a smaller aircraft,
to Illulisat. The unanticipated pleasure
of this flight was the view of the Illulisat Isefjord and the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier
to the south of Illulisat. Helicopter
flights from Illulisat to the glacier are one of the prime tourist attractions
of Illulisat. The Kujalleq glacier spawns about 10 percent of all of Greenland's icebergs.
 |
| Illulisat Isefjord from the plane |
We flew over the tiny, boat-packed,
Illuliasat harbour from which we would be ferried north to pick up our kayaks for our trip to the Eqi Glacier. With a population of about 4500, Illulisat is the third largest city in Greenland (after Nuuk, the capital, and Sisimiut).
 |
| Illulisat Harbour |
Illulisat buildings are perched on the bare
rock and connected by roads and many stairways and wooden walkways.
 |
| Illulisat |
Our accommodation in Illulisat was modern and Danish in
style –
 |
| Our accommodation in Illulisat |
From our apartment, we had a view of
icebergs which, all by itself, seemed worth the whole trip!
 |
| View from our Illulisat apartment |
After spending a day purchasing food and
accommodating to the time changes, we made our way to the harbour. Queen Margarethe was visiting Greenland and
her yacht was there in anticipation of picking her up at a more
northerly community.
 |
| Queen Margarethe's yacht |
The dock from which we were to be picked up was next to the Halibut Factory. On the hard behind the dock were various fishing boats awaiting repair.
 |
| Boats at the Halibut Factory |
From the Halibut Factory dock, a small boat ferried us 21 miles north through the
icebergs
 |
| To Oqaatsut |
to Oqaatsut (formerly Rodebay), a small fishing community with a year-round population of 42.
 |
| Oquaatsut |
There we picked up brand new
plastic Dagger kayaks with rudders and new Kokatat MsFit Tour pfds and spray
skirts. The equipment was of good
quality and suitable for multi-day expeditions with rocky landings.
THE TRIP
Our route was north, along the coastline, between the mainland of Greenland and Arve Prinsens Island towards Eqi Glacier. (Look up Rodebay and Ataa on GoogleEarth to see the area in which we travelled. The Eqi Glacier is around the headland across the sound to the NE of Ataa.)
Some landings were rocky
One landing was actually a beach where we obeyed everyone's warning to bring the boats "well up" in case a large iceberg calved and created an unexpectedly large wave which might wash out boats away.
 |
| Moving boats in the morning |
Our campsites seemed from a distance like wide, open, meadows
 |
| First night's campsite |
which were, in fact, covered with springy woody foliage
 |
| Flowers everywhere |
which, when the right size and shape of hummock was discovered, was very comfortable for sleeping.
Low shrubby flowers were everywhere, and our Greenlandic companion, Jenna Padilla, made us tea from mixtures of flowers.
 |
| Jenna's flower tea - photo by Lisa Deziel |
Jenna also demonstrated making a fire with dry moss
 |
| Jenna tending fire |
and cooked fish on a flat stone over a moss fire
 |
| Jenna's menhaden |
Somewhere along our way, Jenna found an old Norsaq (harpoon throwing stick) here shown on the picnic table at Oqaatsut.
 |
| Norsaq found on the way |
Michael made us wonderful meals, here using a fish box we had found on the beach as shelter for the stoves.
 |
| Michael Gray cooking |
Food was enjoyed....
 |
| Lunch on the meadow |
Water was everywhere....
High waterfalls
 |
| High falls |
Broad waterfalls
 |
| Broad falls |
Waterfalls which supplied convenient drinking water
 |
| Falls to collect drinking water |
Water in streams
 |
| Srream |
Water in streams running through our campsite and convenient for filling our water bottles and cooking pots...
 |
| Stream in campsite |
And, of course, there was rock....some, I learn, very, very old...
 |
| Rock near Eqi Glacier |
and some rock was overpoweringly large and confused
 |
| Rock near Sissarissut |
We paddled through fields of icebergs - each seemingly completely different. Some with inexplicable holes...
 |
| Iceberg |
Others, enormous slabs...
 |
| Iceberg |
One day (our last) the water was still and calm and the icebergs seemed mystical
 |
| Iceberg |
as though we were paddling in a happy fairy tale
 |
| Paddling in a fairy tale |
Eqi Glacier
Our goal was Eqi Glacier and as we rounded a headland an improbable amount of white filled the horizon. In the photo below, one segment of the glacier is on the left and another on the right...
 |
| Eqi Glacier - two arms |
A closer view shows the face of the glacier which was calving icebergs....we heard constant booming as they broke off.
 |
| Eqi Glacier |
The glacier face was a considerable distance away and we didn't paddle up to the face itself as this would have required moving our camp and adding another day or two to our journey.
From the Glacier we retraced our route until we came to a convenient place to cross the Ataa Sound to Arve Prinsens Island. The east side of the island is, for the most part, a formidable wall of rock.
 |
| Arve Prinsens Island across the Ataa Sound |
We camped at the semi-abandoned settlement of Atta, on the outlet of a large lake in the interior of the island. There is a small tourist operation which currently houses a summer restaurant and rents kayaks for local exploration.
 |
| Ataa and its very blue outhouse! |
Much to Jenna's delight, she found that one of the managers was a cousin from the far north of Greenland - they had not previously met. Also staying on the island were several people whose families had previously lived on the island. They were staying in the white building and in the white tent in the photo below.
 |
| Camping at Ataa |
The next morning at Ataa was grey with fog. A couple of young Greenlandic men were wearing survival suits and played around in the bay, jumping off small icebergs.
 |
| Fooling around in a survival suit |
On the eighth day, we paddled through an iceberg wonderland.
 |
| Lisa Deziel in the iceberg wonderland |
And reluctantly returned our boats to Oqaatsut
where we enjoyed a view of the village
while waiting for the boat to pick us up for the return journey to Illulisat.
I think I can speak for all of us that we fell in love with Greenland and want to return!
