EAST GREENLAND Sailing at Kangertitivaq
Cold air, icebergs and sharp mountain peaks.
Sailing for one week in the remoteness of East Greenland felt unreal.
Arriving to Greenland was a totally new experience for me.
I’ve been to Svalbard and Iceland a number of times, but this Arctic place,
was still undiscovered and waiting for the right time to visit.
It is more common traveling to the West coast of Greenland, where the capital
Nuuk is located. The East coast, where we ventured, is still very remote and
inaccessible. Our small plane landed on a dirt strip of land. An airport called
Nerlerit Inaat (Constable Point in eng) is made out of two small buildings,
surrounded by wilderness.
Few hours before landing here, making to the destination was uncertain, as our
charter flight got cancelled. It was recently raining in this part of Greenland and
the landing area got saturated with water, making it potentially unsafe for a plane
to land. Luckily, further examination by local crew gave pilots a green light,
and our small plane, with just a few hours of delay, took off from Iceland.
When approaching Greenland by plane it was exciting to see small white points
starting to show up, out at the deep blue water.I have never seen icebergs up
close before. At Constable Point we were greeted by our guide, representing
North Sailing sailing operator, and after introduction to the local rules, we ventured
to the boats anchored in the bay nearby.
As our plane was delayed, we sailed right off, in the dusk light of a blue hour,
passing crushed ice and taking direction to the fjord system called Kangertittivaq.
Scoresby Sund, as it’s named in English, is one of the largest fjords on the Globe.
It is stretching for up to 350 km and reaches even down to 1450 meters deep.
It’s name honors an English explorer William Scoresby, who mapped the area in
detail in 1822.
The further we sailed into the fjord, the Icebergs were growing in size and showing
up in larger numbers. Small wooden boat surrounded by icebergs was our home
for the week - eight participants and four crew members.
On the second day of sailing we approached a small archipelago area named
Bear Islands. Here we encountered the largest iceberg of entire trip.
It was so massive that it looked like a mountain from far out.
It felt like a king of all the icebergs. We sailed around it and watched part of the
walls collapsing into to the water, making rumbling sounds and waves.
The coming days we sailed further into the fjord, enjoying ever changing scenery.
The calmness of this wild landscape was contrasting with the sharp mountain
peaks, towering from both sides of the fjord. Icebergs were drifting at all times,
changing shapes and sizes. Each new day presented a different face of the fjord
system. When getting on land it was fascinating to see some plants, that I have
never seen before.
Without internet connection, the long days on deck were filled with conversations,
frequent drone flights and photographing. One week felt like much longer stretch
of time. An adventure to be remembered for years to come.