Greenland: Iceberg Kayaking with Midnight Sunlight

This is the third in a series of articles on our trip to Greenland.  Click these links to see the first, with aerial photos of icebergs, and the second, all about puppies and village life.  My next article will take you close up on a whale watching tour. 

We love kayaking, and Greenland is a great place for it, especially if you can go at midnight.  The only caveat is that the water is not much above freezing, which is cold enough to kill in about a half hour. To be safe, everyone has to wear dry suits.  As you can probably guess, they're called dry suits because, unlike wet suits, they keep you dry when you're in the water.  The guides told us they cost somewhere around $1500 each.  Here are a few members of the group sporting spiffy blue dry suits.

Putting on a dry suit is quite an experience.  All the openings are strong latex tubes you have to force feet, hands, and head through.  The feet were the easiest.  Pushing my hand through this extremely tight tube of stretchy rubber was a bit of a struggle.  But the worst part is getting it over your head.  You have to pull the tight latex neck down over your face, so your whole face is briefly smashed flat.  Once it gets onto your neck, it's feels like it's strangling you, but you quickly get accustomed to it.

The trip was billed as a midnight kayaking trip.  Of course, since it was July in western Greenland, it would not get dark.  Instead, the sun would dip low on the horizon, then begin to rise again.

This huge iceberg, towering about 35 feet above the water, was just a short distance offshore.  It had been in the bay since we arrived.

Earlier that day, it had started to crumble, so it was smaller than it had been.  It was fun to get to see it close up and kayak all the way around it.  Of course, we were hoping no really large pieces would break off while we were close.  Sometimes whole icebergs can roll over, or a piece can break off underwater and shoot up to the surface.  Either of those events could do bad things to kayakers, so we didn't get as close as I was tempted to get!

Here's Jennifer, in front of me in the tandem kayak, keeping warm with her fuzzy red hat.  The guides chose this spot for us all to take a break, just beyond the big iceberg above.

While we rested, out guides surprised us by pulling out a bottle of whisky. We all got our own little reusable plastic cups to have a sip of either that or hot tea.  We had the whisky.  Warmed us up nicely, though the air temperature wasn't bad at all - I think it was in the forties F, with no rain or wind.  They said the people a few days before had windy, rainy weather.  So, we got really lucky!

It was getting late, and the sun was really, really trying to set, but this was about as low as it could go.

Looking north across Disko Bay to Disko Island, with the sun so low in the sky, the air was suffused with an amazing orange glow.

It was so spectacular out there, I didn't want it to be over.  I kept rowing out to get more photos while the others worked on hauling their kayaks up onto land one by one.  Finally, we couldn't delay it any longer.  We were the last boat out of the water.

One more.

Thanks for coming by to take a look!  Still more to come on Greenland.  Glacier calving at Eqi Glacier and Eqi Ice Camp is coming up.  Then, spectacular view of much bigger and better icebergs for the finale.  Those are my favorites, so I'm saving them for last.

Puppies, Villages, and Swimming with Icebergs in Greenland

The puppies in Oqaatsut, Greenland were happy to see us.  Unlike mature Greenlandic dogs, puppies are allowed to run free.

This tiny village, called Oqaatsut, has only 34 inhabitants.  It's a day's walk up the coast from Ilulissat.  (Ilulissat is known as Jakobshavn in Danish.)  This village is surviving with a more or less traditional way of life.   In the warmer part of the year, they use a motorboat to fish and hunt seals with rifles.  When it is cold enough, they use dogsleds.  There are a few snowmobiles around, but they say dogsleds are more reliable.  The cold season has gotten shorter by a few months over the last few decades, so it's become harder and harder to support the dog population.

A few of the houses in the village, with a few icebergs floating in Disko Bay, and the mountains of Disko Island in the background.  These houses are painted in traditional colors.  A spot of bright color is probably welcome when everything else is white for months on end.

A view of Ilulissat from Hotel Arctic, where we stayed. There was a dog zone right in front of the hotel.  It's really tempting to go pet these chained-up, lonely-looking dogs.  Unfortunately, dog zones are no-go zones for anyone but the owner, as you don't want to get in the middle of a bunch of big angry dogs defending their territory.  Two or three miles further in the background of the photo,  gigantic icebergs have run aground at the mouth of the icefjord.  It takes months or sometimes a year, for them to melt small enough to break free and float further out into the bay.

We also visited Disko Island.  One evening, we were standing at the shore watching humpback whales spout and roll just offshore.  While we watched, we noticed a group of children next to us playing in sandy pool of a stream leading out the bay.  As if that water weren't cold enough for them,  these three boys kept running down and jumping in the bay water.

Obviously, water with icebergs in it tends to be incredibly cold.  We were told it's around 33 degrees - cold enough to kill you in five minutes.  After jumping in, they'd give a sharp yelp or two, and run back to the pool.  But, they kept on going at least five or six times while we were there watching the whales.

This dog zone is on Disko Island.  The dogs checked to see if we were bringing food, then quickly lost interest, despite our calls to get their attention.  Greenlandic dogs live outside all the time, including the winter, when low temperatures average 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and dip far below that much of the time.  They've been a reliable means of transportation for the Inuit for about a thousand years, but, due to the shortened winters and resulting lack of ice thick enough to travel on, their use is waning and their numbers are being drastically reduced.

The town on Disko Island, with a better view of the mountains behind.  

Next up, I'll have some photos from our midnight iceberg kayaking trip near Ilulissat (Jakobshavn).   My previous article was all about the glaciers and icebergs, with spectacular aerial photos.  The post after this is a short one on kayaking at midnight, followed by Humpback whale watching amidst the Ilulissat icebergs.