Plans kind of kept dissolving and resolving as I was headed to Ilulissat in a way that left me with little choice but to just surrender to the spirit of travel and faith in the general goodness of other people. Air Greenland (which I've heard the locals refer to in Greenlandic as "Maybe Air," which tells you something) bumped me from my flight...I rebooked it for the next day...the Couchsurfing host I had lined up got stranded in another part of the island and canceled on me...I called someone he referred me to book a room with instead, and that guy spoke limited English and told me he'd pick me up at the airport in a manner that left me with quite a bit of doubt, especially since all he told me is that he'd be wearing a black jacket...
But my blind faith paid off in this case, as my shortened time in Ilulissat packed a big punch.
The guy in the black jacket was indeed at the airport, and his name is Bent, and I had a comfy night in a room of the rental apartment he keeps as a side business. As he dropped me off, he told me he was going seal hunting that afternoon after the rain stopped, if I wanted to come. Which I did. So when the rain dutifully stopped (and the weather turned totally brilliant for the rest of my time in town), we went down to the harbor to his boat. There were SO MANY BOATS. I asked him if everyone in town has a boat and he said, "No, everyone in town has two or three boats."
And off we went, seal-hunting.
Except with a twist, because Ilulissat is a huge tourist destination in Greenland due to the UNESCO World Heritage site status of adjacent Disko Bay, which is the terminus of a huge glacier that calves to such an extreme extent that the Bay is nearly always completely filled with freaking enormous icebergs. Which then float out into the waters all around town. And beyond. (I remember when I was in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2013 and there were a few spots where you could see ice bergs, I was told they'd originated in Greenland. I'm pretty sure this is the EXACT PLACE.) So there we were, seal hunting...among these spectacular ice bergs.
We were out on the water for about three hours and unfortunately only spotted one seal, which Bent's friends in another boat sped toward with great excitement, rifles at the ready...but it got away. There was also radio chatter about a whale being spotted that a bunch of the hunters out on the water seemed to be trying to cooperate to locate and maybe hunt, but that fizzled out too.
Still, it was a fascinating, gorgeous experience. And back at the dock after, I saw evidence that others had had a more successful seal-hunting afternoon.
Bent made me an amazing dinner of locally caught halibut...
...and then first thing in the morning, my Ilulissat experience continued, solo. I was appreciating the impossibly picturesque setting:
Even the graveyards here are gorgeous.
But the real jaw-dropping part happened when I followed the Sermermiut hiking trail into the UNESCO zone to see Disko Bay itself. The walk was gorgeous...
...and the berg-filled bay was of a scope and drama that I just could not get a picture of, much as I tried. I sat there for a half-hour, just looking at the amazing landscape (with its frigid breezes blowing over me), listening to the thunder-clap and echoing sounds of ice calving (and saw part of a big berg collapse), and even heard the occasional sound of a whale coming up for air, though I never managed to spot it. Breathtaking.
When I got too chilly to sit there anymore, I headed back into town.
One of the other constant sounds here is sled dogs yipping. They're EVERYWHERE and they can really make a ruckus when they get each other going.
On a local's tip, I headed down to the old church at the waterfront...
...and with a growing group of people waited outside...
...until a group of teenagers who had been confirmed that morning came out in their traditional dress to be greeted and congratulated by the community.
I mean, really.
Okay, that was 18 pictures, so I have to stop now.
From here, I am boarding a ferry that will take me for a three-day ride down the coast to the south of Greenland. So more adventures await, and I will see you back here soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment