Last Saturday we enjoyed great day out trying a new sea kayaking day trip we´ll be offering next summer in cooperation with our friends at West Tours. We drove to Seydisfjordur about half an hour drive from Isafjordur and launched the kayaks in the mirror calm waters in the head of the fjord. Then we paddled along the coast around the small peninsula of Folafotur (e. Horse Leg) enjoying the scenery and birdlife. The peninsula was once inhabited by roughly hundred people but now there is no one and no road goes out there. After a nice lunch break at the end of the "Leg" we turned into Hestfjordur watching porpoises passing by. Close to the end of the trip, we heard a whale spout and spotted a minke whale out on the fjord. I took up the camera and paddled closer to meet our new friend. The whale dived and I waited. Of course it came up in a totally different location. I moved the kayaked closer and knocked with the paddle on the boat just to let it know where I was. I didn´t want it to come too close....!
Suddenly I saw a shadow and heard a loud spout when it came up right behind the boat, not more than a feet away. My heart skipped a beat and I moved away a bit. Then it came up directly beside me and I got the perfect shot...with my camera.

Great day in perfect weather and company.

AURORA picked up a new group of explorers in Kulusuk on August 17th. That day was foggy and for awhile it didn´t look like the plane from Iceland could land. Eventually they found an opening in the fog and landed. This was a group of experienced Californian surfers that were here to explore opportunities for surfing in East Greenland. The coast is exposed to major swell from the north Atlantic so finding waves wouldn´t be a problem. The exciting challenge would be to find the landscape that would turn these ocean swells into surfable breaking waves.

This time we would be heading south so it would also be new territory for AURORA's crew. Runar was gone back to Iceland to guide a kayaking trip there and was being replaced by Robert Thor. We sailed out of the Angmagsalik fjord and decided to head for an anchorage on Hornemann Island between the bays of Ikertivaq and Ikeq (Køge Bugt). This section of the coast, between the great Sermilik fjord (65° 30´N) and the Umivik peninsula (64° N) is quite often seriously encumbered with ice. The great inland icecap reaches the sea in many places there and large glaciers calve into the ocean. Combined with the fog this also created come challenges for us this time and in the middle of the night we found ourselves stuck in the middle of a large icefield. We waited for the dawn, slowly found a good route out and into the horseshoe shaped island of Hornemann. This proved to be a very good anchorage and everyone went ashore for their first hike in Greenland.

Next day we sailed further south along the coast keeping a constant lookout for potential surf-spots. Our next anchorage was in a narrow cove in the northern arm of Otto Krumpen fjord. From there we continued along Odins land and past the ice-filled Bernstorffs Icefjord. Off the little island of Qimisa we saw the swell breaking on a submerged (un-charted!) reef and the surfers got into the water immediately. They paddled over to the reef and made brave attempts to surf on what they called „The White Fang". After having retrieved the surfers back onboard we continued a bit further and anchored in Fyllas Vig (cove). This was a lovely anchorage with the beautiful Strudsen (Ostrich) mountain in the background.

We continued south the next day and entered the south Skjøldungen sound and the beautiful anchorage of Caroline Amalies harbour. The weather was now quite nice and we motored into the Skjøldungen sound, stopping at the old abandoned Skjøldungen village. The climbers in the group now had their eyes fixed on the great granite walls of the surrounding mountains. The sound is flanked by big-walls, some over 1000m straight from the water - never ending climbing potential and an absolutely stunning landscape. Here is also more vegetation than further north and with it the numerous mosquitoes and other flies! We sailed all the way to the head of the sound and anchored off Queen Marie´s valley. Robert and Kevin took off the next morning and climbed an unnamed peak to the south of Skjøldmøen glacier and Chris hiked up the valley to look for Arctic Char. The rest of the group did shorter hikes in the vicinity.

After a good day of land-activities it was time to head out to the coast again to continue the surfing. The weather wasn´t very cooperative and we got hammered by 30-40 knots of wind in the northern Skjøldungen sound so we decided to anchor in the next available shelter. This was in a tiny cove in Langenæs Bugt where we tied four lines ashore and stayed for the night.

Next day we sailed out of the sound but there was still over 30 knots of wind outside the Valkyrien islands so we took a shortcut through the Langenæsløbet sound, discovering an uncharted rock in the middle of the sound. We then sailed across the Graahs fjord and into the very sheltered anchorage of Graah´s Harbour.  Captain W.A.Graah of the Royal Danish Navy returned to winter here during his epic journey by Umiaq (an Inuit skin boat, "womensboat") in 1829/30 from Qaqortoq to Dannebrog  Ø, 120 miles further north where he was forced to turn back by ice. There are quite complete ruins of old Inuit building there that are very interesting to see.

We were now started to head north again and a bit further along the coast we found another submerged reef for the surfers to investigate. We then anchored again in Fyllas Vig. Our plan was to anchor next under the Kiatak mountain in Umivik bay. This is where Fridthjof Nansen and his group started their crossing of the inland icecap in 1888. The south going current is very strong along the coast and we saw up to 4 knots of current against us. The Umivik bay proved to be packed full of brash ice and bergy bits and we decided to head further out and straight to Tasiilaq. After an overnight sail up the coast we arrived in the town of Tasiilaq, the largest community on the east coast of Greenland, with around 1500 inhabitants.

We spent one night in Tasiilaq and had a great feast of Pizzas at the Nansen hotel. The following day we motored over to a small fjord of Tasilartik on the west side of Angmagsalik island. The group went ashore for a nice hike. The trip then ended with the short sail across the Angmagsalik fjord to the anchorage off Kulusuk village. The morning after the group flew back to Reykjavik.

AURORA received three new guests in Kulusuk and then we sailed about 60 miles further north along the coast to Smalsund sound where we picked up seven kayakers. With this group we now set course for Isafjordur and arrived there two and a half days later after having spent a great month in Greenland.

August has been very busy with all seats booked for East Greenland. We planned to set sail on the 3 August on the first trip with eight guests, but an unusually low pressure system in the Denmark Strait, changed our plans and we to a short sail across the bay, visited the beautiful Vigur island before anchoring in Lonafjordur fjord to let the storm pass. We stayed there for two nights, did some walking and kayaking in the company of curious seals and ate nice food. On the third day, people were getting anxious to head over to Greenland. Finally captain Siggi gave order to lift the anchor and head out of the fjord. The low was diminishing and cruising South pretty fast and would be gone when we arrived into the Strait. At least we hoped!


Felix from Switzerland doing a great job during the passage in the rough weather.

It was dead calm for the first few hours and the group enjoyed the view over the fjords and bays and watched the mountains sinking into the sea when we got further from the coast. A favourable wind picked up from the NE and we were doing 9-10 knots and Siggi started worrying about that we were making too good progress and might catch up with the remaining of the storm. We reduced sails but were still making good (too good!) speed. The wind grew stronger and Aurora was in her favourite mood; cruising the waves under broad reach with no problems. Some of our guests started feeling a bit sea sick and went to the warm bunks to relax.


Stretching our bodies after the crossing in Mikisfjord.

In the evening we hit a very think fog. It can be quite challenging to sail in 25-30 knots of wind in fog and in an area where the Icelandic fishing fleet spends a lot of time...! The radar was turned on and watched closely. Also, recent news of icebergs in the area kept the crew on alert. When the dusk closed in on us, Siggi made a decision to heave to for the night since it was too risky to sail at this speed with so little visibility. Heaving to means that you tack the boat but don´t take the staysail over and tie it down. The boat almost stops and then you lock the wheel and things are quite comfortable. We slept well for seven hours before continuing our voyage in calmer winds. This is the first time we´ve had bad weather crossing the Denmark Strait and we´ve made quite a few crossings.


Icelanders in Greenland. Birthday girl Sveinborg (left) with me, Freysi and Solveig.

Late in the next evening the mountains of East Greenland started appearing above the horizon and the crew was getting excited. We anchored in Mikisfjord that we have visited many times before and it is the perfect place to relax after crossing the Strait. Many options for walking or kayaking are in the area and the anchorage is shallow so the big icebergs don´t cause any problems. The day after the arrival, we walked into Sodalen valley where an Australian mining company is searching for gold and platinum. The two Australian geologists in our group had much to talk about and exchange information with their fellow country men. Luckily there was a 30th birthday party in their camp and we got cakes and pancakes. Thank you very much! They showed us a video taken the day before from a helicopter where a big polar bear was sniffing around in the abandoned village in Skaergaard (that we were going to visit the day after!).


The group with the Inuit hunters. Photo: Inge van den Broek.

The next day we sailed to Suhaili bugt and dropped anchor. The kayaks were launched and we paddled to the abandoned village in Skaergaard. The shotgun was kept handy and the flares also. No signs of polar bears but we met three Inuit hunters far away from home, shooting narwhal and seals. They had also seen the polar bear the day before. Becky and Larry, the geologists from Australia were eager to take us to a nearby glacier tongue to pan for gold. The story goes that it´s highly likely to find small fragments of gold in the smaller streams coming from the glacier. We had no luck this time with our primitive equipment.


Great mountain walk close to Suhaili bugt. Just managed to get above the morning fog.

After some great time in Suhaili bugt, we sailed out of the Kangerlussuaq fjord and headed along the coast towards Kulusuk , enjoying the view of the coastline with its calving glaciers and unnamed mountains more than we could count. We spent one night in a great anchorage inside a small island off the coast with towering mountains circling the island. Part of the group kayaked the last bit in the great surroundings and beautiful weather.


The perfect place to relax.

Finally we came to the village of Kulusuk where we spent the last night and checked out the village before the group flew back to Iceland. Some people decided to stay few days longer in Greenland to further explore the nature and culture of the country. The trip has come to an end and I want to thank you all for our great time together. Hope to see you again.



There are more photos in our photo collection. Please take a look.
Aurora is still in Greenland doing another expedition further South with surfers from California. Yes, surfing in Greenland!  Stay tuned for another report in September.

 

After sailing for 57 hours from Husavik in the north of Iceland, we arrived in Fuglafjörður in the Faroes. The crossing took less than anticipated since we had very good winds from north east. Part of the crew thought it was to much at times but Aurora performed perfectly. Now we´re enjoying the hospitality of the locals and great scenery. Tomorrow we´ll be going from Thorshavn to Göta to enjoy the G!Festival with all its music from different corners of the world.