I had a really wonderful time in Qaarsut, just going along with the flow of what locals did every day. Instead of leaving on May 1, I sweet-talked Air Greenland into changing my non-flexible ticket to May 10, so I could go narwhal/walrus hunting with some of the men from town, who said they would leave around May 1! Of course, we left later than expected (May 5), so I spent more time in the settlement. It happened to be Greenland's "Week 18" of the year, which is a week focusing on community activities and not using alcohol. That meant lots of kickball, soccer, and races in the mushy snow, dogsled races in front of town on the ice, and a lot of visiting, along with a jigging competition and the regular hunting and fishing.
The winds kept the ice in the fiord, so we were not able to go hunting until some big ships arrived to empty halibut from the fish factories around the region. On May 5, we dragged the small speedboats out onto the ice, tied them behind a medium sized fishing boat bound for open water, and tried to follow one of the icebreakers on its way back out of the fiord. Unfortunately, the broken ice filled the path behind it, so we could not make it through. We slept overnight in the boat, waited for fog to clear, and followed in the channel, which had now widened due to winds and currents. As we progressed northwest, we reached a puzzle of water interspersed with kilometer-long broken sea ice bits, so we wound our own way through as best we could, acting as an icebreaker at times, and hunting for kittiwakes/seals as we saw them. In the evening, we reached open water, when we immediately heard on the radio that other hunters had seen narwhal. ZOOM off in the small boats, to no avail.
For the next few days, we searched around, which meant standing in the small boat watching the water, hunting seals if we saw them, boiling meat and eating it while moored to a small chunk of floating sea ice, sleeping overnight in a hut (instead of the boat, which was packed with 4 of us), and, for me, worrying that I would not be able to return to towns/airports due to ice. However, on the morning of April 8, we climbed a hill to get mobile phone reception and check on the helicopter schedule, quickly wound our way through packed up sea ice and icebergs to the settlement of Niaqornat, leaped across the watery gap where the ice had piled and melted at the shore, and said goodbye to the kind men who had let me join in their work/pastime/passion/tradition/lifestyle. The chopper (which brought fresh fruit to the settlement of around 60) traveled on a loop to the communities of Illorsuit and Nugaatsiaq, through a mountain pass, and to Uummannaq, still embedded in the sea ice. There, I met a friend who happened to be in town and caught a ride back with him on scooter to Qaarsut, where I washed clothes, said thanks, and caught another chopper for an hour long ride south across Nuussuaq Peninsula to Ilulissat, as the normal airplane had been delayed due to fog. An overnight in Ilulissat with a wonderful family I'd met before, and now I'm in Copenhagen! Tomorrow I should fly/bus to Kautokeino, Norway, where the Sami reindeer migration has conveniently been pushed back due to a late spring. I hope to spend a week traveling by scooter along with a herd from the high plateau down to the coast, from which I will again fly south on the 20th, and then back across the Atlantic! To Vancouver, from which (if everything goes as planned) I will start the last leg of my incredibly lucky trip- Arctic Canada! I plan to visit the community of Kugluktuk. We will see what happens!
For now, I am VERY thankful to the kind people of Greenland (Qaarsut especially) for welcoming me, a young foreigner who knew nothing about anything and had forgotten most of the little Kalallisut he had learned last year, into their homes, boats, sledges, and community.
The winds kept the ice in the fiord, so we were not able to go hunting until some big ships arrived to empty halibut from the fish factories around the region. On May 5, we dragged the small speedboats out onto the ice, tied them behind a medium sized fishing boat bound for open water, and tried to follow one of the icebreakers on its way back out of the fiord. Unfortunately, the broken ice filled the path behind it, so we could not make it through. We slept overnight in the boat, waited for fog to clear, and followed in the channel, which had now widened due to winds and currents. As we progressed northwest, we reached a puzzle of water interspersed with kilometer-long broken sea ice bits, so we wound our own way through as best we could, acting as an icebreaker at times, and hunting for kittiwakes/seals as we saw them. In the evening, we reached open water, when we immediately heard on the radio that other hunters had seen narwhal. ZOOM off in the small boats, to no avail.
For the next few days, we searched around, which meant standing in the small boat watching the water, hunting seals if we saw them, boiling meat and eating it while moored to a small chunk of floating sea ice, sleeping overnight in a hut (instead of the boat, which was packed with 4 of us), and, for me, worrying that I would not be able to return to towns/airports due to ice. However, on the morning of April 8, we climbed a hill to get mobile phone reception and check on the helicopter schedule, quickly wound our way through packed up sea ice and icebergs to the settlement of Niaqornat, leaped across the watery gap where the ice had piled and melted at the shore, and said goodbye to the kind men who had let me join in their work/pastime/passion/tradition/lifestyle. The chopper (which brought fresh fruit to the settlement of around 60) traveled on a loop to the communities of Illorsuit and Nugaatsiaq, through a mountain pass, and to Uummannaq, still embedded in the sea ice. There, I met a friend who happened to be in town and caught a ride back with him on scooter to Qaarsut, where I washed clothes, said thanks, and caught another chopper for an hour long ride south across Nuussuaq Peninsula to Ilulissat, as the normal airplane had been delayed due to fog. An overnight in Ilulissat with a wonderful family I'd met before, and now I'm in Copenhagen! Tomorrow I should fly/bus to Kautokeino, Norway, where the Sami reindeer migration has conveniently been pushed back due to a late spring. I hope to spend a week traveling by scooter along with a herd from the high plateau down to the coast, from which I will again fly south on the 20th, and then back across the Atlantic! To Vancouver, from which (if everything goes as planned) I will start the last leg of my incredibly lucky trip- Arctic Canada! I plan to visit the community of Kugluktuk. We will see what happens!
For now, I am VERY thankful to the kind people of Greenland (Qaarsut especially) for welcoming me, a young foreigner who knew nothing about anything and had forgotten most of the little Kalallisut he had learned last year, into their homes, boats, sledges, and community.
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