Urchin Sailing Expeditions

Urchin & the Greenland Fjords: 17 July 2023

After exploring the beauty of Greenland further north, Urchin is now making her way back down to Nuuk. She could however not pass by the magnificent Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord - also known as “Evighedsfjorden” – without exploring this unique and exciting place.

The report from Urchin is that even though she is only a day or two south of the areas she was previously exploring further north, the team are experiencing a hint of darkness at midnight. The photographs below were taken at that time. Midnight. The team say they “sort of got used to the perpetual day”. It’s all quite fascinating!

The source of the fjord is glacier draining of the Maniitsoq ice cap. The fjord is 75 km long and 700m deep and flows in a deep canyon through the uninhabited mountainous region.

A number of glaciers can be seen in the fjord itself, and the mountains and cliffs on both sides exceed 2,000 metres. It has been said that the mountains near the middle part of the fjord are deemed the best mountaineering regions in Greenland.

The fjord itself empties into the Davis Strait near Kangaamiut (formerly known as “Sukkertoppen”) which is the only settlement in the area. This settlement is found on a small island at the northern end of the fjord mouth.

Kangaamiut has a population of 293. The Danish name is also sometimes spelt as Zukkertoppen, Sukkertop, Zukkertop, and Zuckerhut, which all mean “Sugarloaf" or “Sugartop" after the shape of three hills in the vicinity. We therefore say: “Move over Rio! Greenland’s Sugarloaf also means tangas and bikinis. Your Copacabana cannot hog all the summer fun!”

Photo credit: 1. Mountains bounding Kangerlussuatsiaq Fjord from the south, where it empties into Davis Strait in central-western Greenland; & Aerial Photo of Sermitsiaq-glacier; and 3. Kangaamiut settlement: Algkalv (talk) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia

Urchin found beautiful Icebergs with fascinating Ice caves in Disko Bay.
Perfect for Ice Trolls!! And other magical creatures....

Killiit, known in Danish as Vester Island (which means “Western Island”), is a tiny island near Aasiaat. It has a total land area of 1 square km.

Since Greenland’s colonisation Killiit was almost continuously inhabited. From 1794 to 1967, it carried the status of an estate, but has been uninhabited since 1967.

Urchin anchored in the little bay so that the team could explore the fascinating abandoned settlement still found on the island. A perfect place to find peace and quiet, don’t you agree?

Urchin in Aasiaat

Aasiaat both an archipelago and a town in Western Greenland.

The archipeligo’s largest island is uninhabited, but there is a the abandoned village and some structures able to accommodate tourists. The population of the archipelago is spread among three settlements, one of which is the town of Aasiaat, which has 3142 inhabitants (and is Greenland’s 5th largest town). The second settlement has 98 inhabitants, and the third 87. Peaceful!

Fun fact: “Aasiaat” means “Spiders” in Greenlandic. No-one really knows why it has that name. The simplest explanation would that initial settlers found the island full of spiders, but it seems more credible that the name is probably drawn from Inuit mythology, as spiders are seen to bring good luck.

Aasiaat is often referred to as the “Town of the Whales” as marine mammals are seen there all year round. Aasiaat is peppered with small colourful houses and the town boasts a large collection of local artwork.

Although the town was settled around 1200, human habitation has been discovered dating back to the 5th millennium BC. Aasiaat was formally founded in 1759 by the son of a Norwegian missionary, but then it was located 125km north of its current location. Because the mouth of Disko Bay, and the port, is ice free from late spring to early winter, during the 1700’s most of its inhabitants were Norwegian whalers. The port traded with furs, beluga whales, narwhals and harp seals.

Fun fact: During World War II, American relief airplanes bound for the British Isles were allowed to use Greenlandic, Icelandic, and Scottish airspace. As to supplies for Greenland, Denmark could not send supplies. Why not you may ask? Because Denmark was under the control of N**i Germany, could not freely send supplies to Greenland, so that task fell to the United States and Canada (by virtue of the Treaty of Godhavn). Supplies were stored near Aasiaat, and were then transferred to other towns of the region, such as Uummannaq and Sisimiut.

Fun fact: during summer, Aasiaat hosts a unique Midnight Sun Marathon! Run, see icebergs in the bay. Apparently an exceptionally breath-taking run (probably in more ways that one …). If running isn’t you thing, then in winter you can use the same tracks for cross country skiing.

Photo Credit for that of Aassiaat Town Bay - Vaido Otsar, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49875125

Alluttoq Island, Western Greenland. That’s the island Urchin & Crew briefly visited yesterday.

Alluttoq is a large and uninhabited island (about 655 km2) in the outlet of the Sullorsuaq Strait, east of Disko Island.

Interestingly it used to be inhabited. One can still see the abandoned settlement on the eastern coast of the island, called Ataq (Ataa). The last families left the village around 1960. It is still used as a summer settlement by an intrepid few (apparently usually only about four people annually) these comprising either botanists, tourists, explorers, or hunters from the nearby settlement of Oqaatsut (previously know as Rodebay or Rodebaai). Oqaatsut is about 20kms away and in comparison to Ataq, is a sprawling metropolis with a population of of 29 inhabitants.

The first Rodebay settlement was a trading post for 18th-century Dutch whalers. The original blubber house, storehouse and cooperage storehouse are still in use. When the large Greenland fish processing factory closed, Oqaatsut found itself facing a complete depopulation. But there was light at the end of a cold tunnel as a new fishing business was created - in 2000 - by the local fishermen, and the little settlement survived.

Ataq was used as a backdrop for the 1997 Danish film “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” adapted from Peter Hoeg’s novel of the same name, published in 1992. (It remains one of our favourite books so being there was fantastic.)

Atag is an abandoned settlement; but at least four or so people apparently still spend summetime there. Solitude, peace, quiet and icebergs....Ataq sounds like the perfect writer’s retreat.

Yesterday and today Urchin experienced light winds (about 5 - 6 knots), and was sailing comfortably at 5.3 knots on her way to Ilulissat. Many many beautiful icebergs were seen while underway. Enjoy them as much as we do..

PredictWind pics illustrate their position yesterday as well as and the weather.
Photo credit - Ataq (Ataa) - Wikipedia & Wikimedia
Photo credit - Oqaatsut - kaet44 Flickr Wikimedia