After such an unbelievable day exploring Disko Island and Eqip Sermia, we woke as much as views of the magnificent Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland.
It’s not too far (by way of nautical miles), possibly round 150 miles from Eqip Sermia. This meant we had way more time to discover Ilulissat after anchoring up.
Now, the Ilulissat Icefjord is a UNESO-protected website, and with good cause. From what I bear in mind, it’s an space for glacial runoff, contributing to 4% of the world’s water. So, as you possibly can think about, there’s numerous ice.
Now, what makes the world round Ilulissat much more particular is that there’s a glacial ‘ledge’ or ‘deposit’ of sediment and rocks that traps numerous the calving glacial items from shifting into the open ocean round Disko Bay.
To place it merely, colossal icebergs get trapped within the lagoon round Ilulissat, and you find yourself seeing huge icebergs the scale of mountains, and that’s no exaggeration. It’s mindblowing and a type of iceberg site visitors jam.
So, with all this data in hand, we hopped on a trusted zodiac to take us to the jetty in Ilulissat city itself.
Ilulissat is a city that, by Greenlandic requirements, is fairly massive. By UK or US requirements, you’d take into account it a big village or small city.
You possibly can spend an hour or so wandering Ilulissat, trying out the enduring purple church and visiting the native shops. These promote tupilak (see image under) or soapstone figures, each of that are nice souvenirs from Greenland.
Nevertheless, Ilulissat’s fundamental drawer is the Icefjord.
We had deliberate to guide a ship tour by way of the icebergs in Disko Bay through Albatros Expeditions. Nevertheless, we’d left it too late to guide, and all of the areas had been crammed. So, after arriving in Ilulissat, we took a stroll by way of the city and headed to Ilulissat Journey.
These guys organise excursions in and round Ilulissat and Disko Bay, and so they have heaps to select from. We popped in, and so they have been instantly accessible for a non-public RIB tour of the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland.
We jumped on the change, and we have been so grateful they’d last-minute availability.
The RIB tour, by the best way, was unbelievable.
We spent the subsequent hour weaving between the colossal icebergs, and it was so extreme. In reality, we had the entire lagoon to ourselves; it was magical, and the views have been simply spectacular.
As you possibly can see, the icebergs are completely huge, so naturally, you don’t sail too near them. In any case, a calving or spinning iceberg (or perhaps a growler) might be very harmful inside the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland.
The tour was epic, and I can’t advocate Ilulissat Journey sufficient. Better of all, you possibly can guide their excursions on-line in the event you’re visiting Greenland, so that you gained’t should take care of the panic and stress we skilled when reserving on the final minute.
So, with the solar shining as soon as once more (we obtained lucky with the climate), we walked from Ilulissat’s harbour space in the direction of the Ilulissat Icefjord Centre and boardwalk.
Now, the Ilulissat Icefjord Centre appears to be like spectacular, however I can’t say I felt it was one of the best use of this lovely area. It has a small espresso store (with nice espresso) and an intimate exhibition for which you pay a small payment, however aside from that, it felt somewhat ‘misplaced’.
I don’t say that negatively, by the best way; the area is gorgeous, but it surely didn’t actually serve any goal aside from getting a espresso and cake (each of which have been nice, by the best way).
Nevertheless, the latter (the boardwalk) is a should.
The Ilulissat Boardwalk covers the protected floor across the Ilulissat Icefjord, serving to to preserve the pure surroundings and restrict guests’ influence on this UNESCO-protected space. For that reason, you don’t go away the boardwalk till you attain the perspective overlooking the bay itself.
After strolling by way of the inexperienced expanse, traditionally created by the glacier, we reached the coast.
The stroll alongside the boardwalk took round quarter-hour, however naturally, we have been very sluggish and devoured each second of the views alongside the best way. On the finish of the boardwalk, we headed up the wood stairs (which the boardwalk results in). The views hit me like a brick wall. The icebergs have been big, colossal, in reality. I needed to maintain reminding myself that the icebergs have been strong ice – they have been like mountains.
We spent an excellent 45 minutes right here. Sitting on the rocks, watching the views and seeing the icebergs lodged within the channel in Disko Bay. It was mesmerising and completely lovely.
Because the late afternoon approached, we strolled again to Ilulissat and headed to our pick-up level to catch our Zodiac again to Ocean Albatros. The sunshine was nonetheless unbelievable, so we shortly hopped onto the decking space of Resort Hvide Falk. It was nonetheless chilly (round 8c), however we wrapped up heat and had a glass of wine overlooking Disko Bay.
Very quickly in any respect, it was time to depart the Ilulissat Icejord In Greenland. Time has whizzed by right this moment. So, with that, we hopped on the Zodiac again to Ocean Albatros and headed straight for dinner on the onboard restaurant.
With full tummies, we headed for mattress to get up vibrant and early for tomorrow’s journey in Itilleq.
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