Saturday May 22nd, the day before Whitsun, we had decided to sail out to the abandoned settlement Qooqqut, which is a little less than 3o nautical miles (50 km) away.
We left Nuuk at 21.10 in this beautiful sunset. On the half way we saw something black moving close to a small iceberg, and our first thought was that it might be a seal. It was not. It was two big humpback whales swimming around. We followed them (or the other way around) into the fjord for about 20 minutes before we split in different directions. It was astonishing to see these big creatures move in the water, see their breath blowing a big cloud of water meters up in the air and see the tail wave at us.
This picture is from 5 in the morning and the sun (which has been up for some hours) if starting to glow behind the mountains. It almost felt like a crime to be peeing out of the boat to a sight like this. Mother Sea did not seem to mind though.
It was a fun experience to sleep on the boat. The weather was very calm and we could hear the gentle waves licking the side of the boat making a cozy sound like a tiny river. It is a bit cold sleeping on the boat because you are so close the the water but with two sleeping backs and starting the heating in the morning it went more than fine and we will definitely do it again.
Leaving our anchoring place in the morning. It is difficult to see on the picture but the land forms a nice small natural harbor, where the boat is protected to some extend from waves and wind. There were some small summer houses near the natural harbor.
Karolina sailing to the abandoned settlement Qooqqut.
We were not the only ones finding this place attractive, but even though there was other boats and a few summer houses we only saw people many kilometers away. We anchored up on 7 meters of water and here we had just put the rubber boat in the water and Kristian is mounting the engine.
We walked up a "small" hill of one of the mountains. Or rather it seemed small from below. Here we are half way.
A zoomed view down towards the main river. You can see a few summer houses on the picture and a simple bridge, which you have to be quite alert when passing.
The mountain water in Greenland is the purest in the world. It is clear, ice cold and tastes really nice.
The river seems small on the pictures, but there is actually a lot of water in it.
We ended getting about 600 meters above the water surface (half way to the summit) and the hike took us more than two hours due to it being steep and rocky with lots of bushes and small water streams. To get to the summit you need to be a very skilled climber in order to pass the perpendicular rocky walls. It is impressive to see so much land just going on and on; with no people, just more mountains.
When we left the rubber boat before noon it was 5-6 meters away from the water. When we came back the water was high and we did not need much efford to get it into the sea. The rubber boat seems quite small, but actually it is approved to carry 350 kg and it is quite heavy because the floor is made of wood.
After getting back to the boat we could see many hundreds of fish swimming under us. It only took 1 minute to get these three guys hooked. You can see the shadows of other fish in the bottom of the picture.
A happy fisherman. We stopped when we had caught 15-20 kg of cod. It was tempting to keep fishing, but when we were home at 1 in the night Kristian was quite happy there was not even more to fillet.
Leaving Qooqqut and Karolina enjoying the view in front of the boat while sailing pass the few houses left at the settlement.
The landscape was incredibly beautiful on the way home to Nuuk. If you like this picture you would indeed have liked the real scenery. It was spectacular! Notice how steep the mountains are. The peak on the right in the picture is about 1,3 km high. That does not seem of so much, but it is, when it is a perpendicular wall of bare rock raising from the water surface.
Another view of the landscape on the way home. This picture is taken at around 22.
Near Nuuk we see the Sermitsiaq mountain, that we have been writing about before. This time featuring an UFO disguised in a cloud. If you look close you can even see the landing gear/place where they "beam up" people.
Home and very tired after a long day. The view is from our apartment towards Sermitsiaq at 01.00.
We came home to a pursing Isa, who was very, very, very interested in the fishes. And yes, he had more samples than he could eat. We were not ready to bed until after 3 and felt asleep feeling a bit more than exhausted. Even thought the trip only had been a bit more than a day it felt like a week and our minds are so full of experiences that it feels a bit flat writing about it. We hope you enjoyed the pictures though!
