Arctic Expedition
The moment I stepped out of the small airplane onto the and cold wind cut through all the clothes I had on. I pulled up the zipper of my jacket and pulled my beanie as much over my ears as I could. I had arrived in Greenland.
A wide and bare landscape made of rocks, grass and moss stretched out in front of me. At the bottom of the hill was Nuuk, with 6000 inhabitants the capital of Greenland, a huge country the size of Europe with a population of only 57,000, and the least dense country in the world.
In Nuuk I stepped on the weekly ferry up North above the Arctic Circle all the way to Ilulissat, a 2-day voyage. In Ilulissat the real adventure started
Stand up paddleboard before, but they seemed very shy and didn’t ask many questions. They looked at me and smiled as I left the dock. I always have to get used to the weight of packed with food and water for 8 days, safety gear, navigation equipment, my ‘sup bed’ and plenty of warm clothes. I was the plane with me all the way from Maui and change the way we can explore, now almost any destination you can go and use a SUP. Today was a perfect arctic day with blue skies and decent icebergs.
Ilulissat, which means Iceberg in Greenlandic is situated next to the most producing glacier in the Northern hemisphere. 50 meters a day and 20 billion tons every year calve of the glacier and I was paddling right between those icebergs. Ice windy days this would be a very dangerous task, and a big risk of being crushed by the ever-moving ice. Later I heard stories of Norwegian Kayakers who got crushed between the icebergs further up North.
Paddling between the icy giants was very fascinating and in the beginning almost frightening at the same time. Every minute you would hear a loud, sometimes thunder like, sound of an iceberg breaking off which sometimes set a whole set of movements in motion. I saw a small piece break off after which the whole 100 ft tall iceberg turned upside down in a slow motion. Or an even taller iceberg totally collapsed and created waves that could easily throw you over.
I paddled and took photos until well after midnight. The last few hours was an endless sunset and then just when you think it will set, the sun starts to rise again.
The 24-hour daylight was actually very useful while I was paddling, but until now I never had to wear my Maui Jim sunglasses 24/7.
the big icebergs remained which were spread apart in front of me. It was another 50 miles to Aasiaat , the next small town. I was loving my new drysuit from Supskin, which had been so much more comfortable than the wetsuit I had been paddling in on other trips. It is made of a breathable material and is very light and most important of all I could wear anything I would like underneathit. But I was tired of all the paddling and excitement