Saturday, September 5: Kulusuk
We had a slow day waiting for the flight from Keflavik to Kulusuk. We didn’t have to check out of the hotel until 12:30, so we had a late breakfast and walked around the beach by the lighthouses again. Then it was time for luggage tetris to make everything fit in the weight limits for the Icelandair flight to Greenland. With that accomplished, we set off as a group for Keflavik international.
It was a short flight on a small plane, which seems strange for an international flight across the north Atlantic, but once we saw how tiny the Kulusuk airstrip was, it all made sense. The approach to Greenland is awe inspiring. Towering, glacier-covered towering cliffs rising straight out of the ocean. It seems uninhabitable, but sure enough, there are these small patches of relatively flat land tucked away in the fjords that house small communities. This is Kulusuk.
We learned that Kulusuk has a population of about 120 people, and yes, they live here year-round. There is an “airport”, which is really just a short gravel strip and a single building that serves as the terminal. There is no passport control or customs. You just walk through the one-room lounge to the front side of the building and pick your bags off of a trailer that is pulled up by a tractor.
There is one hotel in town. It is reasonable sized, with probably 30 rooms. It is also the single restaurant in town. We had dinner with cod, a couple of types of fish I didn’t recognize, curry chicken and sausages. Then we ran out the door for some sunset shooting.
We found some beautiful scenery, and had just enough clouds to provide some color in the sky, which was better than the weather forecast told us to expect. The arctic sun still moves pretty slowly in early September, so we had a couple of hours composing different shots.
By the time we got back to the hotel it was just about time to head back out to try to catch the northern lights. The forecast wasn’t great, but the skies were clear. We weren’t outside for more than five minutes when the first ribbons appeared across the sky. It was almost like they were posing against the mountains and the hotel – a truly beautful sight.
We finally turned in around 12:30 and set the alarm for 5:45 to see if there was a decent sunrise. Sure enough, the sky lit up in oranges and reds, but it happened earlier than we expected. We only caught the tail end of it in pictures, but it was still a great experience. I hiked around the valley with a group member from Germany, and we discovered an overlook of the village of Kulusuk still catching some early morning light. We continued shooting for another 30 minutes or so before conceding that we had to get back to the hotel to catch breakfast.
Sunday, September 6: Tasiilaq
Next up was a boat ride to our final lodging locating in Tasiilaq, but we had a planned stop at the Apusiaajik glacier for some hiking and to explore an ice cave. We split into two groups of 8. Our group had a chance to fly our drones over the glacier and then go for a hike on the surface before getting into the cave. The ice cave was 100m deep, and probably 1.5-4m high. We were definitely bumping heads on the ice at times. It feels like an alien world, with just a touch of light filtering through the ice around you, just enough to see some depth in the ice and pick up the random textures that line the ceiling and walls.
The crew served us a picnic lunch at the landing area just off the glacier, definitely one of the more unique settings we’ve a had for a meal. We eight reindeer jerky sandwiches with cheese and salami and washed it down with hot chocolate. Then it was back to the boats to head to our base for the next few days – Tasiilaq.The cruise from Kulusuk to Tasiilaq took us out into the open ocean. Luckily it was a pretty calm day, so not too much tossing and turning (and no passengers turning green). We saw another pod of humpback whales during the ride and spent a few minutes following and photographing. It’s difficult enough to shoot action photos from the deck of a bobbing boat, but the ocean swells are an another whole level!
The town of Tasiilaq is a picturesque Greenlandic village, perched on several hills running straight into the fjord, with small colorful houses strewn about. This is the largest settlement on the east coast of Greenland, with approximately 2000 people. “Quaint” is the word that comes to mind. The alure is obvious, but you can’t help marveling how people survive in a place like this.
Our group had rented two small houses separated by about 500 meters. We split up and “unpacked” for the first time in over a week, as we would finally be staying put for 6 whole nights! The hosts cooked us a nice dinner of truly fresh cod (caught in the fjord around town earlier that day), and then we set out into town to look for some sunset shoots.
As it is in the Rocky Mountains, sunrise and sunset is quite difficult here. If there is a large mountain between your subject and the sun, “sunset” can come an hour before you expect it, and it likely happens before the light turns golden. This is what we experienced. Most of our group was fairly tired from a long day, but one of our guides, Greg, and I decided to hike up to the top of the tallest peak in town to see if there were any photo opportunities. We took a few shots of the town with the sun bathing the mountains across the fjord, but it wasn’t a dramatic sunset. We headed back to the cabins to rest for an hour or so before heading out once again looking for aurora.
We were lucky once again to have clear skies, and the aurora was more active tonight than the first night. We found an excellent location looking over the fjord with an iceberg floating in front of the mountains and the northern lights dancing above it all. I can think of no better word than “awesome”.
Unfortunately, my education in astrophotography continues. I had most everything right: a great composition, the right exposure and shutter speed, and focused my camera for a series of photos to make up a timelapse – a series of a few hundred photos taken immediately after the other that can be stitched together into a video. What I learned this night was that if you power cycle your mirrorless camera, it can reset the focus point. I did, and it did, and I didn’t check. As a result, I have a few hundred pictures of an awesome Greenlandic aurora display that are all fuzzy!
Monday, September 7: Tasiilaq
The plan for our stay in Tasiilaq is generally to have slow mornings. We didn’t get up for sunrise, as we were pretty well worn out from the long day on Sunday. We started with a basic breakfast, then we had a couple of hours to try to charge batteries, sort our photos and get ready for the day. Our cook, Anahs, served up a large barbeque lunch with grilled Meinke whale, along with lamb chops from southern Greenland, potato salad, and corn on the cob, which was most definitely not local.
We then got dressed for our excursion and walked down to the local dock to meet the group. We boarded our boat, “Thor”, and headed back out to sea. This time we were cruising up the Sermilik fjord to the Johann Peterson fjord. Along the way we cruised by massive calving icebergs and spotted a few more humpback whales before going ashore at the glaciers at the end of the fjord. I was able to fly my drone for some unique aerial views of the glaciers and icebergs. Then it was time to turn back around.
We stopped at an abandoned fishing village near the mouth of the fjord called Ikkatteq. The village was abandoned in the 2000’s, but it is still used for temporary shelter. There are a handful of buildings scattered across the hillside, with a view out to the ocean. It was a nice place for a sunset shoot. Then we scrambled onto the boats to race out to an iceberg to try to catch it while the clouds were still blazing orange.
The ride back to town was smooth and uneventful, which is fantastic when you are in a small boat exposed to the north Atlantic. We had just enough time to climb the hill back to our house and switch out gear for the aurora. By the time we left the house, you could immediately see the skies were lit up. There were some clouds over the fjord, so we had to find a spot looking in the other direction. We came across a cemetery filled with white crosses reaching up a hillside. It was a bit creepy, but also made for a unique image. I finally got the pieces to come together to capture some northern lights imagery!
Around 12:30, we headed back to the house to finally get some rest. The next day would be another marathon.
Tuesday, September 8: Tasiilaq
I once again skipped out on sunrise to catch a little more sleep. After breakfast, the group gathered for an “image processing session”, where the guides show us tips and tricks for how to get the most out of our images. These are extremely helpful, as the professional cameras we use actually output a fairly bland version of the images that are intended to be tailored to your personal taste.
We ate some grilled chicken and pasta for lunch, mostly to satisfy the non-fish eaters among us, but it was tasty nonetheless. Then it was back to the boats for a cruise up the Ammassillip fjord to see the Tunup Kuua river delta and the abandoned American World War II base at Bluie East 2.
We flew drones around the river delta and the surrounding icebergs, but the wind was a bit to strong for my drone, and the surrounding terrain caused me to keep losing contact, so it was a short trip. We joined the rest of the group at the abandoned base. The site was a striking juxtaposition, with rusted 1940’s military vehicles, scores of old fuel drums, and a collapsed hanger, surrounded by pristine mountain peaks and glaciers. It made for some interesting photo opportunities, but it’s a bit outside of my experience set.
Once we finished at the base, we got back on the boats and cruised to another abandoned fishing village called Forladt Bygd. This was on a small island with just a handful of houses perched on the hills. As the sun dipped behind the hills, we were presented with a fabulous light show. The sky shifted through an array of reds, oranges and purples for about 20 minutes. I went a bit crazy taking pictures, convinced that each one was better than the last. This is what arctic sunlight can do, and combined with the landscapes is a big reason photographers are drawn to arctic regions.
The day wasn’t done yet. Once again, we saw the skies clearing up as darkness set in. It was almost like the weather was tailor made for us. Great clouds in the evening, and no clouds at night for the aurora. A couple of us mustered the energy to hike from our house back down to the waterfront for another aurora display, this one even better than the last. The ribbons danced in the sky, moving almost as fast as waves rolling up onto shore. It was a spectacle, and I feel blessed to have been able to see it, let alone capture in in images.
So after another 18 hour day of photographing, hiking and boating, we returned to the house and crashed, dreaming of what new opportunities the next day would bring.
Wednesday, September 9: Tasiilaq
We woke up early to shoot the sunrise and hiked to an overlook above the town. Within a few minutes, a truck drove up with a couple of guys who asked what we were doing. When he learned we were photographers, he smiled and got back in his truck. Later, Anahs told us there is a local facebook group that started buzzing about the strange people standing above the town, which prompted someone to take a look. It seems that Tasiilaq has a neighborhood watch!
After breakfast, we had a little time for a “post-processing” session. In the early afternoon we walked across town to “dog city”, where there is a pen for Greenlandic sled dogs. We walked around the dogs for an hour or so, petting the puppies (the adults are chained, and generally not people friendly) and photographing as they interacted with us and with each other. I’m certain this was Lara’s favorite part of the trip.
Anahs had prepared fresh salmon for dinner, caught in the adjacent fjord a couple of days before – another delicious meal. Lara and I had picked up a bottle of Pinot Noir, which went fantastically well with the salmon, but the day wasn’t done yet.
We had a sunset cruise around the local harbor, photographing icebergs and landing on a small island in the middle of the harbor. We learned that several of these islands have sled dogs on them too,. These were not chained, so we had to be selective about where we landed. This sunset was a bit of a bust, as clouds were starting to roll in ahead of the storm that was predicted for the next day. I tried taking a panoramic photo of the town from the island, just as the lights were coming on.
That must have sparked my blue hour thirst, because I had to stop a few times on the walk back up to the house photographing the town in the late evening light. This is another new challenge, figuring out how to balance the lights from the streetlamps and houses with the natural shadows of late evening. That would be it for the day. With the clouds covering the town, there would be no view of the aurora. It’s a shame to miss an opportunity, but the chance to turn in early and get some rest was definitely welcome.
Thursday, September 10: Tasiilaq
The storm had clearly settled in. There was no point in looking for a sunrise, or much of anything else for that matter. The town was blanketed in thick, low clouds that hid most of the natural scenery around us. We took a walk to a shipwreck site near town and attempted to capture some of the moodiness. It happened to be low tide when we reached the site, which diminished the visual appeal.
We returned to the site several hours later when it was nearing high tide. This made a world of difference. Not only did it cover up some of the debris from what was clearly the local nautical junk yard, but it also created opportunities to use reflections of the boats. I wish the clouds had cooperated better. They had lifted just enough during the walk back to the site that you could see the snow on the surrounding peaks, while there were still some low-lying clouds that wisped between the mountains. It could have been stunning, but it still ended up quite nice.
Before returning to the house, Lara wanted to explore the local museum. Keep in mind that this is a community of about 2000 people, with Inuit roots and language, governed by Denmark. As you might imagine, it was fairly small and not a lot of English. There were some interesting artifacts, like a narwhal tooth. Oh, how I wish we could have seen a narwhal!
Anahs made steak for dinner tonight, mostly to appeal to the foreign appetites. It was very nice, and, I have to admit, a welcome break from fish. After dinner, the owner of the local tour company, Lars, told us stories about what it was like to live in Tasiilaq, about the high suicide rate in the town, and several stories from hunting whales, seals and polar bears. He had also just come from a meeting with the Greenland Minister of the Interior, so we got to hear some political insight as well.
One of the more interesting points that Lars made is that the town is becoming dependent on tourism. As an example, he said there used to be 350 dogs around the town. Now there are only 50 or so. They are simply too expensive to feed, and if tourists aren’t coming during the winter to take dog sled tours, the economy just doesn’t support a large population. You can’t help but get the sense that Tasiilaq, and all of eastern Greenland for that matter, is hanging on by a thread.
That was pretty much it for the day. The rain continued well into the night, giving us an excuse to hit the sack early ahead of what was sure to be another long day.
Friday, September 11: Tasiilaq
Friday, September 11, the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, was our last full day in Greenland. We woke early again to see the sunrise. The clouds were still fairly thick over the town, so the colors were fairly muted, but the mist and low hanging clouds provided plenty of atmosphere. There were a couple of down hours before an early lunch, Anahs served up fresh arctic char, ahead of a long day on the boats.
The plan for today was to cruise through a narrow fjord to the village of Tiilerilaaq, an outlying community of about 120 people on the Sermiilik fjord. We disembarked the boats and hiked around the town for a couple of hours. These towns are picturesque, but they are also real. There were pleasant things, like children playing in a playground, and not so good things, like a significant amount of trash stewn around the town.
It’s a reminder of how hard life must be in these remote areas. There was no running water in the town, though they did have electricity, along with 4G cell service. The people survive off of fishing and hunting. Most houses had some structure for drying fish, and several had fresh fish hanging out. We captured a mix of images, both idyllic and real, to remind ourselves of this place.
We left Tiilerilaaq a bit before sunrise to cruise through the fjord photographing icebergs. We only saw one whale during the cruise, which felt like a disappointment, but we were surrounded by ice ranging from massive blocks to small carvings. Some of the ice was almost glowing in that amazing sapphire colors that glacier ice can produce. We enjoyed the ice for 30 minutes or so, hopping from berg to berg until it was time to find our sunset spot.
We came across a small island in the middle of the fjord with views in every direction, and quickly spread out looking for our sunset compositions, but before we could start shooting, a few of us had another activity on the docket. Four of us had committed to a Greenland version of the “polar plunge” we had done in Antarctica. We headed back to the boats and stripped down to our swim trunks.
Yes, it was cold. The sun was going down, and the wind was starting to blow. The water must have been around 35 degrees Fahrenheit, which was actually warmer than the jump in Antarctica. When you jump in, you are immediately shocked by the cold, but having done it before, it wasn’t as overwhelming this time. I took a few seconds to swim back to the boat and climb up the ladder. That’s when things really start to feel cold!
In a crazy demonstration of Murphy’s on-going power, the moment we did the plunge, the boat battery somehow shorted out and killed power on our boat. Naturally, the electrical access panel was under the seat where I had put my clothes, and the two captains had immediately set to work trying to restore power. I had no choice but to stand in the cold cabin and wait. I was certainly awake at this point!
We had another picnic dinner with reindeer sandwiches and cheese – and some hot cocoa! Once again, it was an incredible picnic spot. Sunset wasn’t dazzling, but the surrounds were simply amazing. Mountains draped in clouds. Icebergs all around. The island had a lot of interesting little rock formations and pools of water that would reflect the clouds. And every so often the light would just kiss a small patch of land. We stayed until nearly dark, we were enjoying ourselves so much.
The boat ride was about an hour to get back to Tasiilaq and required us to poke back out into the ocean to reach the adjacent fjord. The water was starting to stir up again, so it was a pretty bumpy ride, but nothing compared to our Iceland adventure. The clouds were thick overnight, so once again no aurora. We had seen the last of the northern lights for now. That was probably for the best, as we had to start packing up again to fly back to Reykjavik in the morning, and that meant solving the weight jigsaw puzzle one last time.
Saturday, September 12: Kulusuk and Keflavik
In the morning, we took our last boat ride of the trip to get back to the airport in Kulusuk, then the roughly 2 hour flight back to Keflavik. We were staying at the hotel adjacent to the airport so we could easily board the early morning flights that many of our group had. Greg and Nick organized an “image review”, where we all selected 3 photos to show to the group.
It wasn’t a critique, just an opportunity to see what everyone else had captured. The results were stunning, and it was a great way to relive the week before heading home. I’m still gobsmacked by the places we went and the sites we saw. It seems highly unlikely that we will ever find ourselves back in Tasiilaq, but I choose to ignore that reality and dream about the possibility of going back and checking in on the place some day. Until then, we have thousands of photos and a fair amount of video clips to help us remember this incredible adventure.
