Amazing Icebergs

North America » Greenland » West Greenland
September 2nd 2008

Published: September 2nd 2008

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shell25

Happy Birthday

Enjoying my Greenlandic coffee

The guide book said “this is why you have spent all that money to come to Greenland” and they were right. Ilulissat was magnificent.

We arrived in Ilulissat (300 kms north of the Arctic Circle) on Monday 25th (Michelle's Birthday.) We celebrated with some Musk-ox for dinner followed by a “Greenlandic Coffee” - coffee with whiskey, Kahlua & Grand Marnier, topped with cream and set alight. Very Nice.

Our first day we opted for the boat tour to the icefjord, the sky was grey , the wind was cold but the sights were amazing. Icebergs towering 50-100 metres out of the water. That afternoon the boys were desperate to collect some pieces of icebergs so we wandered to the shore where small pieces had drifted in close enough for them to pick up. Jake put a small piece in his pocket and brought it back to the hotel and put it in the freezer- for later.

Our second day we decided to take explore the icefjord by land, taking a 9km hike ( a very long 9kms piggybacking Emily). This track led us down to Sermermiut , an area inhabited by different cultures over the past 4000 years,

Family Photo

Boat Trip to the Icefjord

then up along a ridge overlooking the icefjord.

We sat up on a hill overlooking the icebergs in the fjord and were lucky enough to witness a small chunk break of an iceberg. One can usually sit here and enjoy the complete silence other than the noise of the ice cracking, we were not able to experience complete silence as we always had the sound of “mummy mummy mummy”, regardless still a sight to remember.

We continued along the track until Harrison’s toes were too cold to walk any further. We stopped for lunch and some toe warming. Once everyone was happy again we hiked for another couple of hours, going off the track to the highest point for another great view.

On our third day we took a helicopter trip which flew very low along the massive icefjord and up to the glacier allowing spectacular views of the glacier face. Thank goodness for digital cameras.

Despite our early departure Friday morning we wanted to take in one last look at the Icefiord/icebergs so after dinner we took another small hike. It was well worth it. What an amazing sight, we managed to witness another Iceberg

Towering icebergs

Calving off the same iceberg as the other day and crash into the water creating a mini tsunami. Guess the signs are there for a reason.

Ilulissat is not only the place to see Icebergs it is a sled dog town- more dogs than people, this is very evident as you walk around the town especially the outskirts We were heading back from our last hike and saw some locals feeding the dogs. Their was a new litter of puppies and Jake had a hold of a 5-day-old husky.

We are in Scotland now but will Blog about that later.!!

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