Travel
I have always been fascinated with the isolation and mystique of Greenland. After years of anticipation, last summer, mid July 2000, I decided to book an adventure cruise to Greenland. I have been traveling around the world by plane for many years, but had never traveled by ship. I had always viewed traveling on large cruise ships to be dull and quite boring. Somehow, spending my free time with 4,000 people on a ship seems crowded and uneventful.
The tour company that I chose used a converted Russian research vessel where the size of the ship was limited to 100 passengers. My friends who all like to travel on luxury cruise ships for their vacations were asking me questions like: “What kind of activities will you have on the ship?” “Do you have a formal dining room?” “Will you be getting dressed up for dinner?” etc.
You can imagine the look on their faces when I responded, “Our activities involve lectures, zodiac trips going ashore and viewing the icebergs.” There is only one dining room where you seat yourself. “I plan on wearing my best polar fleece for dinner. Does that count as formal wear?”
Our tour started out from Goosebay, Canada where we boarded our ship that evening. Once we cleared the Bay we preceded to head north along the Canadian coastline. The sunset was spectacular. It mesmerized me as it hung on the horizon. The reds, oranges and yellows were so vivid that there was no need to put a filter on the camera. It was one of the longest sunsets that I had ever experienced. The shapes of the clouds and their colors changed constantly. Several roles of film later, it was time to head to the bar to toast the start of our journey.
On the 3rd day at sea we began to see our first icebergs. This was really exciting for me, as I had only seen icebergs from high up in a plane. Soon we were dropping anchor close to an iceberg and lowering the zodiac boats into the water. I had never been in a zodiac, so this was going to be another first. I had been really looking forward to riding around, Jacque Cousteau style, in one of these small crafts.
Kangamiut
The next morning we awoke to find the town of Kangamiut, Greenland outside our port windows. I found it interesting that the ship had to set anchor quite a distance from shore since the coastline was extremely rocky. We were shuttled ashore by zodiac craft. The water was calm and the sun was shining on the beautiful backdrop of the different color houses set amongst the rocky shoreline.
The town of Kangamiut is a great photo opportunity. The variety of bright color houses set in the mountain is unique and picturesque. I recommend climbing to the top of the mountain that over looks the town to capture some interesting pictures of landscape and scenery. I used my 28-70mm lens so I could get the entire town set in the mountain in my frame. My circular polarizer filter came in handy since there was still a slight morning haze over the town. The polarized filter helped to deepen the different colors of the houses and bring out more of the contrast of the rocky landscape and water. The water in Kanagamiut is extremely clear with many shades of blue. That morning the sunrays were just bouncing off the water making everything sparkle.
Some photographic challenges: mosquitoes, mosquitoes, and mosquitoes! During the summer months Greenland is overcome by a larger than normal variety of these thirsty insects. My best advice: “Bring DEET.” Forget the other lotions and sprays, they don't work. Nothing is more frustrating then trying to take a picture, looking down and finding your hands covered with mosquitoes. Even with the jacket hoods up over our head they would still fly inside the hood and bite you on the back of the neck. Forget about wearing shorts or a T-shirt on this trip. You would be a main course meal to these guys.
Some interesting facts about Kangamiut· Although it has a bank, it does not exchange any international currency. Greenland's money exchange is the Danish Krone. Unless it is food you are looking for, there are no souvenirs to purchase in town. There are only a few dirt roads in Kangamiut, which are used for walking and small utility vehicles. There are no cars for you can walk from one end of the town to the other in a few minutes. Another interesting note is that in Greenland there are no “interstate” roads or train system. You cannot drive from one town to the next. Greenland is still in its infancy in learning about tourism. If you are looking for the touristy things to do, Greenland is not the place to go. If you are looking for a small adventure, taking in beautiful scenery and exploring the vast remote countryside, then Greenland is for you.
Ilulissat
The next morning Ilulissat harbor beckoned from my window. As I leaned out my window from the ship I thought, Piqalujait Unuktualulaungmatta! (Inuktitut phrase for “My, what a big bunch of icebergs!”). If you had only one town that you could visit in Greenland, I would strongly recommend Ilulissat.
Ilulissat is larger than Kangamiut with paved roads, cars and trucks running throughout the town. I still wonder how many tourists get hit each year by the oncoming traffic in this town? No kidding. One has to really watch out when walking along side the road. You can exchange your money in town at the local bank, and there are even a few souvenir shops to buy postcards, books, sweatshirts, T-shirts, etc. Yes, you can even buy exquisite seal fur skin coats in the shops. Thankfully, the US government has a ban on all seal skin fur entering the country.
The town of Ilulissat is more prepared for tourists with restaurants, hotels and a few tour companies. But the true treasures of Ilulissat lie just outside of the town. Walk to the edge of town or take the taxi (yes taxi) to the outskirts of town where the road ends. From there, hike out to the Kangerlua ice fjords. The total hike from town out to the fjords is probably no more then a mile and a half, give or take. It is well worth the hike out to the Kangerlua ice fjords. The view from the top of the mountain is spectacular. The fjord runs about 28 miles. This is the exit point where the icebergs break off from the fjord and enter into the bay.
At Kangerlua fjords, I used my 35-70mm lens (along with polarizer filter) for the wide angle shots to capture the depth of the ice fields and reduce the snow glare. The 80-200mm came in handy for focusing on specific ice formations within the ice field. I was surprised to see a beautiful color shade of blue amongst the ice. Make sure that after taking your pictures, you put your camera away and just sit and absorb the breathtaking sight before you. It is magnificent. At times, you can even hear the ice crack and fall into the water. The roar from the ice falling sounds like thunder.
Back in town, the Arctic Hotel overlooks the bay. In the spring, days could be spent watching the icebergs break off and float by. The Arctic Hotel even offers a few unique, separate igloo shaped rooms that are located on the small mountainside that overlooks the bay.
If time permits, I strongly recommend going to the Ilulissat Tourist Service to book a helicopter ride out to see Jakobshavn Glacier. The flight out, back, and time on the glacier takes a few hours. It is definitely well worth the money to do this trip. Leaving from the small airport just outside town, you fly out to the glacier in a roomy 21 passenger Sikorsky helicopter. Jakobshavn Glacier is the start of where all the icebergs are formed.
The scenery and the ride itself in the helicopter are an experience I'm not sure I can justly describe. Remember the scene in the Star Wars movie where the fighter plane flew in between the snow-capped mountains? Well, this helicopter ride was 10 times more exciting. Our pilots flew the helicopter in between the icebergs, dipping down really low. This ride out to the glacier was just as exciting as the view. The helicopter then landed on a small rocky mountaintop in the middle of nowhere. We were in the center of the ice field surrounded by 360 degrees of ice. Totally awesome!!!
To photograph Jakobshavn Glacier I used my 35-70mm lens. You definitely will need to use the polarizer filter to cut down on the glare from the ice field and bring out the definition in the icebergs. The tour allows for a half hour to walk around outside the helicopter. Since it is a small area, this is plenty of time to take pictures and take in this magnificent view. I would suggest that if you do have a camcorder, film the flight out or back from the glacier. Definitely take pictures on one part of the journey, but put the camera away on the return flight and just enjoy the ride and the view. I can't stress this enough. This was an incredible journey and experience.
After our helicopter ride we proceed back to the ship for dinner. As we set sail away from Ilillisat, it was nearing 11pm. We are above the Arctic Circle where the sun is out for nearly 24 hours. The sun was hovering about the horizon creating yet another night of a spectacular near sunset. There was a golden glow generating off the icebergs from the sun with a beautiful cloud formation above. Once again, the colors were so alive and vivid that you did not need to use a filter. As I sat up on the deck of the ship sailing past the icebergs with my drink in hand, parka on, I thought, “Life doesn't get much better then this”. Mother Nature was definitely putting on a spectacular show that evening.
Godhavn, Disko Island
Sisimiut
After leaving Godhavn, we set sail back south to Sisimiut. Sisimiut was the largest of the towns that we visited in Greenland. This was also the only town that we were able to dock the ship in since we left Goosebay. Sisimiut has its own infrastructure of roads for the cars, trucks and buses. Sisimiut was mixed with houses and apartment houses throughout the town. There were several restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, a conference center, stores, banks, a post office and of course souvenir shops. I was not overly impressed with Sisimiut since it was like a small city. There was nothing in the immediate area that I found of any interest. The ship used the time to refuel and take on more water for its tanks.
Evigheds Fjord “The Eternal Fjord”
After leaving Sisimiut, the next morning we sailed throughout Evigheds Fjords, “The Eternal Fjord”. We were treated to a zodiac ride along a large ice field that flowed from the mountain into the water. It was quite spectacular to see up close. There were so many different shades of blue ice imbedded in the ice field. Since our zodiac ride was in calm waters and the drivers took their time, I brought all my gear along. I used the 35-70mm lens to capture the vastness of the ice field. The 80-200mm came in handy to take close up shots of sections of the blue ice and crevices.
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Angmarqoq Fjord & Bird Cliffs
From Evigheds Fjord we sailed over to the Angmarqoq Fjord. Angmarqoq Fjord was a real treat for us. It was here where we hiked in on some rough terrain and were able to photograph some unique mountainous scenery with a thin layer of clouds hovering in the middle of the mountain range. I used my macro lens to capture the various small unique vegetation and flowers growing throughout this 
terrain.
Later in the day we had the fortune of getting a zodiac ride close to a large area of cliffs where we saw Iceland Gulls, razorbills, murres and kittiwakes nesting. This was the first time that I had seen thousands of birds all throughout the cliffs. It was quite fascinating. Although the zodiacs sailed close to the cliffs, the birds and nest were up quite high. Even with my 80-200mm with 1.4x teleconverter I was unable to capture close-up shots of the birds. They still looked like specs when I had my pictures developed. The real challenge was hand holding the lens while in the zodiac.
Itivdleq
Itivdleq was the smallest of the towns that we visited. It was scenic with a variety of different color houses scattered throughout. There was not much to see in this town. There was a dirt road that ran throughout the town, no cars in site. There was a church, school and grocery store in town.
Sondre Stromfjord
From Itivdleq we sailed down the Sondre Stromfjord. It is the largest fjord and over 72 miles long. Sondre Stromfjord was quite unique and exciting to travel through. Around each bend we took there was always something different to look at and photograph. On some of the mountain ranges you could see the lava veins from ancient volcanic lava flows. Due to the closeness of the mountain range on either side of the ship I primarily used my 35-70mm lens for capturing the mountainside and fjord. As we sailed further into Sondre Stromfjord, there were many spectacular and unique ice fields that flowed from the top of the mountain down into the water. I used the 80 - 200mm lens to capture the unique patterns in the ice field flows.
Our voyage down the Sondre Stromfjord took almost 2 days. On the last day through the fjord, we awoke to find the ship anchored off shore. The depth of the water is too shallow to bring the ship close to land. We embarked on our zodiacs for the last time with all our hand luggage belongings to head for shore. We then boarded buses for a tour of the Kangerlussuaq area. Our local guides drove us several miles outside of town past the golf course. Yes, Greenland has a golf course. There is no green grass, just hard dirt, but it is an official 18-hole golf course. They even have annual golf competitions here. We eventual came to a wide-open area with a massive ice glacier. Off in the distance, in the fields around the glacier, we saw reindeer and musk oxen for the first time. After touring the ice glacier we proceeded to Kangerlussuaq airport where we boarded our charter plane back to Ottawa, Canada.
Traveling to Greenland is not for everyone. It is for a more nature loving and adventurous person. Thankfully, Greenland is still unspoiled and in the rough, not your ordinary tourist trap spot. Keep in mind that Greenland does not have much to offer for photographing wildlife. You will enjoy Greenland if you enjoy hiking and photographing unique terrain and ice fields and a little bit of adventure mixed in.
Additional pictures of Greenland can be viewed from the Gallery section of this website under Travel - Greenland.
Photography Equipment Used
The following is the Nikon equipment that I used for photographing Greenland:
Nikon F100 camera body: At the time I was still purchasing my photography equipment and did not have a second backup camera body. I have since purchased the Nikon N80, which complements the F100 and is a lighter body weight. At the time of my Greenland trip, my backup camera was an old Nikon “point and shoot” which was great to use for the times when I did not want to drag out all my camera gear.
Nikon AF-S 28-70mm f2.8 lens - I used this lens for shooting the “wide angle” shots of the towns from the deck of the ship or the zodiac. This lens is great to use when you are up close and personal amongst the icebergs on your zodiac cruise. When traveling through the Sondre Stromfjords this lens worked perfectly since the mountains were fairly close on either side of the ship.
Nikon AF-S 80-200mm f2.8 lens - Great zoom lens to use for shooting distance shots of the villages and icebergs from the ship. The ship gets in fairly close so it is not necessary to use a longer zoom lens.
Nikon TC-14E Teleconverter (1.4x) - When using this teleconverter with the 80-200mm lens I was able to increase my zoom to a power of 320mm for the times that I needed more focal length.
Nikon 105mm f2.8 micro lens - A macro (Nikon calls it a micro) lens is fun to use on the long hikes we had up the mountains. Greenland has such unique and limited floral vegetation. I enjoyed taking a break on the long treks we had to focus on some of the smaller scenery.
Tiffen Haze filter & Circular Polarizer filter - I mainly use the Haze filter to protect my camera lens. On our early morning bright hazy and sunny days I would just leave the Circular Polarizer filter on my lens. I found that by using the polarizer on a sunny day, the vivid multiple colors of the houses just would “pop” right out at you.
Film - at the time of my trip I was shooting just prints, Fuji's 100 & 200ASA speed film. I have since switched over to slide film and would recommend using Fuji Provia 100ASA. I have been satisfied with the color results of the Provia and feel it would be an excellent choice for photographing the colorful houses in the various towns. On the cloudy days I would use 200ASA Fuji film. Depending on how much film you like to shoot, plan on using about 7 - 10 rolls per day. The weather can change quickly in Greenland. If heavy fog and rain set in, it will be difficult to shoot any pictures.
Tripod - using a tripod on this particular trip would be difficult. The majority of my pictures were taken either on the ship, zodiac or from the helicopter ride. Most of the hikes were long and steep up the mountain. As I was also using a camcorder, I had no more room to carry a tripod. The terrain in Greenland is very uneven and would make for a challenge to use a tripod on land.
Tamrac backpack - The backpack comes in handy for carrying all my gear with me. The backpack works great on the long treks out to the ice fields and the climbs we took up the mountain. I was able to manage some serious climbing with at least one hand free; the other was used to hold the camcorder bag.
At the time of my trip the 80-200mm lens was my longest zoom lens. I have since purchased the Nikon VR 80-400mm lens. This lens would have been helpful during our zodiac cruise to the bird cliffs, but even so, we were still a distance away from the birds so not to disturb their nesting.
I would recommend taking a pocket size “point and shoot” camera along for the zodiac cruises. One never knows when the weather and water can be too rough to use your regular camera gear. A “point and shoot” works nicely when there is rain or the waves are splashing in on you while touring in the zodiac. Regular camera gear and lens do not hold up well to salt water where the small cameras can fit inside your rain gear.
For the days when the waves were rough, I would put my Tamrac backpack inside a large plastic garbage back to protect it from the salt water. I would keep it in the garbage back until we reached land and would just use my “point and shoot” camera during the zodiac ride in to shore. While on land I would use the plastic garbage bag as a drop sheet to kneel on and place my backpack on. It is great to prevent laying the camera bag in mud and wet grass.
Remember never to leave any plastic bags or lens cleaning paper on your shore visits. Always take them back to the ship and dispose of them there.
Greenland Information (all links open in a new window)
Official Greenland website: www.greenland-guide.dk/default.htm
Best time to go: late June to mid Aug. when the icebergs melt and recede.
Temperature: In mid July the temperature averaged from mid 40's to mid 70's on warm sunny days.
Passport required. Money is the Danish Krone. 3 hours ahead of EST.
Animals to see: whales, musk oxen and reindeers, we saw seals skinned at the fish market for sale.
Greenland is a country still in the development phase of tourism.
Here is a listing of Adventure Tourism companies that offer travel to various parts of Greenland:
Quark Expeditions - www.quarkexpeditions.com
Adventure Associates - www.adventureassociates.com
Peregrine - www.peregrine.net.au/entry.asp
Arctic Adventure Aps - www.arctic-adventure.dk/rd001.html
For the adventurous traveler to travel to Greenland without a tour company:
There are only 3 airline travel routes to Greenland.
From Copenhagen, Denmark to Kangerlussuaq & Narsarsuaq, Greenland via SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) or Greenlandair. Offering 5 - 10 weekly connections.
From Ottawa, Canada to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland via First Air offering 1 weekly connection.
From Keflavik, Iceland to Kulusuk, Greenland via Greenlandair or Air Iceland offering 3 weekly connections.
In Greenland there is no internal road or train system. One travel from town to town via flying Greenlandair by plane or helicopter or traveling up the coastline by Ferry the Artic Umiaq Line passenger ship. The ferry travels from the international airports Kangerlussuaq & Narsarsuaq.
For more on the Artic Umiaq ferry's schedule and route checkout their website at: www.greenland-guide.dk/aul/default.htm
Ilulissat's Arctic Hotel website: www.hotel-arctic.gl
Nature Photographer's Magazine: www.naturephotographermag.com
©2001, 2002 Lisa Keller Photography, LLC
the Gallereindeers, we saw seals skinned at the fish market for sale.
Greenland is a country still in the development phase of tourism.
Here is a listing of Adventure Tourism companies that offer travel to various parts of Greenland:
- Quark Expeditions - www.quarkexpeditions.com
- Adventure Associates - www.adventureassociates.com
- Peregrine - www.peregrine.net.au/entry.asp
- Arctic Adventure Aps - www.arctic-adventure.dk/rd001.html
For the adventurous traveler to travel to Greenland without a tour company:
There are only 3 airline travel routes to Greenland.
- From Copenhagen, Denmark to Kangerlussuaq & Narsarsuaq, Greenland via SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) or Greenlandair. Offering 5 - 10 weekly connections.
- From Ottawa, Canada to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland via First Air offering 1 weekly connection.
- From Keflavik, Iceland to Kulusuk, Greenland via Greenlandair or Air Iceland offering 3 weekly connections.
In Greenland there is no internal road or train system. One travel from town to town via flying Greenlandair by plane or helicopter or traveling up the coastline by Ferry the Artic Umiaq Line passenger ship. The ferry travels from the international airports Kangerlussuaq & Narsarsuaq.
For more on the Artic Umiaq ferry's schedule and route checkout their website at: www.greenland-guide.dk/aul/default.htm
Ilulissat's Arctic Hotel website: www.hotel-arctic.gl
Nature Photographer's Magazine: www.naturephotographermag.com
©2001, 2002 Lisa Keller Photography, LLC
