Ferry adventure along Greenland’s west coast

TRAVEL Greenland

“The sea is really quite gentle today – it’s just like being rocked to sleep like a baby!” says Lars, smiling broadly from the Sarfaq Ittuk’s information booth on deck three. He’s not wrong. The slow rolling – up and down and up again – is relaxing. It’s all the more relief for someone who’s never been on a ferry at sea before.

As I travel with the passenger ferry from Nuuk to Ilulissat, it’s obvious Greenland is a place unlike any other. The high, snow-covered coastline seems reminiscent of giant scoops of vanilla ice cream – some parts of the coast even have the same rounded shape. The inky blue water is dotted all around with the white caps of waves – like sprinkles on a blueberry kaffemik cake, the traditional Greenlandic dessert. The smell of salt air fills the nostrils – it’s a real high-seas adventure! No wonder so many children are running around pretending to be pirates.

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A ferry ride up the Greenlandic coast is a great way to meet locals and experience spectacular scenery.

TEXT: Ben Mack

Ships have provided transport by sea between settlements up and down the western coast of Greenland for centuries. The Arctic Umiaq Line came into existence a bit more recently, in 2006, though its roots go

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04 01 A snowy aerial view the town of Ilulissat.

Photo: Benjamin Hardman. 02 The M/S Sarfaq Ittuk sails year-round along Greenland’s western coastline. 03 The observation lounge on deck four is the perfect spot to watch wildlife and meet fellow passengers. 04 To reach some communities like Kangaamiut, it’s necessary to take a smaller boat to shore.

Photos 02–04: Ben Mack.

back to 1774, when it was known as Den Kongelige Gronlandske Handel (“The Royal Greenland Trading Company”). Its sole ship in operation, the M/S Sarfaq Ittuk, sails year-round, from Qaqortoq in the South of Greenland up to Ilulissat, about 350 km (217 miles) north of the Arctic Circle.

With Nuuk in the middle of the route, it’s convenient for people from north and south. Among the passengers is Mike, who after starting the day with an open-faced sandwich, strawberry yoghurt and coffee in the bluecarpeted cafeteria on deck three, says he’s returning home to Sisimiut after a holiday in the capital with his wife and daughter. There’s also the young Danish couple who, like me, are heading to Ilulissat. In the cosy viewing area with blue couches at the back of deck four (a favourite spot on the five-deck ship), other passengers have similar stories. Speaking of stories, the imagination goes wild as we arrive in Kangaamiut in midmorning, the billowing wind-blown snow obscuring the brightly-painted houses perched on the steep sides of hills. Amid the winter twilight, it feels like being in a real-life mystery novel.

On day three, after many of the passengers had disembarked in Sisimiut, Greenland’s second-largest town, the glass-smooth seas are streaked with white lines in mesmerising geometrical patterns as far as the eye can see: ice! Yet we pass through smoothly – it’s as if we’re floating on top. Outside, the only sounds are the cries of five white-and-blackstriped thick-billed murres, flapping their large wings as they occasionally dive towards the water before soaring back up to the nearly cloudless sky. In the distance float enormous icebergs. Several storeys high, they appear many times bigger than the ship. As we finally sail into Ilulissat at about half past three in the afternoon, the lights of the town are shining across the dark water (it was long after the sun had gone down for the day) like stars in space. It seems the Mother of the Sea – Sassuma Arnaa – wants us all to remember the voyage.

Ilulissat

Nuuk Qaqortoq Reykjavík

Air Iceland Connect flies between Reykjavik and Nuuk two to three times a week, yearround, and to Ilulissat from March to April and June to September. The ferry sails year-round, from Ilulissat to Qaqortoq. It departs from Nuuk on Tuesdays and Fridays. Check out the Arctic Umiaq Line’s website for more information.