Qaqortoq (population: 3,200) is South Greenland’s largest city. It’s the place if you absolutely need to visit Greenland’s one and only outdoor fountain, must deliver a baby or want to experience a seal skin tannery where dead seals go in and hideous purple and yellow seal skin vests come out. Qaqortoq is also a convenient place to say goodbye.
On the third morning we bid farewell to Bal and Emily who really just jetted to Greenland for two days. We also left 7 others in our group who decided to return to base camp in Narsaq by boat. At this point their kayak vacation from hell turned into a week of leisurely strolls, pub crawls, crepe making parties and taking copious amounts of kayaking pictures from shore and posting them on Facebook.
It was a foggy and wet morning.
At one point we had to take all kayaks out of the water and slide them over a hill to the other side of the fjord. This old viking routine saved us two days of kayaking and gave us two days’ worth of shoulder pain.
Beni, Andras, Peter and I sailed out of Qaqortoq harbor on the morning of July 12th in pouring rain, fog and some sleet. Andras is a 48 year old IT entrepreneur and programmer. Peter is an avid mountain climber and geography teacher. Beni is the guy with the pink bathing suit and the travel spice rack.
There was a definitive shift in group dynamics from that morning on. Everyone was ready on time. There was no complaining, just working together as a team, but at the same time enjoying our own pace, tranquility and Zen.
By late afternoon the sleet and fog have vanished and we sailed south by the feet of sparkling icebergs under a golden arctic sun.
The fog has disappeared by late afternoon and conditions were perfect.
A young humpback whale outside of our camp.
Camping some 25 kilometers south of Qaqortoq.
Keep The Coast On Your Left 