Extraordinary private charter to East Greenland on sailboat Opal
Fantastic 12 days in Opal from Húsavík to Scoresby Sund/Greenland
From July 18th- 30th 2014.
Snapshots from our fantastic trip.
Our trip to Greenland started from Húsavík the evening of July 19.
After two days crossing the Arctic sea in calm wind, seeing a lot of whales like Humpback-, Sperm-, Blue-, Fin whales and Dolphins, we arrived in Scoresby Sund (Ittoqqortoormit).
After visiting the small village, Ittoqqortoormit, we started the tour inside the fjord. We had news about polar bear in the area so we looked around and discovered the bear very soon on the land and had quite a good view.
Next observation of a polar bear was when we visited the abandoned, old village Cape Hope. A polar bear was suddenly seen lurking behind a house at the same moment when some of us were on the way up from the beach. The bear was relaxed and was eating a prey and the people on the beach returned safely back to schooner Opal.
Our plan was to explore Gåsefjord , but the fjord was closed because of ice.
We had to sail the opposite direction of what was previously planned, therefore heading for Bjørneøene and continued through towards Øfjord where we saw narwhales.
The weather was great the whole week and the view of all the icebergs in the shiny fjord was magnificent.
In Harefjord, we dropped the anchor in a very beautiful bay and did some hiking in the hills. The wildlife we saw was some musk ox, snow hares, seals and birds.
We caught a lot of fish, Arctic char, and the excellent cook onboard made the most delicious meal out of it.
Another hiking was in beneath the great canyons in Rødfjord on the way to Ankervik.
In Ankervik we met some native people from the village, Ittoqqortoomit, where they where fishing and hunting. That day some people from the group went hiking in the mountain whilst others relaxed on the boat.
In the evening we took an excursion to the Rødeø exploring the unique formations, Some of the crew used the opportunity to take bath on the sunny beach under the steep cliffs of the island. The next day we got a nice sailing in favorable winds and did 6-8 knots through Fønfjord, 50 nautical miles It was exciting to see if we could pass Danmark island and get to Heklahavn.
When we got closer, we saw that it was impossible cause of ice and we decided to try the passage, Rensund, between Danmarksøende and Mileland. Lucky for us, the ice was starting to melt in Rensund so we managed to pass slowly through the ice. We decided to stay over the night in the ice before heading towards Constable Point airport the next day. We had a wonderful meal that evening in the sun surrounded by ice.
The last leg back to the airport, we were sailing along the edge of ice sheet where we could see many seals and suddenly we noticed a polar bear on the ice probably seeing us safely off back to Reykjavík.
Line and Árni
