June 15, Disko Island

Today we took a ferry to Disko Island.

The Silver Mary in the picture is a giant ship that we saw getting into the harbor last night - it was still there in the morning.

First, the name. It has absolutely nothing to do with disco music, dancing, or anything remotely fun. The island's name likely comes from an old Dutch word used by whalers and explorers. Apparently, some early European sailors thought the island looked like a disk sitting on the horizon. A missed opportunity if you ask me. The Greenlandic name of it is Qeqertarsuaq (pronounced roughly: ker-ker-tar-su-ak), which means "Big Island."

Another thing people told us is that you can see Disko Island from Ilulissat, but you can't really see Ilulissat from Disko Island. After spending the day there, I think that's true. Disko Island rises dramatically out of the sea, with mountains reaching over 1,000 meters high. Ilulissat, meanwhile, is relatively low and spread out along the coast. So, from Ilulissat, you are looking at a giant volcanic island rising from the ocean. From Disko, you are looking toward a low coastline more than 50 kilometers away, often through haze, fog, and ice. The island wins that visibility contest.

Tiny snowdrops

We arrived at the ferry about 15 minutes before departure. The ferry was tiny, maybe 12 people total, and they were basically waiting for us specifically. They are really punctual everywhere here. Never seen anything like it.

The ride was great. We ended up talking with two Russian immigrant Israeli women who are staying at our hotel. One of them, Galya from St. Petersburg, was a treat. Passionate traveler, have been to Ethiopia, Egypt, Norway, and all sorts of other places. She had fantastic travel stories and spoke in fantastic (non-reproducible) Russian. We spent much of the crossing trying to convince her companion that she absolutely needed to do the kayaking trip. Galya clearly wanted to do it too.

Didn't even notice the two-hour crossing.

Disko Island itself is even smaller than Ilulissat. About 800 residents. One hotel. One coffee shop, although it wasn't open for the season yet. One supermarket.

And that's about it. It is very scenic with lovely, colorful houses.

We passed all of that as we headed toward our hike to Kuannit.

Immediately, it was obvious that this place is different. Disko Island is volcanic in origin, one of the few places in Greenland where volcanic activity shaped the landscape. We passed a black sand beach with occasional chunks of ice scattered along it. A little bit like Diamond Beach in Iceland, but different.

The number of flowers out was amazing. I kept stopping to take pictures.

Then Dan spotted an Arctic fox watching us. Naturally, it ran away before we got any decent photos.

But after that, we became amateur fox detectives. Orange-colored droppings? Probably the fox. White fur caught in the heather? Clearly evidence of a dramatic territorial battle with another fox. Odd little pale cylindrical droppings that looked suspiciously like bird food? Probably from the rodents she eats.

We had ourselves quite the wildlife investigation.

As we continued, the landscape became greener and greener. We crossed streams running through thick heather and eventually reached the basalt formations.

Absolutely amazing.

The closest comparison would be the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, except these columns seemed to go in every direction. Some circular, some stacked, some tilted, all of it looking like somebody had spent millions of years arranging geological artwork.

Meanwhile, the icebergs in the bay kept actively calving. We could hear the sounds and occasionally see chunks breaking away.

We sat down amid all this glory and had lunch, with sandwiches and chocolate from the hotel.

Then we headed back, taking a shortcut through the plain to see the Red River and waterfall.

Almost no tourists. Amazing views.

When we got back into town, we settled into the café at Diskobay Hotel, the only hotel and coffee shop in town. We ordered coffee, and they served an entire large press pot. Honestly, one of the better coffees we've had in Greenland. And there was a liter of it.

We sat there working on postcards until we were sufficiently caffeinated.

Or possibly slightly over-caffeinated.

Then we wandered over to the local history museum and walked into the annex with the kayaks.

A local historian spotted us looking through the window at the kayak exhibits and invited us inside. He was a somewhat bitter guy carrying a substantial amount of historical frustration toward both Danes and Americans. We did our best to cheer him up.

Not entirely sure we succeeded.

But then our return ferry arrived.

By this point of the day, the Ilulissat harbor had filled with new icebergs. Our captain spent quite a while weaving through them before we finally got into the fjord.

Back in Ilulissat, we dropped off the postcards and went to Hong Kong Restaurant for curry.

Not bad. Dan declared that the town now desperately needs an Indian restaurant. I agree.

Back at the hotel, we grabbed a beer, sat down with our books, and caught up on some reading.

We got thoroughly sunburned, forgetting to reapply, and today is marvelously warm at 14 degrees Celcius.

Great day.