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Clare
Clare

Evening 6: Ilulissat icefjord cruise

We had a couple of hours to relax in our hotel room yesterday evening after our hike and then it was time to set out again. By 20.30 we had to be outside the offices of a boat company, in order to be picked up and taken to the harbour for an evening ice fjord cruise. The sun doesn't set in Ilulissat at this time of the year and we were planning to take advantage of that to cram some more iceberg-viewing into a day that had already involved a lot of icebergs :)

Happily we made it to the correct place at the correct time and were soon on our way to the boat. We had to stay inside for the first part of the trip as the boat pulled out of the harbour in Ilulissat, but once that was done we were able to go out on deck to enjoy the views.

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And what views they were!

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This is what it looked like as we pulled away:

 

There were icebergs all around us so it really didn't matter where on the boat you stood.

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The big icebergs were obviously the most impressive...

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...but we really enjoyed watching the boat go past some of the tiny ones too.

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It was amazing seeing the reflections of the icebergs in the water...

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...seeing how the tiny ones were moved aside by our boat...

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...and getting glimpses of the bigger underside of some of the icebergs which looked quite small from the top.

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The fact that the sun was still up after 9pm at night also made it a really special experience.

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It was actually so bright that we had to wear sunglasses!

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We don't normally like organised tours, but this one was quite cool because the guide gave us information about the area.

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We learned that the name Ilulissat means "icebergs" in Greenlandic, which seems like a very fitting name for this place :)

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We also learned that the icebergs floating in the bay outside Ilulissat come from a glacier at the top of the icefjord.

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The top of the icefjord is much deeper than the bay area here.

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That means that when the largest icebergs break off the glacier and travel down the fjord, they end up getting stuck on the bottom of the seabed here.

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The glacier in question only calves icebergs two or three times a year.image.jpeg

But when it does, it calves really large icebergs.

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Icebergs like this one have been stuck in the bay for about 15 months so far.

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The guide told us that some of them contain enough water to supply the entire USA for a year!

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Looking at them, it's not hard to believe.

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What is hard to believe is that 10 years ago, apparently the icebergs here were twice the size :o 

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Global warming means they're getting smaller and smaller.

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The locals are worried that if the icebergs get too small, they won't get stuck in the bay any more and will float straight out to sea.

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That would have a negative impact on tourism in Ilulissat, because the icebergs are what people come here to see.

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It would also cause problems for fishing, which is the biggest industry here.

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I didn't fully understand the explanation but it was something about how the freshwater which the icebergs bring is good for plankton, which means there are more fish.

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Because there are lots of fish here there are also more whales and seals, though we didn't see any on this trip.

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We can't complain when we saw so many incredible icebergs though :)

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We didn't get a picture of it, but at some point the guide fished some ice out of the sea and made us all a drink.

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This time it wasn't whisky but gin, served with some type of local sirop which made it taste a bit like apple juice :)

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Being inside the icefjord was absolutely stunning.

 

Once we had the drink, the boat turned around and began to take us back towards Ilulissat.

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Although it definitely wasn't what you could describe as a proper sunset, the sun did give us some beautiful light over the icebergs.

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In total the cruise was 2.5 hours, so it was after 11pm at night when some of these photos were taken.

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It's so strange for it to be so bright at that time!

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Definitely a unique experience we'll always remember :)

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I think we were so lucky with the weather today as well!

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The sky was so blue and the sea was so calm that we were really able to get some great shots.

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And we didn't even need all the seasickness pills I'd packed for this trip as a precaution :D 

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At the end of the trip we were dropped back outside the offices of the boat company, from where it was only a short 5-minute walk up to our hotel.

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We took this shot from the hotel room window before going to bed, close to midnight, and it was still so bright. What an amazing place :)

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