Upernavik Greenland Travel Notes

August 6^th 2009

Gail Ferris

I do find perspective distance vision is totally useless because the only color difference that I can see from far away is the subtle change from brown to blue as you can see in this photo below.

I realized as I paddled that refractory conditions were making a landmark that appeared to be near was actually something being magnified by the low angle of the sun in this area in combination with temperature conditions over the water and the refractory atmospheric conditions.

From observation on this visit to this area it seems to me that atmospheric conditions were actually more refractory than in past years because this happens to be a warmer summer.

Refraction situations really show up on those pristine clear days.

I can tell you that it was strangely deceiving to find that as I paddled nearer to my goal the apparent size of my goal did not change. The landmark I was approaching would imperceptibly change in color turning from a blue cast to a brown cast.

I can tell you that such refractory conditions are very disconcerting because I have no way to compare sizes, nothing gets bigger as I approach it until I am right at it.

#115

It also turned out that I was actually where the GPS said I was. But I could not believe this.

I would like to cook up a map with easy to read latitudes and longitudes from this saga 1:250,000 scale map. Even though this map is clear it is just too general.

I had in my mind that that my best strategy for making this crossing that I ought to get up as early as possible hopefully before the wind starts blowing and creating waves to make this long exposed crossing of Amarqua.

#116

I woke up at 3:40. I am glad that I did get up right then because conditions were quiet. Just as soon as I finished eating breakfast and breaking camp I launched.

Now I was paddling back toward the north and west toward the open waters of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay.

When I was paddling yesterday the wind was against me coming from the northwest making paddling arduous.

When I started out this morning I encountered some of the most interesting wave combinations. They were double waves one from in front of me and one broadside slightly behind me that I think was either a reflective wave or a wave caused by other winds among the islands coming through this area. I was among islands both east north and west of me and I had an open run across Amarqua passage as well.

It was very interesting paddling with some lumpy waves in the foreground and the typical early morning light you can see in the photo below.

I took this photo while I was off Amitsoq island to the west I am looking east back to where I had come from with the sun backlighting Nako island the largest island in the middle.

Being so wonderfully enveloped by this early morning light while paddling was one of my fondest moments on the water. There is something just special about being on the water in these very early morning hours, all is magic as the day is just beginning, no other light is quite like this.

#117

What is good about this photo below is that it encompasses both sides of Amarqua and includes the island on the outside is Manitsoq which amuses me now because in 2003 I camped on that island and that is an island where people once lived. I stopped paddling and camped on that island Manitsoq in 2003 having started out from Upernavik with a nice following sea and winds in one day.

It was very amusing to arrive at near midnight on Manitsoq island in 2003 and just crawl into my sleeping bag on the soft turf only to awaken in the morning’s illumination and discover that where I slept there were house walls, bones, blackened soil full of all sorts of household remnants.

Unfortunately on Manitsoq I had no other place to land resulting in a terrible situation for getting my kayak off the water. What finally happened was that I pulled the kayak up to shore and the tide came in and went out leaving it stranded precariously on some sharp boulders. I had a nasty job relaunching in the morning. From what I saw of this island this happened to have been the only place I could have landed then again I was coming in at 23:00 not a good time for choosing landing sites.

Back to paddling in 2009 now I get to see Manitsoq from far away where I am paddling down in Amarqua passage where I found nice places suitable for landings not that far away from where I actually am located in this photo.

Below I am nearing Laksefjord entrance and the tan brown island on the right side is Nutarmiut. I am on the water several miles away.

The waves in the foreground are actually crisscrossing that is why they are broken up into squares. This time I was delighted to have the experience of paddling in this type of sea.

Just as a storm was developing I happened to have watched crisscrossing waves develop from two sets of waves created by a sudden change in wind in Kullorsuaq.

#118

This is a general map of my day’s paddle below.

The wind arose but this time the wind was from the east on my way back the entire way across Angmarqua. What a relief that was. I never thought I would be in that situation.

#119

#120

With my digital camera I just happened to grab a moment when a wave was just coming at me for you to view below. It is much more difficult to capture action with my digital camera than it was with a film camera.

These waves were not all that huge they were only twelve to eighteen inches high but when you are sitting in your cockpit snapping pictures and the lower hold your camera to the water level those waves can look bigger and bigger. In the photo below you can really see their true size because you can see the bow of my kayak. I am not in an ocean liner, really!

Below is a photo showing off in the distance in the center those high cliffs that are on the north entrance of Torssukatak passage. These cliffs were about 12 or 15 miles away over beyond Nutarmiut in the foreground.

On Nutarmiut I am actually opposite Nerritut which I did not realize at that time but I can tell you that I was most relieved to see those cliff faces in the background because I knew for sure just what and where they were.

#121

Looking at the deck of my kayak you can see my compass off to the side which doesn’t work anyway, the loading port on the left side, the end of the blue canvas bag which holds my stunt kite that I never used but could be handy for possible propulsion when all else fails, in the foreground are two roll over seal drybags which have my cameras. I use a Sony Mavica for still shots.

As I am getting closer to Laksefjord entrance you can see that these waves are flattening out and how nice it was that the wind is pushing me. Was I ever so glad to be out of there!

Looking at the shoreline of Laksefjord entrance nearest you can see that there is no place to land. That lack of landing sites and having an idea of what the wind might do was very much part of planning paddling.

Although you cannot see in this photo below the illuminated shoreline facing you to the left was just the same for a number of miles south along the coastline of this island. However within Laksefjord a few miles south along sheer cliffs there was a place to come in for a landing and an area to camp across from a peninsula, Puguta that is shaped like a plate in when viewed from a boat.

#122

Below shows you what looks to me as if it is a just a continuous unbroken coastline. What is actually there in the middle is where the passage is between two islands.

#123

The map below is of approximately the perspective in the photo above. I oriented the map to the perspective in the photo above so that you could visualize the photo above even though the map labels are upside down.

#124

#125

Below is just a wonderful moment when the light brought out the colors on these rocks of the minerals. What a delightful photo of mineral colors! I could not believe my eyes when I saw these colors even though I have been past this coastline on Nutarmiut.

Last time I passed by when these rocks were back lit showing only dull brown and gray colors.

The brilliant brown is actually a high concentration of iron. The white is some feldspar and in the foreground is hornblende in a purple brown color.

This is one of those moments when it is fun to just be there in a kayak.

#126

I took some interesting photos along the way and one special group to show again what the approach to the tiny passage looks like as it is being approached.

This is just a few more feet from the previous photo and you can see the notch just opening in the center of this photo for this tiny passage.

#127

This photo shows the opening for sure and you can see that the water is very quiet. However from this view who would ever believe that anyone would live just around the corner.

#128 taken at 8:21 am.

I stopped and took photos of those razorbills and little gulls with black tipped wings. I did not notice last time these Black-Legged Kittiwakes, Black Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls, just a noisy bunch up there squawking at me.

The razorbills Alca torda and puffins are in the auk family.

Puffins Fratercula arctica are only found on a few out to sea islands off Upernavik.

Razorbills like puffins fly very fast and it makes them difficult to photograph. Slower fliers that look a little larger than razorbills are Thick-billed Murres called Lomvie in Danish, Uria lomvia in this area as well usually where there are razorbills there are murres.

#129

Here off the west side of Nutarmiut island the sea was at a dead calm at around 7:30 in the morning.

I enjoyed the vanity of once again trying to photograph Razorbill awks these impossibly fast flying birds! Really they take off like jets and before you know it they are gone.

I missed the moment in 1993 to photograph them because I was so amazed that they seemed to jump out from the cliffs and crash land on their breasts.

I watched in shock as each and all of them dropped like stones on the water.

Then they survived that splat resurfaced and ran over the water with their webbed feet. When they thought take off was possible they extended their wings and flapped them trying to get airborne. Not always would they succeed and again they would have to run some more over the water, flap their wings and hopefully they had run fast enough that their momentum would be enough for them to succeed in taking off.

I thought wouldn’t it be nice if somebody taught them that all they have to do is just start flapping their wings when they jump off the cliffs. Surely they ought to be flying before they crash land on the water. All that unnecessary running over the water just takes so much energy. And then that struggle to flap their wings to lift off which does not always work is such an ordeal just to get airborne.

Below is an enlargement that I extracted from a much larger photo I took. This is all I actually have that is a recognizable photo of Razorbills.

#130

After looking again at the bird colony I swung west heading across the way to paddle along the coast to the campsite I probably was in 1993 to the eastern shore of Angnertussoq island near an area called Atilinguaq.

At around 10 am wind brought crisscrossing waves during this crossing which made paddling to this interesting 1993 campsite became an arduous project.

I thought that this crossing would be very easy but My shoulders started to pain me.

My left hand is starting to blister even though I am executing the stroke with parallel or unfeathered blades. The stroke requires that I twist the paddle on the right side to orient the blade to the stroke. This is something interesting to think about.

The skin on my left hand is starting to bind and blister because the shaft on my paddle is not perfectly smooth and round.

I should experiment with switching end for end; but then again I don’t think it will make much of a difference.

I found some white soft plastic sheeting and used that material to pad my skin because it is slippery and cushiony.

#131

Once I was across I ducked into the bay where I would camp.

I saw that there was within the bay another tiny horseshoe shaped bay opening out to the south on my left which does not show on the map above.

With great glee here at long last I had found just inside this absolutely quiet, with hardly even a riffle on the water perfectly protected bay.

I was just so overjoyed to see that here the golden sunshine in the cloudless azure sky was shining from the south over the rocks along the edge of the bay was illuminating the bottom.

What could be more perfect, this area offered behind this border of ten to fifteen foot high rocks an area in shade. There was no surface glare on the water to interrupt my depth viewing behind these low 10 to 15 foot rock edges.

Just gliding along I peered down into these golden lit depths next to the rocks.

All was so elegant, below were the myriad of the long fronds of sea colander kelp waving slightly in the ebbs and flows. The shells of the arctic rock borer clams dotting the bottom, the open blue mussels busily gathering their algal food the barnacles rhythmically waving to and fro their feathery cirri gathering any plankton and debris would be one of those wonderful experimental moments to indulge in exploring the bottom from my cockpit. I so enjoy just gliding along looking over the side.

I figured out to just how propel myself without generating any riffles that would disturb my view beneath the water’s surface.

How I did this was to adjust my rudder to control my kayak in a gentle arc as I very gently made each paddle stroke only on the side away from the shade just enough to gently propelling my hull past where the riffles were generated by each stroke. With this combination of rudder and stroke I would time me glide momentum just so delicately in synchrony passing by before the riffles from my bow wake came out from my hull to interrupt my perfect view the bottom.

Then I could take photos and gaze beneath the surface at just what was down there, those denizens of the bottom.

With both curiosity and dinner also in mind I was looking for mussels and sea urchins hoping to find them somewhere shallow enough that I could fish some of them off the rocks or maybe if there might be some soft bottom harboring some mussels that I might just gather before I landed at the sandy beach where there was most likely nothing.

To me this is one of the moments when a kayak comes into its best. No other boat allows you quite such freedom and flexibility yet seaworthiness.

I especially enjoy just gliding along gazing over the side of my kayak looking at the bottom when in the shallows with bright light illumination.

It is a fine art just gliding along and not disturbing. I figured for best viewing that I had to keep within the shadow and face west because the light was coming from the south otherwise my kayak would be shadowing the bottom I was looking at. There was a slight wind pushing me from behind. I used my rudder to head the boat around the edge of the cove in a gentle circle along the edge without ramming any rocks.

It is really very easy to accidentally ram a rock because you are so preoccupied with viewing that you never notice that your re approaching a rock. And it is especially difficult to see rocks just in front of your bow just beneath the surface.

One thing that really can ruin your viewing is when you ram a rock because what you have to do next is reverse, straighten out and start all over again. By then you have wrecked your viewing for sure because you have disturbed the water. It takes a long time for the water to flatten out again so the only thing you can do is try to glide beyond the riffles to a new patch of quiet water. And you might have missed seeing something really interesting on the bottom like a sea scallop or two.

I sort of wondered what might be the story with this area. Did people come here? Did they stop here? What might be the story about this cove? This cove seems to me to be a most inviting place even though there is a cove further back which is heavily used. Why is it named on the map Atilinguaq?

Below is a photo taken in 1993 of this area just so you can see the character of this area but you do not see the fine sandy beach where I am standing in the photo. What you are looking at is on Nutarmiut across Torssukatak passage those rock escarpments all in this view across the way of basalt with their cascades of traprock and clefts.

I took this photo because of the extensive reflection in the water of those cliff faces. One of those quiet summer day late morning views.

#132

Scouting along the edge of the beach I found in 1993 a red Nudibranch one of those weird worms that absorbs oxygen through these protuberances on its back. I think gulls feast on these creatures because when I arrived there the gulls were busy in the shallows dipping up some source of food which I thought might be these.

#133

I was not exactly too charmed with the realization that I had to set up my tent on a wet area. Last time I camped here I slept at the top of this same beach in 1993.

I thought it was interesting that where I set up my tent that there was a line of recently disturbed plants along the base of the hill.

I always look around for recent arrivals in terms of boulders and rocks where I am about to set my tent. I really don’t want to be on the receiving end as somehow I just know that I cannot make appointments when a rock might cut loose from the heights above. I don’t especially like trusting survival of falling objects to luck.

Gazing at the clumps of plants I noticed that there were very few rocks among them and that these plants were showing robust new growth activity in their tussocks indicating that they had been there for some months.

What must have been happening to explain their high density in discreet hummocks was that they had started growing in unstable dirt on this hillside above the beach. In spring this dirt must be ready to just let go these plant root balls. The root balls just slide down the hillside when they become heavier than this soil can hold in place. When the soil is especially wet on this warm sunny hillside the plants would just slide down the hillside.

What was interesting was that this dirt was gooey soft very pale white-brown gravelly dirt.

I can imagine trying to pot up flowers in this stuff, whew it would be very heavy and difficult to handle.

All in all I could not resist slugging my way up the steep hillside. I had to choose where to step often following rock deposits so that I could jump from rock to rock. Whew! I really did not expect to find that this hillside soil was so squishy and loose. I have never walked on soil like this before, very weird but then again this soil is just glacial rock flour mixed with stone that was heavily enriched with white feldspathic phosphate.

It was not so far up the hill as I enjoyed myself searching the source of the brook coming down the hill from the ponds and bogs above had large amounts of filamentous bluegreen algae in the water.

I thought it was interesting to look at the bog and see the spring. Along the bog were all the water-loving plants like plume grass waving its fluffy white ball shaped plums. Fun to see as I have not seen that many of them in this area before. And the usual equisetum which likes to have its root matrix in boggy dirt.

Along the brook I noticed very heavy growth of yellow green filamentous algae. How well this indicated heavily enriched water.

Then following the brook down the hill I noticed some plants that only were growing on the edge of the brook. They were epilobium unusually large and very green. Also there were grasses, mosses, dark red colored sphagnum and Polygonum. These are all plants that flourish in rich soil.

#134

Below is a photo of fireweed, epilobium. I found that here was the only fireweed I found in this area

#135

Now I wish that I had taken a photo of some bee flies that were busy fertilizing willows., I saw tiny orange beetles, the usual and some black flies

On the beach I saw some frolicsome paw prints of what can only be a fox and some gulls and probably some ducks. This was fun to see as it was the first place where both there was sand to show paw and foot prints and such an assortment of prints all together.

#136

In my tent it is very warm the sky is bright blue and there is a light breeze.

I hope to wake up and launch very early in the morning hopefully by 3 am before the wind starts coming down Torssukatak and I really want to get across Sortehul before the broadside wind coming out of that passage starts up.

I have had that wind experience before.

I saw my first motor boat since 3 or 4 days ago. That motorboat has stopped and is fishing. Then I saw a couple more going past heading for Upernavik. I see from here that nobody is going south to go fishing down in Laksefjorden.

In my tent it is very hot. The cloudless sky is plain blue and there is a light breeze.

At about 11 pm 23:00 I think that happened to see the moon. Then it disappeared in some clouds and there was an eclipse but I do not know when it occurred here in Greenland.

I dozed off hoping to awaken in the wee hours of the morning so that I could get underway and do most of my exposed paddling without the wind against or broadside.

Next is paddling on August 7th