uummannaq: roundtrip

by the end of day 4, we were already docked at ummannaq. at this point we know that there was an oil leak in the engine, and that we had to get moonlight (our yacht) checked up by some boat mechanic. 

uummannaq is the eleventh largest inhabited town in greenland, so somehow it would be quite a good place to be stranded at. they have cafes and bars and grocery stores and a church and even a nice yellow hospital. there were many foreign boats docked here, including Under the Pole expeditions. these guys are travelling across the Arctic with children in tow. can you imagine?! i wonder how the little ones deal with sea-sickness. maybe if your parents are extreme divers, that's not even a thing.

moonlight chilling next to 'WHY' - the Under the Pole expedition yacht

uummannaq means heart-shaped in greenlandic

i can't recall exactly what the plan was, i think it was that moonlight will bring us to ikerasak where we will do the 2-day hike and then head back to uummannaq for the necessary fix. things didn't quite go as expected, as when we were underway and near storØen, the clutch broke and the engine lost power. this was on top of the oil leak problems too. at first, jan tried to use zodiac as a tugboat but that did not seem fortuitous.

pull, zodiac, pull!

eventually paps had to make a distress call, and luckily we got agot - a fishing vessel - to tow us back to the port of uummannaq. 

there's something about a break down that got everyone excited. in no time everyone was on deck, curious about what's to happen. agot came eventually to the rescue. we took photos of agot, and the folks from agot took photos of us. such an interesting exchange. 

here comes agot

puffins enjoying the rescue mission

there and back

  
not much issue, as there were things to do here. for starters, we visited town, but not really to see the town itself but to come close to the uummannaq twin peaks. it was quite cloudy that afternoon so it felt colder than our previous hike days, and you can see that everybody's quite bundled up as we started.

we took our cookie break while waiting for the clouds to clear, and when it did, it was beautiful.

wait for it..

prachtig!

and then of course we had to climb all the way up to the highest point possible, and rightfully so because the views were spectacular. it's been another difficult hike for me, which is nothing new at this point, but i finally managed to reach the top and voila, we were with the clouds!

come on get higher

on cloud 9

dutordoirs

some even went all the way up the ridge near the 'crack' but that was too ambitious for me. i just stayed put and took photos. at this point the clouds were clearing so it started to get really warm, and the photos more amazing. 

the word 'crack' cracks me up :D

the way back to town was not any easier, surprisingly. starving and parched, i was looking forward to dinner. was not disappointed. dinner never disappointed, it was always good. and that night, we had topnotch entertainment. jan brought a didgeridoo onboard. it still amazes me whenever i wonder about the thought process that led to the decision to bring such an instrument onboard. jan was such a character. here's a video of him playing it.

the other boys tried playing it too, and that proved to be difficult. however, it did produce some really funny videos that i will get to cherish :D 

five days into the trip. everybody's getting to know each other better and having more fun together. totally loving it.