Greenland - Red Sails & Midnight Sun

In my last few visits to Iceland I was always tempted to go to its neighbour Greenland. Somehow, I could not plan and combine Greenland along with Iceland. So, this time around I decided to do an exclusive Greenland trip. The trip had two parts, one is the West and the other is the East. In this blog I have covered the West and have a separate blog for the East.

I flew to Copenhagen via Dubai in Emirates Airlines, stayed for a night in Copenhagen in Clarion Hotel Copenhagen airport. The hotel is just a few minutes walking distance from the airport and to the train station (in case one would like to go to the town). The location of the hotel was extremely convenient. Next day took Air Greenland to Illulisat via Kangerlussuaq. The flight from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq was about 4 ½ hours, layover of about 2 ½ hours in Kangerlussuaq and then the flight from Kangerlussuaq to Illulisat was about an hour. Kangerlussuaq to Illulisat was very scenic with glaciers and icebergs and one shouldn’t miss to get a good window seat.

Scenic view from the flight to Ilulissat ...

Travel Date : 12th Aug’19 to 17th Aug ‘19

Company : Iceland Photo Tours led by Albert Dros and Kerry Koepping

The tour titled “Red Sails in Greenland, Midnight Sun Photo Workshop” explains it all.

Our stay during the entire trip was in Ilulissat in Hotel Arctic. The hotel is in a beautiful location. The base for this photography tour was Disco Bay, in Greenland’s west coast. Every day we start sailing around 7 PM and come back by 2 AM the next day, chasing the best light and the most spectacular scenes. The midnight sun offers the best light to work with and the conditions are something that I haven’t experienced so far. With the sun low on the horizon the light will become more saturated, with deep icy blues and a sky tinged with fiery reds. Throughout, there were enough opportunities to capture the beautiful icebergs, reflections in the calm water and the sunset colours.

Sailing in Disco Bay ...

There were about 15 participants and we were split as a group in two different ships – Peter and Rusarc Aurora (ship name). Each ship had one photography master. They coordinate in such a manner that participants in both the ships get ample opportunities to capture the red sail with different backgrounds and different compositions.

Ship and the Captains

We also had an opportunity to visit a few villages / Greenlandic settlements (Qasigiannguit, Aasiaat, and Oqaatsut) where one can get the beautiful coloured wooden houses surrounded by water and icebergs.

In the entire trip Lunch and Dinner was in the hotel and included in the overall package. Lunch is not provided. Vegetarian option is very limited. In the ship however Vegetarian / Vegan food was taken care of as I had informed them before the start of the trip. My advice would be to carry some ready to cook food.

As always one has to be lucky with the weather. I had the opportunity of experiencing the beautiful midnight sun only on one day. I felt bad that I couldn’t capture more of the sunset but then the overall experience of being in a different wilderness negates that.

To enter Greenland a VISA is required depending on the nationality. In India there is no separate Embassy / Consulate for Greenland Visa. This has to be applied through the Denmark Embassy. The Denmark embassy issues a Schengen Visa and they mention "Valid for Greenland" in the remarks column,

To view the album --> https://gvgops6.wixsite.com/greenland--red-s-1