Fjord Fishing

Boat excursion ending with a meal

Today is my last full day in Greenland (for this trip, at least…). I have gotten to do so many amazing things while here - viewing the aurora multiple times, seeing the big ice in Ilulissat and going for a boat tour of the icefiord there, dog sledding, attending some amazing science events, and productive conversations about QGreenland-Net with scientists and collaborators. Only one thing remained on my idealized TODO list: fishing! So today, I went out on a boat excursion with Nuuk Water Taxi for exactly that!

The boat we went out on. There were 12 of us fishing, plus the captian and his son, and a deckhand. That might seem crowded but there was plenty of room on the boat, and we only had 4-5 lines out at a time (we took turns). Photo courtesy of Robyn Marowitz.

I went with other members of the QGreenland-Net team, which made it even more fun! We set out at 9AM into misty conditions and found a nice dead-end in the fjord to slow down and drop our lines.

We used simple wooden spools to drop weighted lines with 3-4 hooks+lures to the seafloor. Once the line hit the bottom, we lifted it up a bit and yanked it around to attract fish.

The captain could see on his radar where fish were, and the first spot we stopped at ended up not being very productive, so we moved a bit and found a shoal of Atlantic cod that immediately yielded results.

Me with one of the Atlantic cod that I caught. Photo courtesy of Robyn Marowitz.

I caught 5 fish, and everyone else also succesfully caught multiple. I am not sure what our total was, but it was a lot! We had a big bag full of fish by the time we finished. As the day progressed, the misty conditions also cleared some, and we were able to get a better view of some of the surrounding mountains. It was beautiful!

One of the mountains rising out of the fjord near where we were fishing.

Finally, after we got back to shore, we were shuttled to a restaurant that prepared and cooked our fish for us. It was absolutely delicious!

My post-fishing meal. I had another Qajaq beer to go along with the prepared cod dishes: creamy soup, traditionally boiled, and oven seared with a tasty sauce.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. I felt rather tired after fishing, so I took a nap at the hotel after we got back. I took a short walk after that and started packing for my return trip home. I also, once again, saw the northern lights this evening. A truly magical way to wrap up a spectacular trip.

Tomorrow I have a taxi scheduled to pick me up for the airport at 9AM. Like on the way to Greenland, I’ll route through Iceland and have a short layover there before a longer flight to Denver. I expect to land a little after 6PM Sunday.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day of travel, which will inevitably wear me out. I greatly look forward to getting home and seeing my cats and beautiful fiancée, who has been patiently waiting for my return.

This will likely be my last regular post for a bit, although I hope to write a post sometime after I get back to recap the journey home and reflect on the trip as a whole. Longer term, I also envision using this blog to track other topics and ideas that I have. For now, I am going to bed!