I wanted to see Whales and Icebergs and Greenland certainly did not disappoint!

I booked a 3 week cruise to Greenland with Ambassador Cruise Line. I specifically chose this trip as it went right up to Ilulissat and. Disko Bay which is well known for its massive Icebergs and abundant marine life.

We had 5 ports in Greenland, Qaqortoq, Narsarsusq, Sisimuit, Ilulissat (overnight) and Nuuk and I’m delighted to say that before we even reached our first port I’d managed to see both Whales and Icebergs!

I did spend a fair amount of time on deck looking for sealife, but nothing compared to the ORCA team onboard or the real enthusiasts. They recorded 193 mammals on our trip. It was cold out on deck, very cold! But I was well prepared for this and wrapped up warm, you definitely need your layers, sturdy coat and woolly hat if you are planning to spend time on deck in the Arctic

On leaving Reykjavik we spotted some dolphins but it was 2 nights later as we approached Qatqortoq that we first sailed through icebergs and were joined by a pod of Minke whales. I confess I was so excited I didn’t even manage to get one photo as I watched the Whales roll through the water. Staying out for just one more whale or one more iceberg I was practically frozen when I came back inside

Early morning Sisimuit we witnessed 2 or 3 humpback whales from our cabin window. I say 2 or 3 as I only saw 2 but a well respected whale watcher onboard counted 3

On to Ilulissat where it’s basically impossible to pick just one photo from Day 1 here. It was simply spectacular and I even took in an Inuit wedding so I’ll be doing a separate post on that. This post is about Whale Watching so I’ll try to stay on track. I’ve used this photo so you can see I’m no young skinny thing but I’m still out experiencing life to the full, if I can, anyone can! It also wasn’t that cold out among the icebergs.

Day one we had an afternoon safari with Ilulissat Tours. They have a website, Ilulissattours.com. The tour immediately before us were so lucky, they witnessed a fin whale swim right by the boat, other tours in the morning had seen humpback, but sadly our luck was not in, we saw the most spectacular icebergs, ice caves and the glacier, blues, whites and greys against a crisp blue sky, but no whales, that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. After our tour we asked if they would put the whale watching tour on, while the driver was willing the boss felt he couldn’t make it fit the schedule so 2 of us decided to take a chance and book again next day

I honestly wish I had the words to describe day 2. The ice changes daily, hourly even, and we headed into an area that had been inaccessible on day one. The icebergs were bigger, we were surrounded by towering walls of ice, the sky was bluer, the ice waterfalls plentiful but I was starting to think no whales. We had been watching some ducks and drifting slowly towards a cave when suddenly I spotted it, a huge back roll, the shiny black body so graceful against the white backdrop of the icebergs. I stood, pointing, screeching ‘whale’ as the boat driver killed the engines

And that’s how it happened. For the next 30 minutes or so this beautiful creature showed off and played with the boat, he swam alongside us, posed and preformed, gave us lots of rolls and tail flaps. Our driver explained that there is a food source close to the bigger icebergs and with plenty of food around he was obviously happy enough to play

This was our driver or captain. I’ve put this in to show how it’s the whale that sets the agenda on these trips through the icebergs. The boat engines were off, and the 2 crew members were whale watching with us. We did have to start up a couple of times to move away from the ice and then later we did follow our whale at a very safe distance for a short while, but another less showy whale swam in so I guess our whale either got bored of us or went back to feeding now he had competition for food

So with one last tail flap we will move on from Ilulissat with just a quick mention of the white knuckle ride back in. My friend from the ship and I sat at the front with our feet rammed against the front seats, clinging to each other on an exhilarating high speed ride through the ice field back to port (the boats have 12 skins and are taken out of the water and inspected every 600 hours) it felt scary but safe at the same time.

On to Nuuk where I was lucky to bag a last minute cancellation on a ships tour, thanks Jo! There was quite a bit of drama in Nuuk, two boats broke down so our tour was slightly delayed. Interestingly when our boat arrived with the guests rescued from one broken down boat I was sure that was the boss man from Ilulissat and when my credit card bill came in I’m pretty sure I was right as the Ilulissat tour was Nuuk on the statement

So we ended up with an afternoon tour, the morning tours brought varied reports, lots of whales, no whales, one humpback who treated the guests to lots of splashing and waving of fins. Off we headed into the fjord hoping we would be lucky.

At first we sailed around and drifted about with no luck. Then in the distance we saw it, a tall tail flap. You are told that you must hold on, that the boat may suddenly move at speed and it did, we raced across to roughly where the tail flap had been and we did witness 3 minke who didn’t hang around and quickly swam off. It wasn’t long though till we were racing the other direction searching for what might be a humpback.

We were lucky enough to see humpbacks here, but unlike Ilulissat where the whale came and played with us these guys really made us work to see them. It’s hard to capture the scale, most of these photos are taken on an iPhone 13, but here I realised the Ilulissat whale was not a big one, this guy was huge!

We probably spent an hour chasing and following whales, before like children at the playground, we were told five more minutes and then we would head in

Leaving Nuuk we headed home. The weather was cold, damp and fairly rough on the way back and although we had all got our sea legs by then there weren’t the same numbers out on deck We did have a lot of seals one night purposefully swimming in one direction but those guys are hard to photograph. I confess I didn’t get up early for the approach to Kirkwall, and was glad I didn’t as not much was seen.

Anyone who has travelled north will tell you it’s not cheap, this is reflected in the price of the tours, but mine were an absolute once in a lifetime experience that I’ll never forget. The nitty gritty for anyone interested is that the cost of the ship tour in Nuuk was £133 while the first ice tour in Ilulissat cost DK750 or £87.52. For reference I also paid £5.25 for a cup of Chai Latte in Greenland about two pounds more than at home.

And that my friends is the story of how I saw whales in Greenland and managed to capture some great photos