A heavy, low pitch clang could be heard, alternating between two tones. I could hear the Qaqortoq church bells ring just above the harbor from the very dark bunk of Dogbark’s aft berth. It must be Sunday…or is that the town alarm system?
It seems fitting that we decided for today’s excursion to find Hvalsey Church Ruins, an old viking homestead built in the 14th century. It was just about 12nm away so despite our late start to the morning, we dropped anchor just outside the settlement mid afternoon with plenty of time to explore and of course, some fishing.
The Greenland Cod must’ve been due for church as well because they were everywhere at our anchorage. Brian was catching cod left and right, so I gave it a try and I caught my first fish ever! We let him go since he was on the small side, but I caught 2 more big ones! We had plenty of fish for dinner and after Graeme cleaned the fish, we were finally ready to explore.
The Hvalsey Church ruins are part of the Kujataa UNESCO World Heritage site as it is one of the best preserved Norse settlements that remain today. It’s last record of significance dates back to September 16, 1408 for a catholic wedding. For something with such historial significance, I was surprised how open the settlement was. No fences or barriers, you can walk around freely and through the ruins.
A newly constructed dock made it easy to tie the dinghy off to as we explored the grassy hills and wild flower meadows. One of the striking features we noticed was how the windows were tapered and how well cut the stones were. The beautiful orange liken peppered the stone pieces throughout.
The grass was so inviting I just plopped myself down and basked in the sun. I might have dozed off while Brian sent the drone up to capture a bird eye’s view.
We buzzed back to Dogbark and Graeme, Ted, and Brian took off for some fishing in a nearby area. Rusty, Al and I stayed with the boat and took care of our various tasks. By the time the guys returned (with more cod!) we were quickly losing daylight and we hadn’t found an acnhorage yet for the night.
Luckily, we found a spot not too far away nearby and settled in for a family meal of pan fried cod, mashed potatoes, and veggies.
No rest for this adventure team though, we decided to go for a sunset hike to find a nearby lake and it was SO beautiful. We even saw an arctic fox scampering on the edges of the rocks by the water. They still had dark fur that hadn’t turned white for the winter yet but that tail was oh so fluffy!
One of the things I have found very surprising about the terrain is that the vegetation is much for lush than you would think. The ground cover feels very spongy and soft. The shrubbery is soft like blueberry bushes and there is plenty of moss around. There are even a few mushrooms!
One of the most amazing finds of the evening was this GIGANTIC feather Rusty found. It’s hard to tell but the length is longer than my torso. We think it belongs to a white tailed eagle since that is one of the larger birds we have seen in the area.
We returned to the boat late after sunset and everyone was ready to crawl into bed. It was a very busy day for the Dogbark crew even with the late start! A pretty good way to spend a Sunday and for me personally…being in a nature is the best kind of church for me. So grateful for the opportunity to explore this beautiful earth, enjoy the bounty she has to offer, and share it with your people. In today’s case: plenty of cod. As my dear fisherman friend Reed says in his best gospel voice, “Praise the cod!” whenever we catch fish. Or when we just feel like being a little silly.
Tomorrow we will be on our way to find some hot springs!