During last night and for most of this morning we have been battling against strong winds and high seas. A reason for this is because the Greenland ice fields are so big and high that they act upon the weather like the continent of Antarctica and blow outwards to the sea from the centre of the island. Upon reaching the sea the cold winds meet the warm air above the Davis Strait. This sudden drop in pressure and rise in temperature creates strong winds along the edge of the island.
By lunchtime we had reached the town of Sisimiut, the second largest in the country but has the look and feel of a small fishing village. It is located 75km north of the Arctic Circle and is Greenland’s northernmost year-round ice-free port.
Sisimiut was originally an Inuit settlement but traded as a trading place between Greenlandic settlers and the Dutch, English and Scottish whalers and traders who arrived here in the 17th century.
We saw some evidence of this when we visited Avssaqutak, down the fjord accessed by fishing boat through rough seas and what felt like square waves! This abandoned village has the remains of whaling and fishing industries as well as a church that may have been established as a result of the work of a Danish missionary in 1756 and the later conversion to Christianity of the indigenous peoples.
Sisimiut is today one of the largest shrimping centres of Europe processing more than 10,000 tonnes each year.
