Uummannaq Island

Fish school migration in Qasigissat Bay

The Uummannaq port occupies a small inlet in the southeastern end of the island. It is not deep enough to service large cruise ships, but sufficiently deep to handle supply and fishing ships of Royal Arctic Line and Royal Greenland, as well as motorboats and lesser fishing boats. There are several small bays between the port and Nuussuatsiaq promontory, in the vicinity of the heliport.[3]

Fishermen of Uummannaq town peruse the entire southern coast for anchorage of smaller fishing boats and motorboats. Outside the urbanized part of the island there are several inlets and coves providing protection for fishing nets and, in the summer, dogsleds. During summertime, a small and otherwise economically uninteresting skerry in Qasigissat Bay is used as an observation point for marine life, particularly fish schools migrating alongside the coast.

The Blue Lake is located in a depression of the south-central plateau, at approximately 70°41′34″N 52°07′25″W, to the north of the football pitch. Pipes laid on the ground carry potable water from the lake to the central waterworks installation.[3]

Tasersuaq (Greenlandic for large lake)[4] is the largest lake situated in the southern part of the island, at approximately 70°40′50″N 52°08′00″W.[3] It is surrounded by small hills from the west and south, and by taller cliffs of the plateau from the east and north. The northernmost houses in Uummannaq are located due west of the lake. Tasersuaq is the main water reservoir serving Uummannaq town, with pipe waterworks leading southwards through a deep gully.[5]

Uummannaq Twin Peaks tower over the island

Uummannaq Mountain entirely dominates the landscape of the island, its base occupying its entire northern half. Formed of granite and basement gneiss,[5] it is the most prominent mountain in the Arctic part of the west coast of Greenland. The mountain is a landmark of Greenland and a tourist magnet, often reproduced in art.

The mountain has two summits of similar height (the eastern summit being the higher), hence the name Uummannaq, Greenlandic for heart-shaped.[5][6] Deep chimneys fall to the south and the north from the col between the western and eastern summits. Its eastern wall has no significant depressions, falling in a uniform cliff into Assorput Strait between Uummannaq Island and Salliaruseq Island.[3]

Air Greenland links the island with the rest of the country via Uummannaq Heliport

M/S Fram of Hurtigruten cannot be serviced directly by Uummannaq port due to the shallowness of the port inlet

The island is well connected with the rest of Greenland. Air Greenland has its regional helicopter hub on the island, serving all settlements in the region.[7] Several daily helicopter flights link the island with the nearby Qaarsut Airport on Nuussuaq Peninsula, from where STOL connections[8] are available to Upernavik, Sisimiut, Ilulissat and further to central and southern Greenland.[7]

Until 2006, Arctic Umiaq Line had provided ferry services from Nuuk to Upernavik, calling at Uummannaq, Ilulissat, and Aasiaat within what was then Qaasuitsup municipality.[5] M/S Sarpik Ittuk−which serviced Disko Bay, Uummannaq Fjord and the Upernavik Archipelago−was sold in 2006 to Nova Cruising, a company from The Bahamas.[9] Since then the ferry services of AUL are available only southwards from Ilulissat, operated with the remaining ship, M/S Sarfaq Ittuk.

The cargo/passenger boat Pajuttaat of Royal Arctic Line links Uummannaq with Upernavik.[10] Individual transport and sightseeing boats can be chartered from the Uummannaq Tourist Service.[11] The island is often visited by cruise ships,[12] such as Norway's Hurtigruten.[13]