It was impossible to tell the depth my fishing hook had reached, but somewhere down there, I'd successfully secured a catch. As my excursion guide helped me pull up the line one arm length at a time, it felt like minutes before the cod finally emerged through the surface.
I was participating in HX Expeditions' Tide to Table excursion in Ilulissat, Greenland, in which cruise guests spend a morning with chefs on fishing boats and catch cod that is later prepared as their dinner onboard.
The offering is an extension of culinary programming HX introduced on Greenland sailings last year when Greenlandic chef Inunnguaq Hegelund joined its team. Hegelund has curated elevated local cuisine for Greenland itineraries, partnering with a rotating group of Greenlandic guest chefs.
The Tide to Table excursion also includes a lunch prepared and hosted by a local family, an experience that offers a taste of Greenlandic Inuit home cooking.
I participated in the excursion in early July as a guest aboard the Fridtjof Nansen, one of the first sailings to offer it. Pulling into Ilulissat set the scene for the day. The bay was filled with icebergs under a blanket of fog, with the occasional seagull gliding through.
Chef Inunnguaq Hegelund. Photo Credit: HX Expeditions
Participants disembarked directly onto the two fishing boats, where we would spend the next couple of hours. Each boat had an Ilulissat-based guide and captain.
My guide greeted us by showing us the polar bear claw he wears as a necklace, a graduation gift. As we glided through the icebergs, it wasn't long before we spotted a whale.
The fishing experience was peaceful with a backdrop of deep-blue waters, rocky terrain and a pair of whales that visited nearby. We traded turns holding fishing lines dropped deep into the water.
There was no rod, just a coil that could be unwound to loosen the line, and once a fish was hooked, our guides demonstrated a specific way to yank up the line gradually by hand.
There was some friendly competition with the other boat, especially in the beginning, when they caught a fish before we did. I never minded waiting my turn to fish, enjoying the opportunity to scout for wildlife and chat with our guides.
The only nuisance was the swarming mosquitos that are common during Greenland's summer, though a netted hat made even that of little worry.
We dropped off the chefs and our catches at the ship on our way to shore.
Among the dishes that cooks later created included breaded cod with honey-glazed root vegetables. I found it to be of a similar elevated quality as the four-course Greenlandic tasting menu Hegelund curated that is available to all guests, separate from the excursion.
A cod caught during a Tide to Table fishing trip with HX Expeditions in Greenland. Photo Credit: Teri West
Right at home
The visit to the local home after fishing was the perfect complement to the experience on the water. It was a culturally immersive experience that so many travelers today are craving.
The lunch spread was generous and included seal, reindeer and narwhal in addition to locally caught fish. Our host's daughter translated as her mother told us about her childhood growing up in a village with just 200 people.
HX isn't the only cruise line to offer an excursion where you fish for your meal. Holland America Line and MSC Cruises, for example, offer these excursions in Alaska, though you dine on land rather than on the ship.
What I found unique about the Tide to Table excursion was how HX seamlessly connected to the existing partnership built with Hegelund. A deepened understanding of the local cuisine was a meaningful way to connect with a region as remote as the Arctic.
As Hegelund put it during a lecture on the first full day of the sailing, Greenland is a place where inhabitants have sustained themselves with "the seal and seaweeds" amid a harsh landscape with essentially no agriculture.
"We are still here," he said, "and we are still going strong."