Expedition-style iceberg diving out of Tasiilaq (Ammassalik) in East Greenland: drysuit divers explore the underwater 90% of freshly calved bergs in the Sermilik ice fjord and the sheltered bays around town, in roughly +1 °C water shared with wolffish, lumpfish, kelp forests and passing whales. Genuinely niche — a couple of small operators, a short late-July to early-September boat season, and a March–April under-ice window.
Destination info
Conditions, highlights, and the resident marine life.
Conditions
Water and air temperature across the year.
WaterAirDryShoulderWet
Description
Tasiilaq, the largest town in East Greenland with about 2,000 residents, sits on Ammassalik Island around the lake-like bay of Kong Oscar Havn, just 106 km south of the Arctic Circle; getting there means flying to Kulusuk and transferring by 15-minute helicopter or, in summer, a 30–45 minute boat ride. The diving is built around ice: zodiacs carry small groups of 5–7 drysuit divers to grounded icebergs in the Sermilik ice fjord — fed by Helheim Glacier, one of Greenland's largest and fastest outlet glaciers — and to rocky fjord walls carpeted with anemones, sea slugs and forests of seaweed, home to Atlantic wolffish, lumpsuckers and sculpins. Summer water runs around +1 °C and operators cap dives at 25 m (15 m when the water drops below 0 °C), with humpback, fin and minke whales commonly seen from the boat under the midnight-sun-long days of the late-July to early-September season; a second, harder window in February–April offers under-ice dives on bergs frozen into the sea ice near town, when pre-bloom water is at its clearest. Be honest with yourself about what this is: an emerging, expedition-grade destination with essentially one specialist dive operator (Tunu Explorers, grown out of Norwegian pioneer Northern Explorers, based in the tiny settlement of Tiniteqilaaq) plus local boat support, no dive shops, and itineraries that bend daily to weather and ice. Operators require experienced cold-water divers with at least 20 logged drysuit dives in the last two years — this is strictly expert territory, and the reward is diving almost nobody else has done.
Highlights
What makes this dive worth the trip.
The signature dive is the underwater face of an iceberg: roughly 90% of a berg's mass hangs below the waterline, and Tasiilaq is one of the very few places on Earth where recreational (expedition-grade) divers can explore that hidden architecture of sculpted, dimpled blue ice up close.
The Sermilik fjord system the dive boats work is fed by Helheim Glacier, one of Greenland's largest and fastest outlet glaciers — between 2001 and 2005 alone its calving front retreated about 7.5 km while its flow accelerated from 8 to 11 km per year — so the fjord is continuously restocked with freshly calved icebergs.
The summer expedition season (late July to early September) runs under near-midnight-sun daylight in about +1 °C water, with humpback, fin and minke whales regularly seen from the zodiacs between dives and northern lights possible from early September.
Marine life
10 species you’re likely to encounter on a dive here.
Dive sites
4 signature sites at this destination.
Sermilik Ice Fjord — Tiniteqilaaq berg gardens
The expedition base sits in Tiniteqilaaq, a tiny settlement on the Sermilik ice fjord — one of Greenland's top iceberg-producing fjords, about 81 km long and 800–900 m deep at mid-fjord. Fast zodiacs (5–7 divers) pick grounded, stable bergs along the fjord edges; dives are capped at 25 m in +1 °C water (15 m when below 0 °C). Ice cover changes daily — a bay full of bergs one day can be open water the next — so there are no fixed entries, only the day's safest ice.
5–25 madvancedDay boatModerateVisibility 5–20 m
Ammassalik Fjord walls and kelp
The rocky fjord coastline around Tasiilaq, dived by boat between iceberg sessions: walls densely covered in anemones and cold-water soft corals, with sea slugs, sea stars and 'strange fishes' — wolffish, sculpins and lumpsuckers — hiding among boulders and seaweed forests. This is the area's cold-water macro diving, and the operators emphasise that many subjects here are extremely rarely photographed.
5–25 madvancedDay boatLightVisibility 8–20 m
Kong Oscar Havn (Tasiilaq Harbour) icebergs
The sheltered, lake-like bay below Tasiilaq town traps icebergs that ground in its shallows — the area's most accessible iceberg diving. In summer, boats drop divers on stable grounded bergs minutes from town; in March–April the bay freezes over and the same bergs are dived through holes cut in the sea ice, with snowmobiles ferrying gear from the edge of town. One well-documented expedition logged 17 dives on a single trapped berg here over two weeks.
3–18 madvancedShoreLightVisibility 5–25 m
Western Sermilik glacier arms (Hann and Bruckner glaciers)
Multi-day summer itineraries push by zodiac into the western branches of the Sermilik system toward the Hann and Bruckner glacier fronts, diving bergy bits and ice-scoured rock where conditions allow and visiting an abandoned settlement en route. Diving happens near — never under or against — calving glacier fronts, and whether a given arm is diveable depends entirely on the day's ice. Position is approximate; this is an expedition area, not a fixed site.
5–20 madvancedDay boatModerateVisibility 3–15 m
Where to dive & stay
Local dive centers, resorts, and hotels.
Featured operators coming soon
Verified dive centers, resorts, and hotels around Tasiilaq (icebergs) will list here — pricing, photos, and direct contact.
