Making our way south, but still lots of ice of a different kind.

On Sept. 14 we did hit a good storm.  In the evening we decided to go to Batty Bay for protection for the night to avoid hitting ice we couldn’t see.  We would have been better to stay out in the storm because we couldn’t get our anchor to hold, visibility was almost zero, and a big roller going in the reefs and rocks all about.  We had little light for a while in the blizzard of snow so made a circle of waypoints by radar and depth sounder to circle within for the night.  In the morning wind down to 25 kt so we proceeded to Pond Inlet.  Our most northerly point was 73 degrees 54’ at 85 degrees west, then bound for points south.  We stopped at Pond Inlet to let Brian Peterson and Troy & Jason Fimrite off to go home.  They were a big help and always interesting but work was calling.  We went to Clyde River, our second stop on Baffin Island and picked up Russ Beattie and headed for Cape Dyer and across to Nuuk, Greenland.  Crossed the Arctic Circle for the 4 time this year at 05:12 zulu on Sept. 23 and arrived Nuuk 21:00 z  Sept. 24.

Fueled up 2062 liters since Cambridge Bay and only $0.55 USD per liter.  Visited Nuuk and enjoyed  it very much.  Clean and beautiful, people very nice but not many speak  english.

A pleasant visit from Jens Larsen explained we were tied to his dock.  He was very hospitable and helpful.   He is a pilot for Air Greenland.

Sept 27, 06:30 left Nuuk heading SSE.  If weather good ahead we would continue to Azores but winds forecast up to hurricane force so we looked for protection.  The western Arctic has some good anchorages with great holding but not the Eastern Arctic or Greenland.   Here high steep cliffs and places with shallow bays don’t often have good holding.  We have a 110 pound Bruce anchor which is big for our size of boat and held even on the river with wheels and jet boats dragging, but here it lets go at night in a blizzard when winds are up.  We went up Bredefjord 30 miles to 1 mile north of Narsaq, a beautiful Bay (Narssap ilua) all to ourselves.  It was good until the sun went down and the wind came up and heavy rain started.  We circled all night again then went to the commercial dock in town and rafted to another boat that was tied to the dock with good shelter.

Narssaq is no doubt the prettiest town I have ever seen and a must for any traveler that wants the best without the rush.  Again little English on the non tourist places, but I do want to come back.  Through the wonders of modern communication I was unable to contact my friend Stefan Magnusson in Isortoq until his friend at the Tourist Information Center in Narssaq was able to provide me the phone number.  Sorry Stefan that we were unable to stop now, it would have been very interesting in round-up and slaughter time.

A lot of ice here from calving glaciers but little of it is large like in Davis Strait.  Some places on our way up the fjord it was so thick we thought we would be blocked or worse yet our anchorage would get plugged and we would be there for the winter.  One 2 mile stretch we had to break 2” of new ice before reaching better going.   Lots of risk but plenty of rewards.

We expect to leave for Azores about Oct. 3.  The lows keep coming through but we expect a good crossing with a few bumps.

Greenland

www.isortoq.com

Nuuk