S tip Greenland

  Two weeks since last post. Today was the first contact with civilization & the Internet, courtesy of the Eskimo village where we are anchored.

   One week to cross from Iceland to Greenland, from Vestmannaeyjar to Prinz Kristiansund. Modest winds  and some calms in the crossing. A few dolphins. A killer whale in company with what appeared to be a very small minke whale - were they companions? First iceberg 55 NM out. Then the storis, the vast fields of ice flowing continuously from the polar basin down the entire east coast of Greenland. We initially skirted its edge, then went in to cut through to land. A great day of sailing under the sun, the sea dead flat because of all the ice, Teddy flying along at over 7 kts under full main and then under double reefed main alone. With the high concentration of ice this was too fast, and the result was an almighty bang on Teddy's beam against the very hard edge of a floe. Barely the shadow of a dent! ... an almighty boat Teddy is. We dropped sail & motored in at an easy speed towards the distant dark peaks. The wind picked up to F5/low F6, and in the middle of the storis this was exciting & scary, and it took me a little while to work out that this was OK & perfectly safe.

   We came into the mouth of Prinz Kristiansund, and anchored on the north side, opposite the abandoned Danish weather station. Two exciting days & nights with the endlessly shifting ice, learning about ice, acclimatizing. Walks. We crossed PK Sound to the Danish weather station & explored it, picked up firewood among the scraps, and got hemmed in by ice for a day.

   Around the point & into an extremely protected harbour for the night. Trout fishing but no trout. 

   South and southwest on the open sea along the coast, passing through the storis. Ice fog rolling in, and often uncertainty about whether the concentration of ice was too great to allow further passage. Going out into the Atlantic was always an option. The fog lifted, the sun shone, splendid peaks before, abeam of, and behind us. We turned in at Ikeq fjord, fished at islets for cod, no luck, anchored at the head of Kulik fjord at Qernetoq island, walked to a lake in search of trout - again no luck - but a splendid and at times dangerous - some seriously steep slopes - walk around the lake.

   The next day, motor counterclockwise around the island. Many large seals resting on their floes. Some couldn't be bothered to move and we drifted within feet past them. The most individual faces, each seal showing how he felt about it all. On to a cozy anchorage off the fjord, with a Viking ruin at its head, an old homestead. 

   Up the Sound to the first Eskimo village of the SW coast of Greenland, Aappilattoq. Marvellous cleft of a harbour in the granite, and two huge peaks towering right overhead, close to 5000 ft above. 100 people here. I counted 50 homes but 3/4ths seem to be abandoned. Tough. I guess this is part of the migration from rural to urban settings. We shopped for a feast and did just that. Many ravens here - I have not seen so many.

   I'm dumping here some photos, most by Connor. He and Andre have drones which gives us some splendid imagery. 
   

Iced in at the abandoned Danish weather station. 

       Patches of the storis - sea ice - can be seen in the distance. The drone is useful for seeing what lies                                                       beyond our  immediate horizon. 

                                                      This mountain is 5500 ft high. 

       Connor fending off ice. In this instance, the boat is being moved, not the berg. We do this often. 

           A whiskey, courtesy of our generous provisioner and benefactor Jackie Ward of EJ's Pub,                                                                           Clifden, Co Galway.