In the Labrador Sea

We are in the middle of rhe Labrador Sea, making steady progress for Greenland. We have had mostly fog yesterday and today, with a few brief hours of bright sunshine yesterday afternoon. The hours of daylight are long, but there is a big difference in sunlight filtered through fog, where the position of the sun itself is not even discernible, and actual bright skies where both the sun and the 360 degree watery horizon can be seen. 

No icebergs have been sighted yesterday or today, either visually or with radar. A couple of times, dolphins appeared near us, but none have come to play on the bow wake. We continue to see pelagic birds which we have difficulty identifying since the species have different appearances in immature birds and adults and in males and females. All the birds are some combination of white, gray and black, and the only way to make an educated guess at identification is to pay attention to their wing shape; their flight patterns; their beak shape and color; the shape of their bodies; and the way the three colors appear on their bodies and wings. There have definitely been northern gannets, fulmars and storm petrels, but we are not sure of the exact species. Nonetheless, they fly by the boat closely, singly or in very small groups, particularly late in the day, and they are a joy to watch.

We are now about 140 miles from the coast of Greenland. The weather has been good so far, although sometimes we have needed to motor. Stronger (maybe too strong!) winds are expected tonight and tomorrow, and we may need to anchor somewhere before Qaqortoq for shelter before proceeding there to pick up Shalako, who has already arrived in Greenland by air. 

Position yesterday evening

Position this morning

However, just as I was ready to publish this post, a small emergency on board occurred. Something has gone wrong with the hot water heater, and the engine room is filled with hot water. Luckily, Enis noticed that the bilge pump light was on. He manually pumped some of the water from the engine room, and Peter is investigating, but it looks like the hot water heater has reached the end of its useful life, and we will be managing with boiled water for cleaning ourselves and our dishes for the rest of the trip.

Enis operating the manual bilge pump and smiling for the photo

Water in the bilge

Peter not so happy about the situation