On Monday, August 18, at 7:15 p.m., we anchored at Stordalen Haven in 26 meters of water with a north wind at 12-15 knots and sunny skies. An hour later, we had to raise the anchor as it was dragging, and we re-anchored in 40 meters. The scenery around us was, as usual here, spectacular. On most days, it is foggy in the morning, clouds begin to gather in the mid-afternoon and by nightfall, which is around 9:30 p.m. now, there is complete cloud cover. This evening, the skies were clear at sunset, so for the first time in a couple of weeks, we were able to watch the yellow orb hide itself behind the rugged mountains. Unfortunately, complete cloud cover occurred before true darkness, so our hopes to see the Northern Lights were dashed.
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| Sunset at Stordalen Haven |
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| After sunset but before darkness |
Yesterday, we weighed anchor around 8:30 a.m. We have to restrain ourselves from constant photography because everywhere the views are worthy of capturing. Again, we passed through narrow channels and fjords with steep mountains rising from the water, thick glaciers hanging in bowl-shaped cirques, and cataracts gushing over rocks.
After fighting gusty headwinds of 20-40 knots that kept our boat speed to about 3 knots, at 10 a.m. we arrived at Aappilattaq, a village of about 90 people with the ubiquitous pre-fab-looking houses painted in the same four colors as other towns. Anchoring in this very narrow cove took 2 hours. Finding a suitable spot was, in itself, a challenge. The anchor dragged twice as it scraped away the kelp on the bottom, which is attached tenuously to smooth rock. Once the anchor broke loose, the boat moved quickly in the strong wind, and immediate action was needed to avert a crash landing on the steep and rocky shoreline. Anchoring normally requires only 2 people, but all hands were on deck, with Peter at the wheel, Enis at the bow, Shalako at mid-ships to relay messages because the howling of the wind and the rumble of the engine made it impossible to hear the 56-feet length from stem to stern, and I was on the stern to deploy the second anchor. There is insufficient space for swinging.
Michael, a solo sailor from Iceland whom we met at a previous anchorage, was on the small wharf on his vessel X-Trip, and he paddled over in his kayak to offer assistance. In the end, we dropped a stern anchor in addition to the bow anchor, and Michael took a line from the bow to the wharf to secure us.
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| Charting of our two-hour anchoring adventure |
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| Mantra at anchor in Aappilattaq |
I had made chili for lunch and corn bread was in the oven. Peter dinghied over to X-Trip to thank Michael for his assistance and brought him back for lunch. He had stories to tell of polar bear encounters and advice about anchorages in Greenland and Iceland.
He told us that the little grocery store in town closes at 3 p.m. Since it was after 2 p.m., we decided to wait until today to go to town and spent the rest of the day with usual activities. The wind continues to howl at 20-30 knots according to the instruments, but that is at the top of the mast, and our sense is that the wind is being funneled in the fjord and concentrated near sea level, so what we are experiencing on the hull is much greater. We are being continuously rocked by its force. The glaucous gulls seem to enjoy the conditions.
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| Glaucous gulls flying low over the water |
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| View from the stern |
Enis has the fishing rod out from the stern every time soon after we drop anchor (just as I have my snorkel gear on and am ready to dive in the water as soon as we drop in beloved tropical climates), but there has not been any success since the three guys caught Atlantic cod, when the fish seemed just to be waiting for the lure.
This morning's shore crew, Enis and Shalako, returned from the grocery store with just three bags of groceries. There were 4 loaves of freshly baked bread at the store, and they bought 3. There were 2 packages of tortillas; they bought 1. They did not want to wipe out the town's supply. They were also able to purchase onions, apples and a small package of grapes. We have begun to be very careful about using our provisions.
Greenland is mostly wilderness, and this trip is becoming a wilderness experience for us. Our provisions are runny low. We have two tanks of liquid propane gas for cooking, and one is empty and the other is not full. With 400 gallon capacity tanks for water, we have only about 100 gallons left. We can no longer do laundry because of the shortage of water and also because it will not air dry in this climate, so our clothing is worn several days in a row. There is not enough water for showers. We last fully bathed 4 days ago; our previous showers were 7 days before that. Who knows when we will next be able to shower? We expect that we will have to wait until our arrival in Iceland, which is some indeterminate date in the future.
Enis and Shalako returned from shore after grocery shopping and exploration with news that there are water spigots at various places in town which the locals use to gather water for their homes. If X Trip leaves the wharf tomorrow, we will take his place on the little wharf and do a bucket brigade with our jerry cans.
As far as we know, there is no place to get more propane on shore, so we are now limiting our cooking and will use the microwave to heat water for tea and for making scrambled eggs and other meals as possible.
The forecast is still not favorable for crossing to Iceland. Other cruisers that we have met here that have already crossed have reported ugly conditions, with high seas and knockdowns. We are praying for calmer conditions for our voyage there.
Did I mention that the wind is strong here?
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| Enis airborne |
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| Shalako by the town's windsock |
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