Underway to Another Anchorage

It was relatively calm when we went to shore to hike this morning around 11 a.m. There were no scree slopes and I had on proper hiking boots today (as opposed to the snow boots I wore for the last hike), so my footing was more secure. Enis has discovered wild blueberries grow here in southwest Greenland, and we stopped from time to time to pick the sweet berries, which we had to distinguish from the more abundant crowberries. There was only a sufficient amount to eat, not enough to gather. Luckily, the wind was just high enough to keep the bugs away.

Which way should we go?

Enis at the end of the almost invisible trail

Shalako, Peter and Enis

Shalako holding a crowberry and a blueberry

View from the trail

Peter lying in a comfortable bed of moss

We ran into sheer cliffs when we hiked from a small beach, so that trail was a dead end. We returned to the dinghy and motored over to another place where a river was flowing into the fjord. There was no beach so we had to put the dinghy above the water, wedged against granite boulders. The three men went off in search of a trail and I stayed near the shore to take my time admiring the biota and geology. The granite rocks had several types of crystals imbedded in them. Not being trained in geology, I could not identify them, but they were lovely to view. 

River flowing upstream with tide and wind

Embedded crystals

Other crystals

Peter, Sherri, Enis and Shalako at snack time

The men were not gone long. They made it to a place where rocks dammed up the river into a small lake but could go no further. We all sat on a single large boulder to enjoy our granola bars and apples before heading back to Mantra. 

We have not sighted any wild land animals on our hikes. Two different types of scat that we have found indicate the presence of arctic foxes, however. 

The wind had picked up and there were whitecaps on the water. Nevertheless, after lunch, we decided to move to another, probably more protected anchorage as high winds are expected for the next two days. It took 30 minutes to weigh anchor because of the density of the kelp on the chain and anchor.  

This photo of the nav chart shows how much the wind had been blowing us around 

Right now we are struggling north against a 20 knot NNE headwind with 30 knot gusts, only able to travel around 5 knots by hugging the eastern side of the fjord. We have slowed down so Shalako and Enis can tie down the dinghy more securely since it was trying to rise up from the deck. Earlier today, the cloud cover was only about 50 percent, but now is about 90. I am down below and unable to see the sky outside the port and starboard windows. Cliffs are rising up on either side of us, so from down below, the sky is only visible through the deck hatches. 

I just popped up to see the surroundings. Peter had steered into a small cove off the fjord to get a rest from the strong headwinds, but the spot is not protected enough and the bottom is too deep, so we will battle on.

View of waterfalls from the boat

Thick glacier, Illusat

Spires and peaks on other side of the fjord