66:00.41N, 22:55.41W

 

After our complaints and moans of the last few days the weather has finally changed. The pressure is rising and the Greenland high is extending here. This means cloudless skies and gentle winds in our favour! We even had time to stop and fish at lunch time. Peter caught a saithe which we smoked and then had for lunch – very good it was too – and one decent sized cod which we we filleted. Unfortunately Collier fisheries have omitted to develop the Nigerian market so the head and spine went over-board. The guts did however get recycled into animal feed – sea gull feed to be precise.

Peter with cod.

 

We hoisted the cruising ‘chute for the run into the Isafjord and gave it a good airing. A peculiar feature we’ve noticed is that the south facing slopes have snow whereas the north facing ones do not, and are the more fertile and vegetated. We don’t understand it but suppose that the snowfall may come mostly from the SW.

 

View towards the Hornstrandir – looks a bit chilly!

 

South facing side of the fjord

 

North facing side

 

We have chosen to go into the Seyðisfjorður as the pilot describes it as uncharted but with an anchorage, the facilities being ‘church’. And that’s exactly what there is. The bothy is now abandoned and the church itself was locked, but we wandered around the graveyard. Almost all are for people born during the 19th century, and they didn’t live that long; 70 being about the mean lifespan. Yet it’s very well cared for and there are flowers on the graves of people who died in the 1930s and 40s.

 

Awelina all alone, anchored ‘on the white’ behind an eyri. Since it faces north the grass is lush, a hay crop has been cut and it’s full of prosperous looking sheep.