The ice is clearing nicely out of Baffin Bay so we plan soon to sail West across to Arctic Canada. The plan is to pick up two more crew members in Pond Inlet; my brother Pete and old school friend Hywel. Then we will be five and the crew will be complete. However the ice is quite slow melting in Pond Inlet and it’s inaccessible there at the moment, so we’re looking at alternative pick-up places.

 

We’re anchored in a beautiful little inlet among the Kronprinsens Islands of Disko Bay. From here we have a ringside seat of the huge icebergs drifing past on their way to the Davis Strait. Many of these will survive for months before melting completely and become a serious hazard to shipping.

 

Cath and Phil have settled in well and life is certainly a bit easier with three on board. Underway our watchkeeping routine has been 3 hours on, 6 hours off, with one member on standby. This is such a luxury!  We take turns to cook supper and do the cleaning chores. We caught 3 large cod in 30 seconds last night on mackerel feathers (no skill required!) and cooked those for supper with egg fried rice and a glass or two of wine.

 

The weather so far has been very kind to us so this is a good, gentle introduction. Today we will study the latest ice and weather charts and make a decision on when to head across Baffin Bay.