prins christian sund 60:10.19N 44:06.75W

mollihawk's shadow
eddie nicholson
Sun 10 Aug 2014 17:25
PRINS CHRISTIAN SOUND
 
This has been our target ever since we departed from the Disko area to travel through this Sound.
Some say to travel through it is to experience one of the greatest passages in the world.
Others say and we met some that it is a beastly place to be, they too have a point if you You Tube it you’ll see a nasty voyage someone had, but this is all weather related.
    We are looking at blue skies and light winds, MAGIC!
 
We left Nanotalik but not before we watched the first day of school parade where the prize pupils were dressed up in the traditional costume and the parents had to throw money into the air for all those who had gathered to watch. the night before at the diesel dock we were boarded by young and friendly local kids.
When we produced a few footballs the rest of the village kids appeared!
As the fog followed behind us all the way down the coast it engulfed us as we approached the critical juncture where we needed to turn left into the sound, the rocks needed to be avoided and the coast was very close, and further complicated by ice bergs and bergy bits everywhere. It was tense steering as the margins were tight but once in the sound the fog left us alone and the bergs stayed out for the most part also. We met a British sail training yacht Endeavour on its way out to the West side as we entered followed by a Dutch cruise liner Veendeme. This was more than we had seen since we left Newfoundland!7
 
We had a glorious sail drift down the sound to our anchorage in AAPPILATTOQ !(we didn’t even try to pronounce this one!) this harbour was hardly big enough for us to turn in and the pilot tells us that the community is about 100.
We were offered Berries from a local fisherman which he said we could smoke or drink! Nick felt it would not improve the flavour of the Gin, so we declined.
 
While the views are absolutely amazing with mile high cliffs on either side of the fjord it is miles away from any other civilization and other than local fishing / speed boat the only in or out is by Helicopter. At around midnight we were joined in this little harbour by a Canadian father and son from Toronto in QUEEN COLLEEN 2 , the other brother they told us is famous as a TV Mr.Fix-it/DIY  reality TV show guy who has a few well known programmes, too busy to travel with them I guess. We should meet them again tonight at the Weather Station where we stop before heading out of the sound early tomorrow AM and making passage for Ireland.
 
We are now tootling down the second part of this gigantic Fjord which has a spectacular surprise around every corner, the waterfalls are numerous and start a mile up into the sky!
We will send a few blogs on the way over but not as frequently as we will have little to say and the signal is not always strong enough.