Heading North again

Saxon Blue's Blog
Harvey Jones and Andrea Stokes
Tue 13 Jul 2010 17:51
67:31.835N 54:16.467W Tuesday afternoon

Crisis time last night. The burger bar was closed when we went to get our dinner! We were too busy chatting and eating hors-doevres and it shut at 8pm. Catastrophe. We went to the Seamans Mission but that had stopped serving, too. So we went on a route march up the hill and found a pizza bar still open. Now, as everyone knows, don't go shopping when you're hungry. Andrea looks at the menu and promptly orders a large (family size) pizza so, of course, we all follow suit, then order some chips as well. By the time the pizzas were cooked, we'd eaten enough chips to satisfy a small village. The pizzas were massive and really cheesy so we were soon defeated and staggered back towards the harbour clutching two whole pizzas in boxes which we still haven't finished despite having today's lunch out of them as well.

Richard and Jamie fancied a night on the town so they headed off and we got back onboard and were soon asleep. It wasn't a very restful night though, as there were people zooming in and out of the harbour past us all night and a few wandering around on the dock. I heard somebody on deck at one point and got up to see Richard on deck adjusting the lines in his trollies. Still, there was only one pair of them between us so I went back to bed. Turns out Jamie and Richard met up with some right characters including a Hungarian bar-owner who told them about the time he shot a local mafia boss. Apparently, they're welcome back to his bar any time, just go around the back and knock three times. I don't think they're planning on a return visit, though. They just allowed themselves to be hussled at bar-billiards and left early.

This morning, Jamie and I headed up the the Seamans Mission to book his return flight and then it was back to Saxon Blue in the drizzle. We did a textbook springing off from the bow and then out of the harbour with a bit of cheery horn-blowing from some locals. On the outside of the harbour a massive trawler was berthed. She's called Akamalik and I've seen a programme about her on Quest (the TV channel for real men or those described by Andrea as "sad") in the Mega Ship series. She was designed specifically to fish for prawns in the waters off West Greeland so she's a serious piece of kit.

We followed the leading line out of the fjord, just clearing a series of small islands and rocky reefs and then turned North along the coast. It's very low-lying along here so we've only been in about 25-50 meters of water all the way. As a result, we've seen loads of seals. Mostly, they're on their own but we saw one group of half a dozen who were having a fine old time jumping and splashing around. It's lovely to be able to see the coast away on our starboard side. When we set off, there were a series of high mountains with snow fields on the top but it's much lower now with no snow visible.

We're going to keep going past Aasiat and go straight North into a fjord on the South Western tip of Disko island. Richard has been there before and says it's a lovely anchorage and a great spot to fish for Arctic Char. We're all looking forward to some wilderness after our visit to town and a night or two at anchor will hopefully be peaceful, especially as there is swinging room so we won't have to tie ourselves to the rocks. If the boat can swing, we usually point our bow into the wind so we get a lot less wave slapping. After a couple of days there, the plan is to come back to Aasiat to pick up Paul and then go for a tour around the Eastern side of Disko island through the bay where all the icebergs are. We'll see if that all works out.

We should arrive at Disko island tomorrow late morning so we're running our usual watch routine though the night. Hopefully, it won't be too rough although there are some winds due to come up from the South tonight. We may outrun them but at least they'll blow us towards where we're trying to go. Oh, and the other great news of today - I've been wearing my new Arctic Fatboy Ninja suit and it's as warm as an Icebear's armpit. Lovely job.

Harvey

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