Two Moonscapes

Saxon Blue's Blog
Harvey Jones and Andrea Stokes
Tue 20 Jul 2010 00:30
70:24.840N 054:00.057W Monday night

Both our anchorages today had the look of alien moons about them. This morning, we went ashore onto a wide sandy beach to find the land inshore of it completely flat with random rocks and a strange, tarry substance oozing through. Kali and I had a session with the shotgun which went OK in the end. It's intimidating at first but we soon got used to it. We were shooting holes in a couple of old fish crates and managed to hit them every time - mind you, it's hard to miss at the range we were using. The shells with the shot in were getting stuck a bit too often for my liking. It's not so bad if you point the barrel up in the air as you pump the action and it looks very Terminator. We'll have to see how well it works when we finally manage to get hold of the single-slug shells that we need for the bears.

We all got back onto Saxon Blue then spent ages washing boots and the tender as we set off. Lunch was had underway but it was foggy almost as soon as we left the anchorage and remained so, on and off, for the rest of the day. The fog served to make the landscape even more dramatic as it alternately hid and revealed mountains, glaciers and icebergs. We even saw a whale up close but, like the others yesterday, it just disappeared. Just as well, I think, as there was a local fishing boat hanging around just there and I don't think they were doing research.

I spent most of the afternoon on watch with Jamie and Paul so we were having a good old chat while we looked out for growlers. We had a choice of three anchorages to choose from, the last of which Richard had used previously. We hoped to use the earliest one as it would allow us to have dinner at anchor - like a true gentleman. As we approached the anchorage, the fog got really thick and we couldn't see it atall. We approached using the radar and the sonar, only able to see just past the bow of Saxon Blue.

Just as we entered the bay, the fog cleared to reveal yet another alien landscape. This one looks more volcanic and is even less vegetated. We're pretty sheltered in here from the Northerly wind but it's open to the South so there is a great view over the Vaigat with its bergs and glaciers all around. The anchorage is only vaguely described in the Pilot book and isn't charted so it's exciting to be here like true explorers.

It's been another full-on day today so I'm away to my bed now. We can have a bit of an easier day tomorrow and explore along the coast so hopefully it'll be a bit less foggy. Perhaps Paul will have his close whale encounter as well.

Harvey

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