Exploring Fjords
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 21 Jul 2008 01:20
At anchor: Kujallek, Evighedsfjord
Wind: Light, variable
Weather: Sunshine.
Day's run: 35 miles (motoring)
Today was a big motoring day, up another long fjord to its head looking for
glaciers. This fjord has lots of small glaciers and one big one which is
now about five miles on from where we have anchored for the night. With all
these glaciers this fjord is surprisingly free of ice and, while I am no
expert, the smaller glaciers all look pretty dirty and do not appear to be
calving off much ice, perhaps they are in retreat. Whether this is just
seasonal or more climatic I would not know, perhaps a bit of both.
My cruising guide describes this area as a place of extraordinary beauty and
it was also recommended by Jens, the airline pilot from Nuuk, so I thought I
had best have a look. I must admit this morning when I thought about all
the motoring ahead of me I almost decided to give it a miss, but in the end
not wanting any regrets decided to keep on going. Well it was a lot of
motoring and yes, the scenery is amazing, near vertical walls of rock and
ice line the fjord, mostly rock, glaciers fill the gaps and melt water
streams down the craggy peaks. Definitely Old Testament stuff, somewhere
you might expect an ethereal voice or a burning bush to appear. And was it
worth it? To be honest, for me, it was marginal, if I could have sailed it,
definitely. I think this will probably be my last fjord for a while.
Tomorrow I will motor back to yesterday's anchorage where we will stay the
night and on Tuesday if conditions are suitable we will push on further
north.
Bob Cat:
That noisy thing under the floorboards has been unusually active today,
nonetheless it does provides an interesting background hum to my work. And
the sunshine on the patio this afternoon was very nice.
All is well.