Standby to Launch the Time Capsule

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 21 Jul 2008 19:40
Position: 65 55.6 N 051 43.5 W
At anchor: off Kujallek Glacier, Evighedsfjord
Wind: Calm
Weather: Overcast, some drizzle
Day's run: 9 miles (motoring)

I woke up this morning to Bob Cat demanding something, attention I think, as
when I got up his food and water bowls had plenty in them, or maybe his cat
tray was not to a satisfactory standard of hygiene (I change it every day
first thing). After exchanging pleasantries with B.C., I stuck my head out
the companionway hatch, it was overcast and drizzling, definitely not a good
day for standing at the wheel for many hours of motoring. I contemplated
the matter as I had breakfast and then while I proceeded ashore to fetch
some nice clean fresh water from a nearby stream, and further considered the
matter as I went for a short walk to investigate some "ancient ruins" which,
according to my cruising guide, are a landmark in this small bay we are
anchored in. I had seen a bunch of rocks tumbled over one another but it
seemed tp me that it would take a pretty active imagination to think of
these rocks as ruins of any description. I even thought maybe I had the
wrong bay, but this is the only indentation in the fjord walls that could
come close to being called a bay. So I made my way to the bunch of rocks
and had a bit of a scramble over them to see what I could see. I am no
archeologist but these rocks are not ancient ruins, there really was no
pattern to them at all. I shall have to write to the Royal Cruising Club
about this one and have their guide corrected.
Back on board, still drizzling outside, I further weighed the various
factors affecting my decision as to what to do next, (I really was in no
hurry to motor anywhere in the rain). The large glacier was some six miles
further up the fjord. It is some 30 miles back to yesterday's anchorage.
I still have to find a glacier where I can place the time capsule with Al
Gore's book in it. I do not know what lies ahead, whether their will be any
better glaciers. I have given myself until the end of the month before I
turn south and start heading back to the Annapolis Bookstore. Weighing
these factors up in that most unreliable of indicators, the old 'how do I
feel about that'ometer, I decided let's have a go at seeing whether we can
launch the time capsule somewhere in this glacier.
By now it was time for lunch, (Bob Cat is having an influence on me I
think), so once that was out of the way, we weighed anchor and proceeded
further up the fjord to look for an anchorage closer to the glacier. As we
got closer the amount of ice increased, only a few small icebergs, but lots
of small broken bits in the water all around, so we went dead slow and
gently pushed the bigger pieces to one side. As we got closer to the
glacier we saw two pieces of ice calve from it, relatively small pieces but
big enough to cause a disturbance to the surrounding waters. Surveying the
scene I thought our best chance to anchor was to investigate the shore line
along the glaciers southern side, here there were a couple of mountain
streams cascading down the mountain side and at their base they had formed
an alluvial fan of sand which spanned out into the fjord; here it seemed
likely that we would find water shallow enough to anchor in. Most of the
fjord is well over 150 meters deep and steep sided so the number of
anchorage spots are very few, especially if you have a manual anchor winch
and are a bit lazy like me, generally I prefer to anchor in depth between
five and ten meters, but here the guides more often are talking about 20
meters, that is a lot of chain to lay out and, more importantly, to have to
haul back in again.
Well I found a nice shallow patch off the waterfalls as I thought (jeez I'm
good - I got to get something right occasionally when I'm not running into
icebergs), a nice patch at 9 meters. So here we are at anchor about a mile
from the glacier. I am just waiting for some information from HQ (The
Annapolis Bookstore) then I am going for a hike to reconnoiter the glacier.
I think my best bet is to climb up the hillside alongside it for a while and
see what I can see. Glaciers are none too friendly places, and while I want
to do my bit to save the planet, falling into a crevasse is not part of the
plan.
By the way I forgot to mention the whales yesterday. As we were motoring up
the fjord we saw a humpback swimming around, got some great footage on video
- all that motoring must have made m mind go numb.
Every now and again as I type the boat starts a gentle roll, this would be
the glacier calving off a bit of ice and setting a small swell going through
the fjord, just like throwing a stone into a pond, only a slightly larger
scale.
Look me up tomorrow and I will tell you how our time capsule launch went.

Bob Cat:

I think skipper Bob is forgetting whose job is whose around here, he is
spending way too much time sleeping, this is definitely my area of
responsibility, and not enough time patting me. We might have a bit of a
demarcation dispute on our hands if he isn't careful. Where is the shop
steward?