66:21.78 N, 22:47.11 W

 

The crew were woken by the skipper enthusiastically catching mackerel from the middle of a boiling shoal of fish. James managed to hook 7 mackerel in as many minutes from the dinghy.  While the rest of us were still trying to find coffee and clothes Peter popped the rod over the side and caught an eighth. We had to stop there as these mackerel are very large compared to the ones we have recently had in Cornwall. We'd already got some stores so it's going to be mackerel for a few days we think.  Not that we are complaining about freshly caught fish!

 

 

 

After this exciting start we sailed north west to Hestereyrarfjorður. The wind was about F4 albeit from ahead and we made good progress tacking around the Bjarnanupur peninsular and up towards the fjord. Tom and Plum gained their sea legs by being excellent sailors and helms-people. Lunch was had on the fly in rather more wind than we had anticipated. Grilled mackerel of course with fresh bread, and salad. Delicious. The sun continued all the way up the fjord as well until almost the last minute allowing us to appreciate the dramatic mountains, snow patches and waterfalls.

 

Plum all wrapped up at the helm

 

We anchored at 4 pm in ground that we were not too sure of, however the anchor seemed to hold. A run ashore was on our list of things to do so we grabbed some chocolate and headed off in the dinghy. Now we are five this takes two trips in Little My to get us all to the shore. On the way across with the second load the outboard motor decided to pack up in a way that sounded terminal, with a sudden cessation of action. All attempts to revive it failed, so using the oars (quite a feat in the wind, thank you Peter and James) we all landed and walked up towards the head of the fjord along a river.

 

 

The mushrooms here are enormous - we mean Alice in Wonderland size as the photo shows – we collected enough to eat for dinner, so what with our mackerel and mushrooms we feel very hunter-gatherer today. We could have collected blueberries too but the snow patches were calling.

 

 

The snow is still melting into the rivers forming caves and arches of stunning colour and shape, with waterfalls under the ice. In places the ice looks as if it would collapse if you threw a rock at it.

 

Waterfall under the ice (it’s several metres high).

 

We invented a new game of Snow bowls. Tom hurled a small rock to the middle of a downward ice slope to act as the jack, and then all took turns bowling rocks at it. The slope of the glacier and the irregular shapes of the rocks added to the interest, but scoring was a little hampered both by the inaccessibility of the ‘green’ and the difficulty telling one rock bowl from another.

 

Eat your heart out Flintstones: we have a better way of banging rocks together!

 

Exploring the snow caves

 

Back aboard, Peter and Tom applied themselves to the casualty and took apart the outboard. The carburettor is somehow starving the fuel from the engine and as such it will not run consistently for longer than a minute or so. No fault found, but a valiant attempt nonetheless and we'll try again tomorrow.

 

While doing this we were surprised to see another boat come motoring up the fjord. This is the first anchorage that Awelina will have had company for the night. The boat is from Germany and called Walross with a crew of around 10. They invited us aboard for a beer however we were busy cooking and fixing stuff so postponed the visit until later. Supper was served. you guessed it, mackerel – steamed thai-style with rice, potatoes (for those not eating rice), boletus mushrooms fried in butter and salad.  A slice of roast chicken for Tom.

 

Identifying Dinner. A mixture of orange and brown birch boletus we think. Anyway, we eat the lot without ill effect.

 

The wind had got up during this meal - and only James and the ladies decided to go across to see our neighbours. We took the decanter of whisky and it was with some difficulty against the increasing wind that James rowed over. The Walross is a 56 foot, ten person boat, 8 metres of beam and draws 3.5 metres. And yes, they have a stuffed cuddly toy walrus aboard. This is becoming a theme this summer! This boat has sailed quite a distance, having been to Beijing for the Olympics, to the Caribbean last year and planning Rio for 2016.

 

Suddenly one of their crew announced that, "people on your boat are shouting". Awelina had dragged her anchor and it was no longer holding. Tom hauled up the anchor as fast as he could and Peter successfully steered away from the German yacht and out into the middle of the fjord. James, Fiona and Plum leapt back aboard the dinghy and paddled across - Both successfully meeting in the middle to get back together and re-anchor for the night. Clearly the ground holding here is not very good but the chaps averted a disaster with good sense and calmness.

 

We have discovered that although the pilot book keeps saying ‘anchor in 5m’ or similar depths, at the head of the fjords the bottom comprises large stones with only a very thin layer of rather soft silt/mud. It seems to us that further out, in 12 or more meters, the layer of mud is thicker and so one is more secure. But none of the fjords have what we’d consider good holding back in the UK. If we are to re-visit or stay longer we’ll have to devise a different anchor, or anchor combination. We do have on board a 56lb fisherman’s anchor, two Deltas (one 20kg and one 25kg) and one Fortress (aluminium 'Danforth type). It’s possible that we should do a tandem of one of the Deltas with the fisherman’s set in front of it. The two would be joined in series with ~5m of chain between them, but we’re probably out of time to experiment in any meaningful manner this trip.