S/Y Visions of Johanna
Wednesday, July 24 1200 UTC
64 49.5N/039 33.5W
En Route from Kitak to Kiatak
Partly sunny, wind light, calm sea conditions.
Good day to all. Communications have been partially restricted as Inmarsat Satellites are low lying in the sky and we lose signal connection in harbor if (the inevitable) south lying fjord fringing mountains block our line of sight. Thus, on Inmarsat we have only been able to connect underway or at an island anchorage; situation will improve as we head south. Our Garmin inReach connects via the Irridium Satellite network and has been a good backup albeit more limited in scope.
We spent that one night at Storo Island and headed for the settlement of Tasiilaq via an inland passage described to us by Siggy back in Isafjordur. The scenery is grandioseand begins with the first half of the passage weaving in and out of offshore islands. Charts are offset and it was initially a bit challenging to find a starting point to navigate the islands for the bergs, but once positioning was checked and confirmed, we had a fantastic time heading SW towards the outer settlement of Sermiligaq. Sermiligaq is a small settlement that is literally perched on a rocky outcrop, apparently the only semi-flat piece of terra firma in the area. It looks like it is about to topple into the sea. We continued with a hairpin turn around Sermiligaq, finding that the second half of the route is a regular "taxi" run between Tasiilaq and neighboring northern settlements, and is also a scenic route for the local Tasiilaq touring companies.
Past Sermiligaq we hooked up and then down long, almost river-like passages. The remains of a USA WWII Air Force refueling base is seen along the way,evidenced by a sea of rusty oil drums along the coast. A few speed boat taxis went to and fro as we followed the route down toward the Ammassalik Fjord, Ammasasalik Island and the settlement of Tasiilaq. With it's population of 2100, Tasiilaq is called the "capital" of East Greenland. Surrounded by tall mountains and bisected by a green river valley, it has a raw and frontier feel. Due to distances and climate, towns in Greenland are not connected by roads and Tasiilaq town and communal settlements are connected by water but only seasonally. The inhabitants are hardy folk. There are several shops, a museum, hotels and B&B's and an electronics store. You can go for a pizza, to a bar/nightclub or dine in a cafe. One can buy Inuit handicrafts, Tupilaqs and traditional carvings direct from the artisan makers, or or you can go to the grocery store and buy a shotgun. Or some Special K. It's all there. In all we spent 3 nights in Tasiilaq, hiking around the river valley day one, and then up a 2000 foot peak day two. Nearly everywhere you looked there were sleds and sled dogs. You would often hear the dogs and town benches are shaped like sleds. Tasiilaq is a very beautiful, unique and special place.
Arctic Dreams is a Tasiilaq based tour company and owner/operator Lars gave us some advice and recommendations for our passage south. We left Tasiilaq Sunday, July 21st bound for Nagtivit Fjord. Nagtivit was about 25 nm. from Tasiilaq, then 5 miles up into the Fjord. En route to Nagtivit we passed across the mouth of the Sermilac Fjord area, a group of at least 5 sub-fjords and their attendant glaciers. This results in an iceberg generator as bergs calve off the glaciers and drift out the fjords to the sea. Weather conditions were ideal as we crossed this zone and we were treated to an astounding display of bergs, bergy bits and growlers. Literally hundreds, as far as the eye could see. The bergs were named by us, inevitably due to some shape or characteristic. We passed Emerald City, Half Dome, Alligator mouth, Flat Face and Gotham. It seems silly but is also very useful as once we settled on a name of a berg off in the distance, we would use it as a point of reference for routing. Smooth seas and light winds allowed gentle motoring across the iceberg zone and I was pleased to see that I could reliably visualize beachball sized growlers on radar that were 12" or more in height. This made for good but intimidating navigation as when one added all the small growlers to the mix of bergs and bergy bits, radar targets densely filled my screen. But good weather and visibility and a great crew anxious to be eyes up on the fore-deck allowed this to be a calm and purposeful project and process.
We initiated our turn toward Nagtivit and began the process of checking and confirming course and direction as we approached the fjord. The charts of course are offset here by about 1/3 of a mile and typically one will use radar to visualize the off lying islands, orient one's self and set a proper course using radar geography to mentally transpose the image of the boat icon on the chart: mentally "correct" the chart offset. This is made difficult with icebergs all about as it is not always possible to see the islands that could be obscured by a large iceberg. The shear number of radar targets also makes it difficult to pick out the islands from the bergs on the radar screen. We also had some georeferenced google earth charts but they were fairly small scale and it was often difficult to discern land from the ever-present ice on the images anyway. All this results in entering slowly and with care. Slow is your friend! We entered, shall we say, at a laconic pace, soon to be amply rewarded by our Nagtivit anchorage.
The Nagtivit Fjord and anchorage area are not well charted and anchorages are not described in guidebooks that I have seen. We entered the fjord and approached the NW arm of the "Y" shaped fjord, an arm where the ice meets the sea. Lars had told us that the retreating glacier left behind a large inland lake and we entered slowly, rounding icebergs and confirming the position of hidden islands as we entered the NW arm. The lake was rimmed by mountains with icebergs everywhere and the glacier in the distance. We could have tip-toed towards the head of the fjord but bergs and growlers were abundant and Chris suggested we take a look at a small bay that was on our left as we entered. We explored and found an absolutely incredible and safe keyhole anchorage at the head of the bay, anchoring in 25 feet depth onto a mud-silt bottom. Comma curved with a narrow entry made the anchorage bullet-proof and bergy proof, simply perfect. We hiked around the mountains that first afternoon and all eyes feasted on the scenery; mountains, glacier and bergs. We took the dinghy to the glacier the next day - it was about 4-5 miles - and hiked all about. Lucas commented "well, now I can check off lunch on a glacier from my to-do list". Some technical gear would have allowed some incredible climbing, but we scrambled about all the same and were happy enough. Lucas then capped his day off with a dip at the base of the glacier, swimming with the icebergs. Go figure!! The day was a great adventure and an experience that will not be forgotten.
The following day we made a short passage to Kitak Island outside the Isortoq settlement, the southern most settlement in the Tasiilaq commune. A boat that we had met in Isafjordur, Diomedea, hailed us on the radio and joined us there. Today we have in mind a long days passage to the Kiatak anchorage at 64 19N/40 32W. Conditions are again favorable with light winds and seas. Although brisk sailing would be nice, present conditions are preferable in this area. It also appears that we will be past these iceberg dense waters by the afternoon.
Pictures pending wifi access. All well on board, and sending
Best wishes, from Bill and the crew of Visions of Johanna
----
This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using GMN's XGate software.
Please be kind and keep your replies short.
No comments:
Post a Comment