A Busy Day and a Half in Ilulissat Tidying the Boat

69, 07 N 52, 40W air -1C water 4C Disco Bay, Near Ilulissat, in Baffin Bay, pressure 1010mb wind 140degrees at 10kn. 19th Sep 16:30 UTC

A busy day and a half in Ilulissat tidying the boat etc.  Wonderfully there is nothing that really needs fixing except a blocked sink.

We went round to see the glaciers that feed into the Jacobshaven fjord and from there out in Baffin Bay – the source of all the icebergs that made getting to Ilulissat such hard work the night before last.  Even now, after all the ice we have seen, this was a quite extraordinary sight with a vast glacier gradually breaking into chunks the size of a city park gradually breaking free of the huge ice cliff.  According to one man there is much more ice in Ilulissat than 40 years ago because the glaciers are receding and dumping ice even faster into the fjord – the glacier fronts have gone back several miles over that time.  From a hill top we could see 50 miles to the North West up the channel we had sailed down and see the thicket of icebergs we had sailed through.

Ilulissat has about half as many working dogs as people – about 2,400 dogs (although there were about double that number 20 years ago) all chained firmly to the rocks.  They are enthusiastic, strong and friendly but in a slightly dangerous way and are definitely not to be petted.  Their puppies are allowed to wander free until 5 months old and are delightful if a bit nippy.

Weather cold and getting colder with a film of greasy looking  ice forming on the water in the harbour by late in the evening.  Then a clear aurora over the harbour, another beautiful sight, with the prospect of even better ones in the next few days.  In the morning it has snowed.

The local Ilulissat museum is good and has heard about us on local web sites and the radio (thank you the PR team).  Then back to the boat to prepare and we are off in the snow for 4 days and 3 nights sailing to Nuuk.  New crew settled in well and everything goes very smoothly with a great small of cooking coming from the galley as well. The first obstacle as we head South is the flow of ice from the glacier into the sea which we are now approaching.