Icebergs, whales and the Northern Lights

David Wynne Davies, crew North Atlantic crossing written from the David Strait/ Labrador Sea, southern Greenland about the last few days

Slipping out of Nuuk on a cloudy morning we instantly came across our first iceberg.  It was relatively small but majestic with turquoise colouring below the waterline.  Our track took us South for 30nm to an anchorage close to a deserted clutch of buildings. Not unlike a Western filmset, but all was still.

The following morning using motor we set off 60nm to Fikenaesset, a small fishing community of perhaps 100 houses. In the morning having landed by dinghy, we wandered around briefly, looking into their beautifully but simply decorated chapel, and passing houses with washing hanging on the lines and with reindeer antlers nailed close to their front doors.  A few cheery souls were going about their business and acknowledged us.

The next leg involved a night passage South past Cape Desolution to an almost landlocked bay opposite Pinguiarnneq Island. It had been a long haul of about 180nm under brilliantly clear skies – memorable for the fantastic display by the Northern Lights and the sighting of several pods of humpback whales. One broached only 50m off our port beam: too sudden for a photograph.

The run down to Qaqortoq (Julianehab) was festooned with small icebergs.  The coastline is reminiscent of the Southern coast of Norway: a series of rocky outcrops with little or no vegetation. Surprisingly perhaps no seabirds were in evidence.

It looks as though we are likely to be holed up near the Weather Station on the southern tip near Cape Farewell for several days as the remnants of a monster hurricane is likely to dominate the Northern Atlantic until Wednesday.  With luck, a window will then open up for the race to Ireland.