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Our route across Baffin Bay on the ice chart dated 31 July 2024 We are heading across Baffin Bay from Aasiaat to Pond Inlet in Canada, avoiding the sea ice that stretches up the centre of the bay.    Whether we will make it through the NW Passage remains unknown.    The crux of the passage, Peel Sound, Prince Regent Inlet, Bellot Strait and Queen Maud Gulf are still impassable.    We are hopeful things will clear but time is marching on towards our drop dead date.    We need to be able to traverse this area by mid-August if we have any hope of rounding Alaska to Nome before the autumn gales set in.    We do not want to be in the Beaufort and Bering Seas in big storms. This is the area that is currently blocked So, how do we figure all this out?   The Canadian and Danish governments produce ice charts for which show the extent and type of ice.   They also issue a monthly forecast predicting what will happen by when.   We have been watching these avidly for weeks! The ice charts use an

Under the midnight sun, we continued wiggling through the Inner Lead Route and arrived at Aasiaat. In dead calm conditions, we motored north. It no longer gets fully dark. The icebergs are getting bigger Still following the markers of the Inner Route Our friends on SV Thor had arrived before us so we were able to raft up to them - a floating pontoon rather than the fixed sheet piles of the wharf! Stuck in the middle - Thor to the left of us, Night Owl to the right.. Aasiaat is Greenland's fifth largest town with a population of a whopping 3,000.  It is a very pretty town at the southern end of the famous Disko Bay. This is the last 'large' settlement we will visit in Greenland before making the jump across Baffin Bay to Canada.   At the moment, the ice conditions do not allow us to go so we will explore this lovely place while we wait for the ice conditions to improve. We suspect it is not quite as idyllic in the winter Chimney Art!  The rubbish

We crossed the Arctic Circle in a sailboat!  Woo hoo, now officially arctic sailors. Counting down The Arctic Circle is located about 66° 33'N but it does move depending on the earth's tilt.  In 2024, the Arctic Circle sits at 66° 33' 41". But we made the decision to celebrate crossing at its approximate location that everyone is familiar with.   Celebration It would be ideal to say we sailed across the Arctic Circle, but truth be revealed, the engine was what took us across. There was hardly any wind and saying "we drifted across" doesn't have much swagger to it. The nautical tradition for crossing the Arctic Circle is the Order of the Bluenose .  BUT, as it happens, all of us have crossed the Arctic Circle before so we had the freedom to simply raise a glass rather than partake in a some chilly tradition!   And, surprisingly, none of us opted to swim across the Arctic Circle! That's two cartographic lines crossed , not sure how many more to go.

  Wow, just wow - again! This was the view we woke up to.  It is a familiar view but one we usually see when we are hiking, not from an anchorage, on a boat! The weather was spectacular as we made our way further into the fjord.  The fjord is nearly nearly 40nm (75km) long and over 700m deep.  It cuts through 2000m high peaks so it felt a little like sailing along the Bow Valley! Glaciers, glaciers A tide water glacier really is something special How many photos do we need to take?? Like something out of National Geographic - how did I get here?? Not a bad view from the galley when making lunch! Okay, another photo! Hanging glaciers dominated the south side of the fjord and there are several tide water glaciers that drain the Maniitsoq Icesheet. One glacier even feeds two fjords - that's a lot of ice. The mountains off this fjord are deemed some of the best mountaineering and heli-skiing anywhere ... nevermind just Greenland (sorry Revelstoke)! The sky was cloudless and blue and th

Wow! The photos do not do it justice and I could compose a thesaurus of superlatives when trying to describe this landscape. We continued along the Inner Lead Route north of Maniitsoq, which took us around the island of Kekertarmiut and we did the 5 nm (nautical mile) detour down Sermilinguaq - a fjord with towering mountains on both sides with their hanging glaciers perched in the cirques above us.  At the end of the fjord, the glacier toe was pushing down, almost reaching the water.   Wow, just wow.... These are scenes we are very familiar with, mountains rising from turquoise water, glaciers and waterfalls.  What is so surreal is that we sailed here!  Imagine being on a sailboat in Lake Louise ... but without any ... other ... people.  Outside the communities, we have seen two cruise ships (but they are the  small ones) the odd cabin, some small runabouts and fishing nets pulled up on the rocks. So we have this glorious world all to ourselves.  Oh, and the mozzies!  With the lack of

The Inner Lead Route in West Greenland wiggles through the rocks and islands off the coast.  Our cruising guide says it is intricate, well marked and protected.  BUT there are a number of unmarked rocks and the route cannot be recommended for most cruising yachts.  So, of course, we took it!   We left Nuuk in thick, windless fog.  This tested our metal with the idea of negotiating rocks, narrow passages and icebergs using untested charts. Much to our relief, the fog lifted just as we were approaching the entrance and in we plunged!  Dead calm and low visibility Very foggy leaving Nuuk - nothing to see here! We weaved through channels between islands, past rocky outcrops and isolated rocks.  The charts proved to be very accurate and rocks appeared just when they should!  We encountered a couple of icebergs.  As it was calm and the water was very clear, we ventured over to take a closer look. They were quite small and we could easily see their extent underwater so not at risk of a Titani

Nuup Kangerlua* is a 160km long fjord behind Nuuk. We have been watching the icebergs float past our anchorage and learned that they originated from the top of the fjord where two glaciers drain the Greenland Icesheet.  Icebergs! We'd better take a look! *According to the West Greenland Pilot, kangerlua means fjord in Greenlandic We headed up the fjord with the plan to circumnavigate Sermitsiaq Island, anchoring for the night at the top end.  We were not disappointed when it came to icebergs.  There were dozens!  And all relatively small so it felt safe to get up close and have a look.  They came in all sorts of amazing shapes but what stood out were the colours - just the most remarkable shades of blue. Amazing colours and the water was very clear so we could see how big it was underneath.   Bergs and bergy bits everywhere! We went ashore and did some target practice with the newly purchased rifle.  No, we haven't suddenly become gun-totting North Americans, it really IS for o