Rechercherfjorden - 77° 31' 43" N 14° 33' 01" E

The wind had completely eased, and all was calm in Longyearbyen. After the recent bouncing around at anchor, long, hot showers were very welcome indeed!

We then entertained the Aussies, Brian and Denise, from the Boreal Willow 2. They had been anchored in the harbour since we first met them on our arrival in Svalbard. They were heading for Greenland, but the ice was being slow to clear and was holding them up. Of course, guess who had forgotten to buy potatoes?

Back to the shop we went. And, naturally, while we were there, all sorts of other goodies somehow found their way into our basket. It’s amazing how easily that happens!

A well-stocked snack drawer (and the hot drinks drawer, above) is important for crew morale.

The crew from the Garcia next door came over to check out our new Garcia. In return, we were given a tour of their enormous yacht, which could comfortably accommodate ten people. They were running Boreal Adventure Sailing trips, with ten-day adventures around Svalbard costing around €6,000 per person. It was an impressive boat and certainly a rather different way to experience the Arctic.

We finally left the dock at 17:00—rather later than planned, but at least fully showered, well fed and, most importantly, now in possession of potatoes!

Walrus on Adventpynten

As we headed out, three large, rather chubby walruses were snoozing on the rocks on Adventpynten. It seemed the perfect Arctic farewell.

Goodbye and enjoy the rest of this short summer!

Staysail, headsail or Code Zero?  We are lucky.  We have three to choose from.

Opening the staysail underway

Once clear of the harbour, we put up the sails and skipped along under sail until the wind eventually died away. We hoisted the Code 0, but when the breeze disappeared completely we started the engine.

And then, just as we did, a big pod of belugas appeared nearby.

Engine off!

We drifted and watched them for a while as they surfaced and disappeared again. It was a wonderful final wildlife encounter as we left Longyearbyen.

Back on passage, Richard cooked a delicious goulash with mashed potatoes for dinner—our newly acquired potatoes had already earned their keep.

The helmsman can get a better view forward if they stand on the rear bench.  Either that, or Richard was clowning.

We were now preparing for the next stage of the voyage and setting up an 6-hours-on, 12-hours-off watch system. The plan was to head south to Rechercherfjorden in Bellsund, and perhaps meet up with Velvet (another Garcia Exploration 45 - Hull #2) who are also making the passage south. We might stay there for 24 hours to allow the sea conditions to settle.

At the moment, the swell was around 2 metres from the south, moving towards the west. The forecast shows it swinging around to the north, and there was also some weather developing around Bear Island. We certainly wouldn't mind missing that!

We would check the forecast again tomorrow and decide whether to continue or wait for better conditions.

The next waypoint was Rijpfjorden, which we expected to reach around 07:00, arriving at the entrance in the morning.

Another chapter of Svalbard was behind us, and the long journey south had begun.