I think it's true to say that few pleasure boats come this way. Maybe it's the fog, the ice, the cold or the the hit and miss charts that deter people? There's the North Atlantic crossing and the Davis Straits too that are sure to put people off as both have a certain 'reputation'.
Since arriving in Greenland a month ago we have seen only a handful of other yachts and one of those was Alchemy. There was the French boat that passed us going south in the fog as we neared Nanortaliq. There was the other French boat that we overtook going into Nanortaliq as well as the crewless luxury Nordhavn motor cruiser tied up in Nanortaliq. After that nothing for 3 weeks and 500 miles. Until today.
We met two of the Swiss paying guests from the Italian ketch anchored in the bay this morning. They were drinking coffee in the fisherman's hostel. The Italian couple that ran their charter boat had spent a couple of months cruising Disko Bay and were now on route to Halifax, Panama and Alaska.
This afternoon I was busily topping up the fuel tank when the first distraction pounced. A sixty foot steel trawler, built like a tank, nosed in behind us passing our stern with a few centimetres to spare. He came onto the quay at right angles and, in doing so, bisected a raft of speed boats. He then sprung in alongside the quay behind our raft and, as if by magic, the raft of speed boats re-emerged on his starboard with no damage done. I returned to my siphon and my diesel.
I had just set the third diesel can going with the siphon when a yellow American yacht entered the harbour. The yacht came along side us and, from what seemed a very long range, hurled their mooring lines at us. It later turned out that they had broken a steering cable and were struggling to manoeuvre. Sally and I took their lines and tied them alongside us. We chatted about their cruise of Disko Bay and their destination. They were planning to overwinter here in Sisimiut and then head for the North West Passage next year. Then I remembered the diesel siphon!
Too late! The tank was overflowing and a large pool of diesel had accumulated on the deck. Too many distractions for one afternoon but thank goodness we managed to soak it all up with diesel wipes and, as Sally says, "you can never have too much Fairy Liquid!"
Therefore, in the six weeks we have been sailing we have encountered just six other foreign pleasure boats. Not a lot for such a magnificent coastline and vast country.
Tomorrow, Sunday, we will sail at 0700 for Aasiaat and prepare Shimshal for haul out and her long sojourn ashore in the grip of an arctic winter.