Heading South
Qekquartasuak at 69 14N was our most northerly point for this summer and it was suitably chilly when we got the anchor at 8am and slipped out of the harbour into blue skies and a blue ocean peppered with with ice.
The ice flows east to west in the northern half of Disko and so we picked our way south crossing the traffic as we went. Thousands of icebergs all on their way to the Davis Strait, Baffin Bay and, those that survive, we will meet again much further south as they get flushed down the coast of Labrador.
The vast majority of the ice flow is focused between Disko Island and the Kongprince Islands this passage was rather like a 15 mile wide motorway crossing. Now that we have these islands abeam the horizon ahead is almost clear although there is the ever present of growlers just poking their heads above the waves.
As we are now pushing south we are hoping to leave most of the ice behind us and later this afternoon we should dodge behind the island chain that protects the inner lead from the open sea. There is very little wind but it is forecast to increase and when it does it will be against us so we will probably anchor tonight somewhere in the inner lead and wait for the southerlies to pass.
