Dropped the Hook in Nordre Laksebugt

After a quick overnight in Godthab we ran up the coast for four hours and dropped the hook in Nordre Laksebugt, another beautiful and very isolated deep cove.  Once settled, Chauncey and Sefton strapped snowboards onto their backs and started to hike up the hills (remarkably steep hills) in search of a patch of ice they’d seen from the boat. Clinton, Greg and I headed off to a different part of the cove where they kite boarded trainer kites (1 and 3 meters) while I hiked inland a bit.  Dom stayed aboard, cooked and stood anchor watch (definitely the short straw).  All were successful in their various endeavors (Chauncey and Sefton’s HD video of them boarding down the small glacier was stunning to say the least) and met back aboard about 7:00 for dinner… then the fun began. 

Greg and I decided to start breaking out our dive gear and two hours later, after spending far too long climbing in and out of my new dry suit to keep trimming the neck seal (something I should have done in Newport), I went over first and lasted about two minutes. The gear was still all wrong and every diving instinct in me suggested to get out of the water and call it a day… now.  Gladly.  This didn’t deter Greg, as by the time I’d gotten my various layers off he was already under the boat replacing zincs.  Then we saw it; a very small and manageable ice berg about half a mile away across the bay. We all piled into the inflatable, took a close look at the berg, hooked Greg up with underwater communication, and over he went with the underwater video housing.  Attached with this blog is some pocket-camera video of Greg filming the berg.  You’ll have to trust me when I say that the HD footage he shot above and below the waterline is astonishing, absolutely breathtaking… trust me or buy the documentary when it’s done!

The next morning we up-anchored around 9:00 and are now in our second day of crossing the Baffin Bay.  The weather window held, the light breezes which were predicted to fall apart and we’re now in flat seas with less than five knots of air.  Our original intent was to head for Pond Inlet but after looking at a ice chart, we down loaded last night, found it to still have ice in it. Lancaster Sound is wide open up to Beechy Island (where the Franklin Expedition graves are) so we’ve altered course. This will add an extra day to the crossing and I’m very happy to report that we are now two days out from The Northwest Passage.