73’53.2N 082’00.6W course 078′ speed 7,0kn
The air has gone a different sort of cold. The snow is staying longer on the hills. And even in the afternoon you can find some ice in the puddles that are in the shade… the seasons change very quickly in the higher latitudes and winter is definitely coming! So its time for us to leave! After a day and a half in Arctic Bay, a settlement on Baffin Island, we are now on our way out of Lancaster Sound. The water is littered with icebergs, but no sea ice this time around.
And although it is the 6th of September and the nights are pretty dark, we have not really seen any Aurora Borealis. Tonight would have been perfect. A beautiful sunset/sunrise behind Devon Island, stars (or rather planets) rising visibly on the horizon, like they were a navigational light of a ship, so clear and so low on the horizon. And dark shapes of the ice bergs that are quietly drifting around. Its crazy to think, that these ice bergs, ice from land origin, are ice that is older then we are, probably older then the Tecla is. And they may be around for another decade before they are fully melted. They will get stuck in the sea ice again this winter. Next summer they will get unstuck again and start floating around. We may see them again when we return in August.. Not realizing they are the same..
Our crew is doing well. Getting into the rhythm of the watches again and getting on with conversations left for the darker hours of the night. As we are under sail and going down wind it all feels pretty quiet on board. In the next few days we will set sail across Baffin Bay, depending on wind of course. Low pressure area’s are passing by in rapid succession so the next anchorage should be in Greenland, but where is still to be determined.
After so many weeks in the Canadian Arctic and Canadian waters, it feels a little strange that this might be the last night watch sailing in them. But it feels good to be underway again!
All is well on board, Jet
