Aasiat, Greenland

We left Nuuk on Tuesday, July 22 after five days of much-needed recuperation. Every day we were there was sunny and warm and we enjoyed it very much. Nuuk had everything a cruising sailor could want including a Seaman’s Home.

Seaman's Home, Aasiat

This is a Danish institution and there is usually one in every port along the coast. They are spotlessly clean with hot showers, laundry, fast internet and a cafeteria serving plain, hearty meals at a good price. What more could you want? Three of the major Homes also offer three star accommodation. There were also excellent grocery stores available in Nuuk.

We were headed north up the coast to Disko Bay which was to be our last stop in Greenland before leaving for Canada. Due to all the usual problems: lack of, or, too much wind, headwinds and fog we expected slow progress, so, decided to press right through nonstop as we were starting to feel a bit of pressure that the days were ticking by too quickly. The slow progress was correct, it took four days to make 365 miles to Aasiat, on the south shore of Disko. The passage was difficult. On Thursday night, after struggling with headwinds, we decided to pull into an inshore lead to anchor for the night. After five attempts to set the anchor in two different locations, we gave up due to impenetrable weed and headed back out to sea again. It was a cruel blow to be denied a quiet evening at anchor.

This passage was also compounded by really weird tides. The tidal streams aren’t documented very well and we found ourselves caught where two tidal streams, one going west and the other south-east collided over the top of a sea-mount, just about the worst place you can be. We went west with the stronger tide as there really wasn’t any other choice. After we finally figured out what was going on, we just had to wait for the south-east tide to slacken and the westgoing tide to start turning north and we were able to get control of the boat again. For a period of about twenty minutes, at the change, the sea looked like it was boiling all around us.

Despite the hard work, Greenland is a fabulous sailing destination. Offshore, the coast is incredibly forbidding with a solid line of black, jagged peaks dropping directly into the water. 

There was no sign of human habitation for hundreds of miles. However, just inshore, the coast is riddled with inner leads and fjords just waiting to be explored. 

We have 24 hour daylight, but, there's still a sunrise at this latitude.

We could have travelled on inshore waters all the way up from Nuuk to Disko if we’d had more time to follow all the twists and turns and didn’t have an ice deadline further north. Maybe we'll return someday and give it the attention it deserves.

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Aasiat 26/7/2014 19:30 68°42.4'N 052°52.6'W