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1930, Monday, July 17, 2023
The day started with a breakfast ashore. Then Charlie hiked to the site of the old Marconi wireless station at Battle Harbour. We decided to get underway and continue up the coast. The first challenge was to simply get the boat off the wharf. A brisk brew was blowing Tazzarin hard onto the face of the pier where we spent the night. There was no room behind us and possible shoal water ahead. Thankfully, one of the island workers who was building a new wharf offered to put a tow line on our bow from his small motorboat to pull us off the wharf. It worked like a charm. Visitors, island residents and workers all waved from the wharf and wished us a safe passage north; it was heartwarming. To my great delight, today started off with reasonably good visibility of a few miles. It was such a welcome relief from many days sailing in thick fog when one has but two- or three-seconds warning if you spot a low-lying bergy bit or growler in the water in front of the boat. It is unnerving and tiring, one's body and mind are tense, peering into the mist. So, good visibility was like a gift from heaven!
We did have to motor in light winds at first. I am very conscious of trying to conserve fuel. We do not know when, or if, we can get more diesel in the next month. Anyway, the breeze filled in and we had a wonderful sail northward. With our good visibility we saw about two dozen big bergs, some close aboard. With no fog, I can better enjoy the magical qualities of the ice.
At 1630 we turned into a 5-mile-long fjord called Occasional Harbour. We are tucked into a small cove on the left-hand side. It is quite wild and beautiful. When entering the fjord, we also took note that our Landscape is changing. Headlands, like those at the fjord entrance, no longer have trees. Inland, up the fjord, there are trees on the south facing side, but not the north. The high latitude and cooler, fiercer weather are slowly removing the trees from the landscape. It has a more boreal feel. The land has shrubs, ground cover and lichens in green hues. Daylight is lasting longer and longer. Northward bound...we hope to make Hawke Harbour tomorrow, a place I visited in 1977 and filled with an interesting history.
Bill
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