Cruising in South Greenland

We have spent four weeks in spectacular Greenland and even though it feels like we have seen a lot we have only visited a tiny fraction of this huge island.

After our dramatic crossing to Greenland we really needed a good nights sleep and were excited to find the mooring spot in the tiny harbour at the Prince Cristian Sund meteorological institute was free for us to use. We got the boat nicely parked and after a celebratory lumumba we went to bed.

The next morning we were woken to a sunny day with icebergs floating peacefully along Prince Christians sund (PCS) and out to sea – or so we thought. Because suddenly one of the icebergs decided to take the detour into our little harbour. We had to move quickly so whilst Sarah was pushing it away with our ice poles, Steve turned on the engine and release the mooring lines – off we went.

We tried to drop the anchor at a suggested anchorage outside the harbour, but we are back at a country with serious kelp – like we experienced in Svalbard. We were still tired and not in the mood to fight kelp, so we decided to head towards a charted anchorage further along the PCS. But it happened to be a day with strong wind from West and current from East and so after bumping in waves full of ice (average speed only a couple of knots) we decided to turn around and go back to fighting the kelp. We spent several hours hours trying to properly set the anchor, and when it finally held fast it was time for bed again – still tired and not very rested.

With the anchor properly set, we spent a few days relaxing and fixing the things that had broken on the trip across from Iceland. We also got a chance to visit the meteorological station, which was built in the 40’s and at that time was manned fulltime. It is an interesting place with the old living quarters still intact. Today it is only visited by 2 people every 6 weeks and they make sure the instruments are working, that the generator is operating and there is new diesel.

Cruising means fixing the boat in exotic locations

This is a well known saying to sailors and this was definitely one of those locations. On our crossing from Iceland we had had the usual medley of faults and issues – This time some fairly significant problems had occurred.

Problems with the fresh water cooling

Twice we had a problem with our engines fresh water cooling system becoming completely dry and requiring us to prime it via the strainer to get it flowing again. We had been sailing in some rough waves which might have caused the problem but its not one we have had before. Fortunately, when starting the engine we always check to see if water is flowing (exiting with the exhaust) so we only ran the engine momentarily before realising the issue. As a temporary fix at sea we decided to close the intake when not running the engine. Not ideal when navigation through ice and fog where you may suddenly need the engine. But we didn’t want to risk any overheating and it worked.

In troubleshooting this problem Steve is unsure if he has fully resolved the problem. The filter was clear, the intake was clear and inspection of the anti syphon showed it to be working fine. The water pump impeller on initial visual inspection looked to be OK, but we removed it to be sure. The reverse side had evidence of overheating through friction against the wear plate. This we assume was a result of it running dry for a couple of minutes rather than the cause of the problem. Steve replaced it anyway. The only other suspect was the routing of the intake hose that may have been changed when a bronze elbow and short section of hose was replaced at the end of 2023.

Deteriorating air heating duct silencer

In the process of fixing the above, we discovered that the blown air heating duct silencer was starting to deteriorate and fall apart. We were actually heating the engine room through a hole in the duct. This has been repaired with plenty of foil tape so it’s now good as new.

Raymarine Autopilot clutch jammed

Our other rather alarming problem was with the Raymarine Autopilot. It had performed really well on the crossing and had handled some challenging conditions. But when we entered the PCS and and disengaged it to prepared to enter the harbour, the steering was locked solid and the wheel was impossible to turn. We re-engaged the autopilot and it worked fine, disengaged again, locked solid. Steve quickly realised that this must be a problem with the clutch in the autopilots steering ram and disappeared down below. He disconnected the ram from the steering quadrent so Sarah at the helm could take control of the steering. This was one of thise times where knowing our boat and what to do when something goes wrong, really counted.

Troubleshooting and fixing this was much simpler that Steve had imagined. He expected some internal part had probably broken and would need some ingenuity to repair. First we checked the electrical connections and all were in good order. When activating and deactivating there was no click sound from the clutch and then it suddenly starter working properly again. So Steve removed the cover and could immediately see that the small retaining bolt through the centre of the clutch (which is a very simple electromagnetic solenoid) was loose. This was causing the mechanism to jam. A little Loctite and tightening and the autopilot was 100% working again.

Thinking back there was an early warning sign when we we were in Iceland where Steve remembers that turning the wheel to starboard felt it a little stiffer than to port. But it was not enough to be concerned about, but that was probably the early stages of the bolt coming loose.

Prince Christian Sund and Appilitoq

We found a sunny and windless day to motor through PCS and it was absolutely amazing. The stunning cliffs and blue water is breathtaking a very special experience. At some point we had 4 knots current with us, so you can imagine, that it can be a very bumpy ride on a wind against tide day. It is also important to remember that anchoring in PCS is only allowed at the marked areas and some of these are not the easiest anchorages as they are close to glaciers, close to steep cliffs, very narrow or just full of kelp.

In PCS the picturesque settlement Appilitoq it worth a visit. Sailing into it is one of the prettiest entrances we have done so far (Belfast and Westmann Islands being on that list). It is a quite narrow and shallow harbour and we once again struggled getting the anchor to set – this time due to garbage on the seabed. There live approximately 100 people in the town and it has a quite well-stocked supermarket! One thing that we haven’t been able to find in Greenland though is fresh milk. It doesn’t seem to be a thing here.

The prettiest anchorage in the world (maybe)

We had heard rumours of a very pretty anchorage, that was at the end of a long fjord. If we hadn’t heard about this from other boats we wouldn’t have visited as the charts say, that the shallowest parts of the fjord is only 2 meters deep. But we had absolutely no problems with the depth that at the shallowest was around 35M.

We were met by icebergs, steep cliffs and and a waterfall. It was magical!

We found plenty of mushrooms growing wild but discovered that most are infested with tiny white worms. If you put the mushrooms in a sealed plastic bag you will see them. They are apparently harmless but we decided not to try them.

We spent a few days here walking on the shore, standup paddling to the icebergs and enjoying the solitude – except from the friendly inuit, who fished there regularly and came to say hi. He lived in the nearby settlement and could tell us, that he had shot a polar bear in the area last year. This surprised us as we actually didn’t think they came this far South. So we were glad to still have our bangers from last years Svalbard trip.

Heading to Nanortaliq

After the peaceful anchorage we headed to Nanortaliq and at this point we also started to look at wind to move on to Canada. However, we were not interested in another trip like the one to Greenland, so we were very picky with the planning.

As we entered Nanortaliq and were about to raft onto an other boat, we could feel that something was wrong with the propeller. We quickly dropped the anchor and attached a DJI Action camera to the boat hook. The footage confirmed that a horrible piece of reinforced plastic had been caught around the propeller. As the water is around 4-5C it is not easy to dive in, but Sarah gave it a go in her stand up paddle dry suit, but without a wetsuit balaclava and and oxygen tank it was impossible to fix it from the water.

So Steve attached a sharp folding knife to the boat hook and after a few hours of cutting and pulling from the dinghy, we finally got all the plastic off.

Whenever we fix one job on the boat we discover another, it was clear from the video footage of the prop that both the prop and shaft anodes were depleted and needed replacing. We really didn’t feel we could do this ourselves in 5C water, so we were searching for a local diver. We discovered that Nuuk was the nearest place with one. But Caroline and Pat from SY Turnstone offered to help as they had a good hooka dive setup and a decent westsuit. It was still a rather unpleasant dive for Pat though, but we were very happy for their help!

Nanortaliq has two very nice supermarkets, so it is a great place to stock up. It is also a cute little town where you can see many examples of the old tin houses.

There is a police station here who will stamp your passport if needed (British Steve needed to be stamped in, but like most countries we have visited in the last year not the Danish Sarah) and diesel is also available at a dock at a highly subsidised price. Water by jerrycan is available from a nearby tap.

Hot spring and searching for anchorages

We continued on to the Uunartoq Hot Spring, which we visited on a sunny day. We had heard that it wasn’t very warm (as it is cooler than many Icelandic hot springs), so we expected it to be a very lukewarm experience, but it is a pleasent temperature and we spent several hours there. It is fantastic lying in the water and looking at the icebergs floating by. It is a popular and often visited island so you might no get the hot spring to yourself, but there is a dressing area so you can change.

We anchored on the South side of the island and haven’t had problems with kelp and it seems like all the icebergs get caught at the anchorage North of the island.

As we wanted to get ready for Canada, we decided to move closer to Qaqortoq. On the charts it looked like there were several good anchorages in the area south, but again the charts were misleading. At first two spots we had planned to anchor the chart said the depth was 10-15 meters deep, but when we got there it was closer to 50 meters. So in Greenland it is a good rule to stick to the well known anchorages if you want to be sure you can anchor there for the night. For us the third time was successful and we got the anchor dropped at 13 meters, but it was at a quite exposed place. Still we had a quite night with aurora and icebergs floating in the distance.

The capital of the South – Qaqortoq

We had to get Steve signed out of Greenland before leaving for Canada, but also had to have a quick visit to the hospital as Steve had gotten an eye infection from an infected midge bite. It is one of the things that is interesting about sailing – when something is wrong how can you get medical help?

We entered this very busy harbour and were categorically not allowed to moor at the spot mentioned and photographed in all the cruising guides. At the moment this area is used for the big ships and all the tourist boats and tenders from cruise ships. So we got redirected to the very fishing pier that is more like the breakwater. This harbour is very exposed to wind and waves from a southerly direction and because of the 2-3 meter tides it is not an easy place to moor. We had 2 very wobbly nights because the waves had plenty of fetch from the open fjord. It is important to note that the face of this peer is quite shallow so these waves have the potential to create some problems. Officially there are no facilities on the pier but we did managed to hook up to some shore power. You can buy water on the main harbour – this however is the most difficult place we ever tried to get water. It’s a huge high pressure fire hydrant hose that needs to be flushed for some time – and also expensive.

Diesel and petrol (also subsidised) are available at the fuel dock. It is a little tight to get the boat onto, but has a depth of 2.5M at low tide.

Checking out at the police stations and visiting was a very good experience as people are very friendly here. Once again however it is a very good idea to have a Dane on the boat as some people speak better Danish than English.

The town has several supermarkets and restaurants. The only restaurant we really can recommend is Kûnguak who make quite good burgers and pizzas and a nice affogato! We strongly suggest you avoid the restaurant at the hotel.

A must do here is visiting the sauna. It is overlooking the fjord and you can sit and watch icebergs float by and take a cold dip in the cold water. A taxi there is about 100 kr. or else it is tales about an hour to walk there.

We have been surprised by how well stocked the supermarkets are here. The fresh produce is not quite as fresh as it is in european supermarkets and only UHT milk and cream are available, but thats the only difference we have noticed. Food is also much cheaper than in Iceland.

Greenland Starlink Experience

With Greenland being an unsupported country we needed to keep Priority data toggled on with our regional roaming plan which had a cost of around £2 per GB. Clearly we are no longer in the european region so in week two, we decided it was time to change to to a global plan and have switched to the 50GB priority plan. This works well as we were immediately able to switch back to inclusive unlimited data. We have found that connectivity can be a little unstable. Particularly when at anchor due to the lack of satellites covering this area, and often being surrounded by high mountains that significantly obstruct the view of the sky. Despite this we have remained connected, have been able to make calls and stream a few things on TV. Perhaps most importantly though, we have had continuous access to weather forecasting and ice charts.

After some time in Qaqutoq we decided to spend our last time in Greenland by returning to the Uunartoq hot springs before leaving for Mary’s Harbour in Labrador, Canada. More about Canadian border control in our next post!