Sarah Pedersen 9th July 2023
Leaving Longyearbyen we were determined to see some of the amazing Svalbardian nature, so we started moving towards 2 fjords nearby.
We are still struggling with no wind or wind straight in face, so motoring is still our means to get to our destinations – on the positive side that way we always have a full battery and can use the toaster and kettle so we will have plenty of gas. Steve in very impressed (and amused) by my new way of thinking food shopping, as I am trying to write what we use of basic things a day on a post-it, but he feels this system could have been useful before we left supermarkets for 3-4 weeks. He probably would also prefer some sort of excel ark that takes into account when things expires and might be rotten.
For this reason he also was quite amused when I chose to make carrot/parsnip lasagna as these roots are somewhat long lasting.
First we went to the very overwhelming glacier at Ymerbukta. We could come somewhat close to it as the charts are updated and the glacier melted a bit. Sailing in we were met by a curious seal and there were lot of arctic terns fishing and fighting in the air.
Suddenly we heard a loud thunder like sound and realised that it was the glacier falling apart. It looks beautiful with the clean blue ice when it is first exposed.
Leaving the glacier we were keeping an eye on land in hope of glimpsing a bear. What we saw was a big hairy grey rock. This had to be investigated and getting closer we saw it was a lonely walrus tanning in the sun.
We continued towards our anchorage in Trygghmna and the weather was beautiful and a cloud sneaking across the mountain threatening to leave us in fog again. But the sun was shining and we decided on dinner in the cockpit with this wonderful view.
What disturbed the tranquility was the anchor alarm constantly going off.
So after dinner Steve was determined to fix this while Sarah was determined to offer moral support by reading in the cockpit rather than going to bed.
This support didn’t last long as she quickly fell asleep giving Steve peace to fix both anchor alarm and gas stove while mumbling swear words.
Yesterday we were meant to leave but woke up to quite a bit of wind and rain. Before we got ourselves together to face the horrible weather, we saw Saphir entering giving us an update of the horrible weather outside the fjord. So Steve got the choose of sailing or Sarah baking an apple cake and he chose the latter.