Friday and we have decided to spend the day in our sheltered bay as the weather further south is due to improve over the next 24 hours. We took the dinghy out for a tour of the bay and the tiny, rocky islands that are dotted about. What a fantastic feeling to actually set foot on Greenland after 10 days on the boat. There were so many icebergs almost within touching distance and, as we approached one, we saw that it had a shallow step and by getting the dinghy really close Nigel and I were able to actually stand on a giant iceberg. How cool is that?

Later we saw an abandoned jetty and, on going ashore, we found the remains of a boathouse and rusted machinery. It seems this place was once used for quarrying quartz and granite and we even came across a rusty rock crusher with a plate that said it was made in England in 1961. We followed a pathway for about a mile, climbing higher and higher, until we reached an abandoned wooden shack near the summit, complete with frying pan and rusted bunk beds.

The views from the top, extending to 25 miles, were spectacular. We could see how the fjord was entirely blocked with pack ice and how the glaciers appeared to carve their way through the mountains before pausing once they reached the ocean. There was an eerie silence and a complete absence of birdsong. Hard to imagine how hard it must have been 50 years ago when men were blasting the rocks and living in such a remote place. On the way back to the boat we saw a tiny iceberg floating by and were able to hack off a chunk that we took with us in the dinghy. A good bash with a hammer and we had real ice cubes to go with our Coke!

Tomorrow we sail south to Prince Christian Sound, a spectacular passage that will take us to the west coast of Greenland and our first sight of human habitation since leaving Reykjavik.