Yesterday's plans have come to nowt. Last night, during one watch Sibeal and I re-anchored to 4 times to avoid floes bearing down on us. It was then pretty calm & the ice in the bay seemed mostly to be moving sedately with the tide. The smaller floes we could pole away but a succession of big ones forced us to up-anchor and move. At one stage there was a continuous line of ice, complete with a resting seal coming our way. Inevitably soon after each move the spot we'd vacated was ice-free. Later in the night the wind blew up strongly from the East to a steady 35knots and we moved within the bay to seek shelter from the wind. The stronger wind did have the beneficial side effect of corralling all the ice in one corner.

Most of the rest of the day has been either sleeping or keeping a watch so as to dodge the odd bit of ice. During the evening the wind eased but it then became very foggy

Good time to do a bit of reading. Currently on The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers- present from sister Cait, who as ever has made a discerning choice.

Went to the "cinema" this evening. We watched The Departed on Sibeal's laptop. Very good film and I was very brave and only went up to check on the ice for a few of the scary bits.

We do have a very efficient diesel powered heater on board. There isn't much fine control possible. Mostly it is a case of full on or off. Sibeal said at the end of the movie that she'd been in cooler saunas! We do tend to run it only intermittently as a result and when there's just one of us on watch, he/she can wrap up warm and it stops one falling asleep.

Not much new on the photo front so will give another one from yesterday, of the graves here at Beechy Island. There are four here. Three of them from Franklin's expedition and one from the HMS Intrepid search party. Been reading a book about the exhumation of the three Franklin grave's.
Liz has forwarded some of your comments to me, which is and are great. Nice to know that I'm not just talking to myself.

This evening's ice forecast shows some sign that the water of the central part of Peel Sound is almost ice free. The ice in the first northern part is thinning out and we should be able to get through this soon. Beyond this however (in Larsen Sound) the ice is still pretty thick and certainly wouldn't be passable by us yet. Will however take us 4-5 days to get to that area and soon we will have to decide whether to make a start and hope that the ice to the West of King William Island clears by the time we get there. The other unknown is what effects the current strong easterly and especially the forecast northerlies will have on the ice. The northerlies could funnel ice down Peel Strait and especially huge chunks of old ice down M'Clintock Channel. Decisions, decisions.

Going to Resolute isn't currently an option as there is thick ice between us and there. Bit low on propane gas for cooking but should be OK. Andrew was very resourceful and cooked all of last night's curry on the heater!

Current plan is to get this evening's ice and weather situations and decide.