currents pull and push the ice apart to show a clear line to aim for . The camp that night was on a smallish ledge and didn ’ t happen until 02:00hrs – I just wolfed down another seal stew – and prepared several bags of it back in Kullorsuaq , which I was now getting fed up with .
The next day was more of the same – a battle to get away from the coast and the sea ice , and then into some crazy large icebergs and brash ice – smaller chunks that are big enough to have to skirt around as opposed to bashing through and all swimming in a slushy soup of other smaller ice chunks . And I saw my first polar bear ! It was about 600 metres away , walking on the sea ice , luckily walking away from me . Thankfully , it didn ’ t seem interested as I didn ’ t have enough water to make a quick getaway if he ’ d popped over to see what was happening . He trundled off into the distance , eventually disappearing amongst the ice .
MASSIVE ICEBERGS
And then the fog descended again – I was headed almost west towards Savissivik and Kap York . Incomprehensively , massive icebergs loomed like
mountains out of the gloom , lifting the hackles on my neck when I knew I ’ d got a little too close , but keeping them at a safe distance whilst navigating the smaller chunks was a challenge . Especially when the fog hid them from view , several times , the slight greyish tinge in the fog darkened , revealing itself to be an iceberg that took over an hour to skirt safely . Eventually , though , land came into view sporadically between the bergs and after spending two hours trying to find a way through , the boat again had to come to my rescue – I ’ d been moving at less than 1km per hour for the final three hours s I got deeper into increasingly thicker ice and , after 14 hours of paddling , could feel myself getting exhausted and hypothermic again . Again , Scorp was hauled into the boat , and we spent several hours bashing through the ice trying to get to land – sleeping on the boat was an option but would mean a constant ice watch and what with Scorp being on , there wouldn ’ t have been a great sleep .
But the next day was clear , and I ’ d now passed all the most productive glaciers , meaning the threat of icebergs had decreased . Also , the sea was mostly clear of the previous few day ’ s sea ice , and it was a straight run of 40km or so to the settlement of Savissivik – a tiny place of around 50 people I had a well-earned rest day here – so amazing to get a shower , visit the shop and get back onto WiFi . I also ate several kiviaq – the Little Auk seabirds flying by the millions all around Melville Bay . These are caught in great big nets on the mountainside and then stuffed intact into a seal ( without its insides ), sewn up , the air pressed out , and the whole package stored for several months under rocks . At this point , the birds are well-fermented and aromatic . And they were jam-packed with great bacteria and nutrients .
Qaanaaq finally felt within my grasp – 300km left . The weather was deteriorating a little from now on . I ’ d lose three days to high winds – the scoot along the coast from Kap York westwards is a fantastic journey – plenty of camping spots and actual greenery – this is