East Greenland
While Svalbard is readily navigable and a good introduction to high latitude cruising, the east coast of Greenland is another level of challenge. Above the Arctic Circle it is only accessible for a short period of time in the Summer and is not necessarily possible every year. The cold coastal current brings ice down from the Arctic Sea and in late July sea ice often extends more than thirty miles into the Denmark Strait. One of the prime destinations is KANGERLUSSUAQ FJORD , only two days motoring from West Iceland, located halfway between Scoresby Sound and Sermilik Fjord. It is the second largest fjord in East Greenland but remains almost completely uncharted. As one crosses the strait there are almost no charted depths, a few lines on the charts where surveys, some very old have been made. It’s true adventure, you are on your own and a long way from help and civilisation. The scenery is magnificent and while the Lemon Mountains to the east have peaks that have been climbed, the entire range to the west is un-named still! Ashore there are no maps and the best information available were aerial photographs which we overlaid onto charts of the coast. With care one can attempt this with a glass fibre hull, such as Skycatcher, our old race boat. An aluminium hull might make one more daring, but yes, less cautious. South there are a vast number of fjords where there is less ice left to be explored.
Text and image source: owenclarke