One of the advantages we have with Wind Horse is waiting to buy diesel at advantageous prices. This may seem like an oxymoron with today’s pricing, but keep in mind a large chunk of most fuel purchases goes to your friendly politicians to spend on your behalf (or to buy votes to get themselves reelected). There are still efficient places to buy fuel, Greenland being one of them (fuel is untaxed here).

With our capacity of 3500 gallons (13,000 liters) we could easily do an Atlantic circle on one fill up.

The only complication in Greenland is you need either a credit card associated with a Danish bank, or cash. We handled the latter with the kind assistance of the Bank of Greenland and our own branch at Wells Fargo in the US, and within hours of requesting funds, we had an e-mail from the local bank confirming receipt.

The fuel dock, as you can see above, is easy to get to, albeit very busy. So we dinghied over to arrange a date and met the friendly proprietor.

The "convenience" store he has attached to the fuel dock is not that different than from you would find roadside in the States, except that along with food and drink, they sell marine and hunting supplies. We asked about the correct gear for dealing with polar bears and were shown the ammo above. Just kidding…that’s armor piercing ammo that they occasionally "play" with.

Here is the weapon of choice for defending yourself from a polar bear. Shotguns, even Magnum load slugs, apparently are not up to the task.

And the correct ammunition. The killing spot is the heart. And you better not miss.

This is the son of the proprietor, Aputsiaq. He is fourteen, and helping out during the summer. During his tour of Wind Horse the thing which caught his eye was our Mac work station.

And now to the business end. Fuel cost 4.22 Danish Kroner per liter. This works out to about 88 cents US, or $3.32 per US gallon. We have filled all six tanks and both day tanks to the brim. Lube oil was the equivalent of US$19.75 per gallon, so we replaced the inventory we had previously used.

Fuel burn since Panama has averaged 6.3 US gallons (23.8L) per hour. We’re very pleased with this number as a good chunk of the miles have been uphill, and at our 11-knot cruising speed.

We will probably top off the tanks a month from now before leaving for Ireland.

Now a word about seal hunting. As you can see here, seal hunting is as much a way of life in Greenland (and parts of Canada) as is hunting deer or fowl in other parts of the world. The difference here is that for the Inuits, seal provides food, a source of clothing, and a little cash to buy what have become necessities.

The problem is that certain outsiders set themselves up as arbiters of what is or is not correct, in the name of conservation, without knowing the full impact of the policies they propose. We are not hunters ourselves, and do not care for the concept of trophy hunting. But when you eat what you kill, and in some cases this is most of what you are going to put in your stomach, the situation is different.