Ice Central has just e-mailed that the sea ice surrounding the Cap Farvel area in the south of Greenland has cleared, and that the Prince Christian Sound area is ice-free as well. We’ve bid good bye to new friends and are headed south.

Above: Outside the harbor of Ilulissat, checking the ice conditions, and looking for the perfect combination of berg, lighting, clouds, and sky for a photo to remind us of this part of the world. Wind Horse is about 1000 feet (300m) from the face of the iceberg. The actual height of the right hand edge of the berg is probably about 300 feet (90m).

These two photos are not what we had in mind, but they will have to do.

Water temperature is barely above freezing, it is cold in the dinghy, and there is the threat of an iceberg capsizing or splitting. Every year small boats are swamped by the waves generated by these events (and earlier this year two tourists at the nearby foreshore were drowned by berg generated waves). Wind Horse is not at risk, but neither of us is anxious to spend a lot of time in our dinghy!

The weather looks clear and we’ve downloaded the latest GFS and NOGAPs models. There is a chance to get a day’s run heading south in light airs, maybe even without fog.

One of our goals was to make it to 70 degrees North. However, this would entail working through a dense area of bergs, bergy bits, and growlers which congregate in "iceberg alley" heading towards Baffin Island and Labrador.

The photo above indicates a lead, clear of ice. However these are transitory. They open and close with changes in wind and tide. You do not want to be caught in a lead which then changes to a semisolid mass of ice.

We thought we were done detouring to look at bergs and take photos. But there are so many fascinating shapes. This is looking towards the terminal moraine which blocks the exit of bergs from the Jacobshavn glacier.

As you work around some of these bergs the views change dramatically.

This is the southern edge while the previous photo is of the eastern side.

Many of the bergs have reef-like underwater projections, which is why we give the ice a wide berth.

Not all the ice can be viewed down-sun. Often it is backlit, which provides quite a different, if equally dramatic appearance.

If the sunlight is playing directly on the ice, as in the center of this berg, the sky and water turn almost black in comparison.

The views from inside (where it is warm!) are equally impressive.

This berg even has its own waterfalls.

One of the incentives for putting to sea in this part of the world is the ability to watch a complete sunset/sunrise cycle. The process starts about 2300 local time and goes on until 0330. The photo above is at sunset.

There is no dark period. Just the transition from glorious sunset to a wonderful sunrise, which starts with an hour of twilight.

And ends about 0330 with the sun actually peering over the mountains.

Our calm has given way to fifteen knots of wind on the nose (southerlies). This is the third time we have seen fog with south quadrant winds. Must be a pattern here. However, the density, when we are enveloped, is moderate, and we can see eight to ten boat lengths.

We decide to duck into an anchorage across the channel from Hamborgerland Island. There should be a northerly in a day or so to take us towards the Prince Christian Channels at the southern tip of Greenland.