July 23rd 2013

At Anchor

80° 32,042' N, 54° 16,902' E

The following morning, Pekka dinghied to Anne Margareta to take some

photos of their charts as our intention was to stay behind while the other

two boats would continue their journey. I had just undressed and was about to

wash my hair when I heard a BANG from outside: the ice had found us once

again. I really don't know what is wrong with our good boat Sarema but she

acts like a magnet drawing ice towards her whenever we are at anchor. So I

quickly dressed up again, thankful that I hadn't had time to shampoo my

hair yet, and hurried outside with a long pole to push the ice away.

While Pekka was still onboard Anne Margareta, the wind changed its

direction and started blowing straight into our bay pushing more and more

ice towards us. Thus, the only option left for us was to leave with the

other boats and continue about 70 miles further south-west where there was

supposed to be a safe anchorage.

Early next morning, we arrived in a huge bay which had a gigantic glacier

on one side and a magnificent bird cliff at its mouth. The problem here

was that the end of the bay was full of drift ice and growlers that

prevented us from anchoring. However, we found a decent anchorage near the

bird cliff and spent the night there. Next morning, Anne Margareta and

Lady Dana weighed their anchors and left but this time, we stayed behind.

Sailing in company had been an interesting experience but not quite our

thing. Although, I must stress that there was nothing wrong with the

company, on the contrary!

Now we are finally on our own and more than happy to be so. With the help of

the copied charts, we will be able to negotiate our way through the rest

of the archipelago and continue to our next destination, the island of

Novaya Zemlya.