24th Aug
02:00.............woke by Steve turning the heater off and he's spotted a ribbon of ice coming into the bay. We set about pushing the growlers off one by one. I stand the first "anchor watch". A frw more bits and pieces float by until the others get up around 06:30.
I get back to bed ans Steve & Tel go for a walk over to see the extent of the ice in Bellot Strait.
On the way they met theis fella................they reckon he looks like me................cheeky !!!
They returned about 3 hours later.......Bellot is choked with ice.........DOH !!! We will have to wait for the wind to change direction to the south / east to move it back into Franklin Strait and hopefully open up a clear path down the east side of the strait to enable us to reach Gjoa Haven.
Rough legged buzzard.
Around 13:00 Ding spotted a ship..................it's the MV Bremen.
We talked to them on the VHF....they are anchoring in Depot Bay too. We agree to talk around 14:00 when they are settled in the anchorage.
They ask us over to look at the ice charts on board.................brilliant !!!
True to their word they get anchored up around 14:05 and the VHF crackles.............."SY Novara ............this is MV Bremen come, in over"...............
"yes Novara here"
"Novara .........Bremen..........we are about to get shuttles of zodiaks to take people ashore. When we have completed that we will come and pick ypu up ........do you want showers........ ok" ?
"yes that's fine, we will look forward to that, Novara listening on CH 16"
So, that's great a trip onto the liner & a free shower to boot.
We went about our bits and bobs and no time a zodiak was at the boat. We hurriedly got our stuff together.
A young lad called Alex was our driver, we flew over to the Bremen in no time. The zodiak had a 36 hp diesel outboard, must say the first i have ever seen. Apparently one of the other zodiaks a has an electric outboard and they were telling us how good it was..........cool !!
We get escorted to the bridge and meet Christophe......the 1st officer we have been to talking to on the VHF. He is from Zurich........would you believe it !!!! I told him Gemma lives in Greifensee....he knows it well. He now lives in Constance, easier for him to get over to Germany where he is based with Hapag Lloyd................the ships owners. The skipper comes in and there are introductions all around. He shows the latest weather and ice charts...mmmmmmmmmmmm.........not promising. They are supposed to be going to Gjoa Haven and then to Cambridge Bay and back here to then proceed to Greenlandand be in Reykjavik, Iceland for the 6th September...............no chance and the Captain know's it.
He has organised an Ice breaker though, so he decides to take the boat through Bellot Strait to the far side of Peel Sound and land on Prince of Wales Island, to show the passengers some serious ice conditions.
We talked away with the Captain and his officers for a while and then he asked us to stay for dinner.......Steve very nearly hesitated (he ws still concerned about ice hitting the boat), however, Tel was still on board (he did'nt want to come............he was in explorer mode !!!).
We were shown to a spare cabin to get freshened by Gordana the "Cruise Director"..... ( not too sure if they thought we stank or not !!!!!! We probably did ...LOL).
We went into the lounge for tea and cake with Dieta (hope i've spelt that right ), the young 3rd officer. A lovely lass, about Gemma's age, she lives on the German / Danish border with her husband and 7 cats................wow !!!
Very clever girl, spoke 4 or 5 languages.....she was schooled at Repton in Derbyshire for a while, her English was very good.........lucky for us !!
We then met some of the passengers..............a few Australians from Brisbane.......gawd...can't get away from them.... Rob & Karen !!!! ha ha ha
They treated us to a few beers and we had a really good laugh with them....ace craiche !!
Into Dinner next with Dieta........wow.......how many courses ???.....with French wine as well !!!!
I had Hare done in almonds.........just stunning !!
We finished up.............thanks to all for a splendid Sunday afternoon........so surreal !!!
Thorsen was waiting for us with a zodiak to take us back to Novara, in we jumped from a rope ladder down the side of the ship...........great stuff......we were back on Novara in a jiffy.........just an amazing time ............thanks again Captain Jorn...........brill !!!!!!!!!!
We had a few pieces of ice float past the boat again in the night, nothing too desperate.....we managed to fend them off ok with poles.
25th Aug
We get a call from Bremen around 08:45 to say they are off to Prince Of Wales with the ice beaker "Raddison"..............they should be back tomorrow.
Next thing is we get a call from "Arctic Tern", a 44' Bruce Roberts design, steel boat................they are about an hour away from Depot Bay (Fort Ross). Tat's good more company excellent. When they arrive hey tell us Tanberg Polar the Norwegian tug is on it's way to us as well. Thats good news, we maybe able to get in behind her if she goes to Cambridge Bay with the Raddison........all supposition at the moment. The winds are not helping they seem to be staying in the west..........not what we need at all.
Arctic Tern anchor up and Steve & Ding go over in the dingy to see them...........they have 5 on board !!! Steve asks them over for drinks later............all good
The tug arrives in the afternoon and they contact us..................they are coming for drinks too....................oooohhhhh oooohhhhhh......this could get messy !!!
I fix the bow thruster during the day..................awkward job in the focastle.............it was mainly a problem with corroded connections..............and a damaged in line fuse.......i sorted it all out with a bit of new wiring and a new fuse..........the old one was 5A, i could only find a 3.5A................so near enough that'll do........switch on Steve.......the bow thruster bursts into life...................yyyyyyyyyyeeehhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!! :-)
Yessssss, it got messy..............too much to drink !!!! The Arctic Tern team brought some curry over and the tug guys some whiskey.................GAWD..............what a night !!!! All our Rum disappeared rapidly and 4 cases of beer !!!!
26th Aug
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...........bad head this morning and we are awakened at 04:00 by a huge pile of ice in the bay and it's on our anchor..................ACTION STATIONS !!!!!!!
We raise the anchor , as does Arctic Tern....Les knows another anchorage to our south, called Levesque Harbour, so we set off for there.
On the way the guys saw a mother bear and cub and a male playing around on a floe, i was asleep and missed them......DOH !!! The guys drop anchor and we are settled for a few hours, have breakfast and a chat with Les on the VHF about weather / ice charts etc etc.
By this time i am up and around, Les calls us to say the Bremen has been trying to call us on Ch. 16. Steve decides to up anchor and pull out of the harbour as we are behind a hill and can't reach Bremen on the radio. Steve and i up anchor and set off out. We eventually get hold of Captain Jorn, Steve and he have a long discussion.............basically the Bellot is choked again, as is Peel and Franklin Strait..................ooooooooooooooooo joy !!! However, these north east winds that have just started may change things considerably. They had stopped at Depot Bay to give us some things including ice charts and weather info..........what stars !!! As they could not find us (bad fog in Depot Bay) they had sent a zodiak with everything to the Tandberg Polar. We head back to the anchorage.
Next thing we notice a long ice ribbon flowing into the harbour...................up anchor again quickly before it blocks us in.
We manage to get out along the north edge of the harbour in 4 to 5 metres of water. As we set set off we catch sight of a mother and 2 cubs crossing theice floe from one side of the harbour to the other........amazing........and they never got their feet wet once .......LOL.
Back to Depot Bay at Fort Ross, we pass a few ribbons of ice on the way back, but nothing too serious. So, we call today the 6 bear day..........brilliant.
Back in Depot Bay, we talk to Tandberg Polar, apparently the zodiak from Bremen had left us 2 rucsacs.............wow that's nice...........2 sacs to keep on the boat. We bow into the tugs port side and they pass over the sacs.Wow, they feel heavy i think to myself.....more than a few ice charts and westher info in here. You'll never guess what there was in the 2 sacs !!!!!!!!!!! No, well here we go :-
1 bottle of whiskey, 1 bottle of vodka, 1 thermos flask, 2 Bremen wool hats, 2 Bremen baseball caps, 2 neck warmers, 2 large lettuces, 1 box tomatoes, a large bunch of bananas, 2 packets of tea, 1 large box Lindt chocolates, latest ice charts and weather charts for the next 4 days.....all in 2 superb small Hapag lloyd rucsacs............FANTASTIC........we reckon it was Gordana the Cruise Director and the Captain.........had sorted it for us...................blooming brilliant.
We settle in the anchorage for another day and wait to see what happens. At least the north east winds should be moving the ice in Bellot and Peel / Franklin.
Artic Tern come over for a few beers and a brew, we discuss tatics. Les reckons ice is moving slowly toward Barrow Point (that's our only exit at Alaska), not good news. We need to make a decision in the next 48 hours or we may have to abandon for this year...........who knows.
Yacht Gjoa enters the bay............no sign of them though
Some ice growlers are moving past the boat in the winds, Steve decides "anchor watch" is needed tonight. Tel does 21:00 to 24:00, i do 00:01 to 03:00 and Ding 03:01 to 06:00......Steve on call. Tel has to fend off a couple of growlers, i end up with 8 / 9 as the tide lifts them and the wind shifts them over our way. I had to get Steve up for about 45 mins as i had 6 coming at me at once. It is very difficult to assess where they will go as the wind and tidal currents affects them differently, it seems to depend on their size and makeup. As it works out most of them miss us...............
Novara passing Tandberg Polar
Escaping Levesque Harbour
Seals on an ice floe on the way back to Fort Ross
That's it we're on the way down the Bellot
Arctic Tern behind us
Mango on it's way from Franklin Strait into the Bellot
02:00.............woke by Steve turning the heater off and he's spotted a ribbon of ice coming into the bay. We set about pushing the growlers off one by one. I stand the first "anchor watch". A frw more bits and pieces float by until the others get up around 06:30.
I get back to bed ans Steve & Tel go for a walk over to see the extent of the ice in Bellot Strait.
On the way they met theis fella................they reckon he looks like me................cheeky !!!
They returned about 3 hours later.......Bellot is choked with ice.........DOH !!! We will have to wait for the wind to change direction to the south / east to move it back into Franklin Strait and hopefully open up a clear path down the east side of the strait to enable us to reach Gjoa Haven.
Rough legged buzzard.
Around 13:00 Ding spotted a ship..................it's the MV Bremen.
We talked to them on the VHF....they are anchoring in Depot Bay too. We agree to talk around 14:00 when they are settled in the anchorage.
They ask us over to look at the ice charts on board.................brilliant !!!
True to their word they get anchored up around 14:05 and the VHF crackles.............."SY Novara ............this is MV Bremen come, in over"...............
"yes Novara here"
"Novara .........Bremen..........we are about to get shuttles of zodiaks to take people ashore. When we have completed that we will come and pick ypu up ........do you want showers........ ok" ?
"yes that's fine, we will look forward to that, Novara listening on CH 16"
So, that's great a trip onto the liner & a free shower to boot.
We went about our bits and bobs and no time a zodiak was at the boat. We hurriedly got our stuff together.
A young lad called Alex was our driver, we flew over to the Bremen in no time. The zodiak had a 36 hp diesel outboard, must say the first i have ever seen. Apparently one of the other zodiaks a has an electric outboard and they were telling us how good it was..........cool !!
We get escorted to the bridge and meet Christophe......the 1st officer we have been to talking to on the VHF. He is from Zurich........would you believe it !!!! I told him Gemma lives in Greifensee....he knows it well. He now lives in Constance, easier for him to get over to Germany where he is based with Hapag Lloyd................the ships owners. The skipper comes in and there are introductions all around. He shows the latest weather and ice charts...mmmmmmmmmmmm.........not promising. They are supposed to be going to Gjoa Haven and then to Cambridge Bay and back here to then proceed to Greenlandand be in Reykjavik, Iceland for the 6th September...............no chance and the Captain know's it.
He has organised an Ice breaker though, so he decides to take the boat through Bellot Strait to the far side of Peel Sound and land on Prince of Wales Island, to show the passengers some serious ice conditions.
We talked away with the Captain and his officers for a while and then he asked us to stay for dinner.......Steve very nearly hesitated (he ws still concerned about ice hitting the boat), however, Tel was still on board (he did'nt want to come............he was in explorer mode !!!).
We were shown to a spare cabin to get freshened by Gordana the "Cruise Director"..... ( not too sure if they thought we stank or not !!!!!! We probably did ...LOL).
We went into the lounge for tea and cake with Dieta (hope i've spelt that right ), the young 3rd officer. A lovely lass, about Gemma's age, she lives on the German / Danish border with her husband and 7 cats................wow !!!
Very clever girl, spoke 4 or 5 languages.....she was schooled at Repton in Derbyshire for a while, her English was very good.........lucky for us !!
We then met some of the passengers..............a few Australians from Brisbane.......gawd...can't get away from them.... Rob & Karen !!!! ha ha ha
They treated us to a few beers and we had a really good laugh with them....ace craiche !!
Into Dinner next with Dieta........wow.......how many courses ???.....with French wine as well !!!!
I had Hare done in almonds.........just stunning !!
We finished up.............thanks to all for a splendid Sunday afternoon........so surreal !!!
Thorsen was waiting for us with a zodiak to take us back to Novara, in we jumped from a rope ladder down the side of the ship...........great stuff......we were back on Novara in a jiffy.........just an amazing time ............thanks again Captain Jorn...........brill !!!!!!!!!!
We had a few pieces of ice float past the boat again in the night, nothing too desperate.....we managed to fend them off ok with poles.
25th Aug
We get a call from Bremen around 08:45 to say they are off to Prince Of Wales with the ice beaker "Raddison"..............they should be back tomorrow.
Next thing is we get a call from "Arctic Tern", a 44' Bruce Roberts design, steel boat................they are about an hour away from Depot Bay (Fort Ross). Tat's good more company excellent. When they arrive hey tell us Tanberg Polar the Norwegian tug is on it's way to us as well. Thats good news, we maybe able to get in behind her if she goes to Cambridge Bay with the Raddison........all supposition at the moment. The winds are not helping they seem to be staying in the west..........not what we need at all.
Arctic Tern anchor up and Steve & Ding go over in the dingy to see them...........they have 5 on board !!! Steve asks them over for drinks later............all good
The tug arrives in the afternoon and they contact us..................they are coming for drinks too....................oooohhhhh oooohhhhhh......this could get messy !!!
I fix the bow thruster during the day..................awkward job in the focastle.............it was mainly a problem with corroded connections..............and a damaged in line fuse.......i sorted it all out with a bit of new wiring and a new fuse..........the old one was 5A, i could only find a 3.5A................so near enough that'll do........switch on Steve.......the bow thruster bursts into life...................yyyyyyyyyyeeehhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!! :-)
Yessssss, it got messy..............too much to drink !!!! The Arctic Tern team brought some curry over and the tug guys some whiskey.................GAWD..............what a night !!!! All our Rum disappeared rapidly and 4 cases of beer !!!!
26th Aug
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...........bad head this morning and we are awakened at 04:00 by a huge pile of ice in the bay and it's on our anchor..................ACTION STATIONS !!!!!!!
We raise the anchor , as does Arctic Tern....Les knows another anchorage to our south, called Levesque Harbour, so we set off for there.
On the way the guys saw a mother bear and cub and a male playing around on a floe, i was asleep and missed them......DOH !!! The guys drop anchor and we are settled for a few hours, have breakfast and a chat with Les on the VHF about weather / ice charts etc etc.
By this time i am up and around, Les calls us to say the Bremen has been trying to call us on Ch. 16. Steve decides to up anchor and pull out of the harbour as we are behind a hill and can't reach Bremen on the radio. Steve and i up anchor and set off out. We eventually get hold of Captain Jorn, Steve and he have a long discussion.............basically the Bellot is choked again, as is Peel and Franklin Strait..................ooooooooooooooooo joy !!! However, these north east winds that have just started may change things considerably. They had stopped at Depot Bay to give us some things including ice charts and weather info..........what stars !!! As they could not find us (bad fog in Depot Bay) they had sent a zodiak with everything to the Tandberg Polar. We head back to the anchorage.
Next thing we notice a long ice ribbon flowing into the harbour...................up anchor again quickly before it blocks us in.
We manage to get out along the north edge of the harbour in 4 to 5 metres of water. As we set set off we catch sight of a mother and 2 cubs crossing theice floe from one side of the harbour to the other........amazing........and they never got their feet wet once .......LOL.
Back to Depot Bay at Fort Ross, we pass a few ribbons of ice on the way back, but nothing too serious. So, we call today the 6 bear day..........brilliant.
Back in Depot Bay, we talk to Tandberg Polar, apparently the zodiak from Bremen had left us 2 rucsacs.............wow that's nice...........2 sacs to keep on the boat. We bow into the tugs port side and they pass over the sacs.Wow, they feel heavy i think to myself.....more than a few ice charts and westher info in here. You'll never guess what there was in the 2 sacs !!!!!!!!!!! No, well here we go :-
1 bottle of whiskey, 1 bottle of vodka, 1 thermos flask, 2 Bremen wool hats, 2 Bremen baseball caps, 2 neck warmers, 2 large lettuces, 1 box tomatoes, a large bunch of bananas, 2 packets of tea, 1 large box Lindt chocolates, latest ice charts and weather charts for the next 4 days.....all in 2 superb small Hapag lloyd rucsacs............FANTASTIC........we reckon it was Gordana the Cruise Director and the Captain.........had sorted it for us...................blooming brilliant.
We settle in the anchorage for another day and wait to see what happens. At least the north east winds should be moving the ice in Bellot and Peel / Franklin.
Artic Tern come over for a few beers and a brew, we discuss tatics. Les reckons ice is moving slowly toward Barrow Point (that's our only exit at Alaska), not good news. We need to make a decision in the next 48 hours or we may have to abandon for this year...........who knows.
Yacht Gjoa enters the bay............no sign of them though
Some ice growlers are moving past the boat in the winds, Steve decides "anchor watch" is needed tonight. Tel does 21:00 to 24:00, i do 00:01 to 03:00 and Ding 03:01 to 06:00......Steve on call. Tel has to fend off a couple of growlers, i end up with 8 / 9 as the tide lifts them and the wind shifts them over our way. I had to get Steve up for about 45 mins as i had 6 coming at me at once. It is very difficult to assess where they will go as the wind and tidal currents affects them differently, it seems to depend on their size and makeup. As it works out most of them miss us...............
Novara passing Tandberg Polar
That's it we're on the way down the Bellot
Arctic Tern behind us
Mango on it's way from Franklin Strait into the Bellot
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