Departure Day

Super exciting day; I left Greenland on the first leg of my voyage! I'm headed to the Azores, mostly because I just wanted to visit the islands again. It's about 1700 nautical miles, which is about 3200 kilometers. The weather over the north Atlantic looks pretty good for the passage, and I expect it to take a little more than a week. Maybe a week and a half, depending on weather and currents, and of course if nothing breaks. :-)

Here are some photos leaving Nuuk.

Ice probably wouldn't hurt the Argo II, but I stay safely away from it. Bergs can sometimes flip without warning, and some of them are big enough to damage or even capsize a vessel this size.

This vessel has been at the wharf for a few days. I don't really know much about it, but it's a nice-looking ship. It's a working ship of some sort, as you can see by the derrick on the back. Its lines are a little like the Deception's, although of course the Deception isn't painted red. Or white, for that matter.

Entering or leaving a harbor area is always the most dangerous and difficult piloting there is. There's often a lot of traffic, even in a place as out-of-the-way as Greenland. There have been rules for who has the right of way on the sea, and most captains know them and follow them, but there's always the chance that somebody doesn't know them, or interprets them differently, or even that their ship might be partially damaged and unable to steer. I didn't have any problems at all. Red hulls are pretty attractive, I think.

A Solo Voyage

I've started planning for my solo voyage to Sturge Island. My Dad says I can take the Argo II, one of the small vessels our foundation owns. It's perfect for a solo voyage; small enough for one person to handle, but big and rugged enough to make the trip. It's also pretty fast, so it won't take me forever. This isn't actually the Argo II (no pictures allowed of Macker Foundation vessels) but it's a trawler yacht by Mirage that's pretty close. Actually I think the Mirage yacht is probably a little nicer. But the Argo II is proven; it's been around the world twice already.

For such a long voyage -- Greenland to Antarctica and probably back -- I'm going to have to plan on some resupply and refitting stops. That's what I'm working on now. Sometimes on the Scopritore IV we get resupplied by the Deception, but I'd rather plan on visiting some interesting places along the way. The Azores, for example. And I have to decide whether to head for the east coast of South America and go through the Strait of Magellan, or for west Africa and Cape Horn.

This is pretty fun. It makes me wonder how much I really want that job. Which I still haven't heard about, by the way. I just thought, though; maybe they're worried that I'm so far away in Greenland that I wouldn't be able to join them. If I don't hear back, I'll just contact them when I'm closer. They said their expedition is scheduled for 2010, so the timing seems like it might work.