Greenland: Nanortalik

The first thing we did when we arrived in Nanortalik was to organize a fuel truck to feed Snow Dragon. Then we went over to tourist information to double-checked the exchange rate before pulling out large amounts of Danish Kroner from the ATM to pay for the fuel delivery. The woman at Tourist Information remembered us from our last visit 3 years ago and offered to loan us money if we couldn't get enough out of the ATM, a very kind gesture often only found in remote places.

Then we went to the supermarket to purchase a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, another Snow Dragon Greenlandic tradition. We still don't know why this popular brand of American ice cream is sold in Greenland but are happy to help eat it. Once we agreed on Phish Food (chocolate ice cream, chocolate shaped fish pieces and marshmallows), a fitting flavor to eat on a boat. We headed back to Snow Dragon to eat it, half before dinner and the rest after. Our freezer won't hold ice cream for more than a couple hours, so what else where we supposed to do?

In the morning while we waited for the fuel truck, a crewmember of Viking Diver asked us if we needed water. They had a water truck delivering to their vessel and we were welcome to top up our tanks free of charge if we needed less than 250 gallons. We took them up on the offer and put on 100 gallons just incase we were unable to collect more rain water before leaving Greenland.

When the fuel truck arrived, the driver insisted on doing the fueling for us. Nanortalik is the only place we have ever had this happen and greatly appreciated the service. The hose was leaking where it attached to the nozzel and Frances was able to remedy the situation by placing a large funnel in Snow Dragon's fuel fill to catch the drips. After feeding Snow Dragon 200 gallons of diesel, the driver grave Frances the print out from the pump and asked her to pay at the station when she was ready, another refreshingly trusting quality of Nanortalik.

In the afternoon we headed back to the grocery store to buy fruit and vegetables. A pint of Ben and Jerry's Caramel Chew Chew also managed to make its way into our basket. After all someone needs to support the store for carrying 4 flavors of Ben and Jerry's.

The following afternoon an American sailboat, Paragon, came into Nanortalik. When we met the crew of Paragon in town, we invited them over to Snow Dragon for brownies. We had also planned on inviting the crew of Viking Diver over but they moved on before we got the chance. They are responsible for checking on and replacing the navigational markers along the Greenlandic coast and it was fantastic to see the crew was entirely local Greenlanders. They had just finished a 5-year project of replacing 550 wooden day markers with metal ones. The wooden markers were held up with wires that tended to break, the new ones are bolted to the rocks through welded bases.

When Paragon came over they told us more about their plans. Their trip started in North Carolina and we picked their brains for information on Canada. Since we were thinking about going south of St Johns they traded their guide to Nova Scotia for our Outer Hebrides. They where trying to decide where to spend the winter and were considering Ireland. We suggested Norway which another friend of theirs also had been trying to convince them of. During the winter they will spend their time editing the footage from their trip into episodes for their site The DrakeParagon Channel (youtube.com/drakeparagon). We look forward to checking out their work next time we have internet.

In the morning, a group of locals on their coffee break lined up to watch us leave. The wind had started to come up and we decided we needed to leave before we got pinned on the high dock. Krystina started the engine, which strangely sounded like it was under load and then noticed that Snow Dragon was moving forward. Sure enough our inside controls had been bumped, Krystina rapidly put Snow Dragon in reverse to keep her from leaving without Frances who had already untied all the lines thinking it was too calm for Snow Dragon to go anywhere. Then wondering how Snow Dragon was managing to leave the dock without her or anyone behind the helm. Of course something embarrassing and unusual is bound to happen when you have a group of people watching you.

We saw another sailboat coming in as we left, a Swedish vessel named Relax. They called us on the radio as we passed and asked, are you the same Snow Dragon we met in Bodo 3 years ago? It took us a moment to place them and then we remembered having dinner with them on their boat in Bodo, Norway. We decided not to miss the opportunity to catch up with old friends, dropped our sail and returned to the dock. Relax rafted to Paragon and we pulled into the space behind them, the crew of both boats kindly helping us tie to the high quay. Then everyone came over to Snow Dragon for tea and coffee. Relax was on their way back to Bodo via Greenland and Iceland after spending time sailing in the western Caribbean, eastern U.S. and Canada.

Relax had been trying to convince Paragon to follow them to Norway and to help their effort we gave Paragon our cursing guide to Norway. Not a guide we would normally part with but felt Paragon needed the extra temptation to steer them in the right direction. We told them the only problem with Norway is that the landscape is so inspiring that they might spend too much time filming and not enough editing.

When we finally left the dock, it was in a more elegant fashion. Happy that we made the choice to turn around and spend a bit more time with friends. Who knows where in their world we will see them next but this probably won't be our last visit with Paragon or Relax.

Posted by satellite email, photos will be added when we next have internet access.