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Transference between our various locations in East Greenland was dependent on the ice floes which was unpredictable. One such example was when our chartered boat was trapped in the pack ice for 3 days. Fortunately with the aid of a satellite telephone we were able to secure the services of an old Greenlandic fishing vessel that came to our aid.Due to the tide levels being lower as we were picked up later that morning, meant transferring our supplies down over rocks and a muddy fjord bed. From there it was all rather comical with a somewhat overweight but very strong and experienced Inuit hunter paddled over in a small plastic rowing boat with a shovel to upload our supplies on to the waiting vessel. It was an old puffer of a boat which took us a full 8 hours to reach Tiniteqilaq which rests on the Great Sermilik Ice Fjord. I have been fortunate to witness some amazing natural spectacles in extreme environments but none has ever had me utterly shocked my visual senses when my eyes first laid eyes on the Great Sermilik Ice Fjord. The fjord is 100 kilometers in length and 10 kilometers wide a flotilla of icebergs,some as jagged as fairytale castles and others as smooth as dinosaur eggs calves from the ice sheet that covers Greenland. I hardly had time to adjust to this new visual sensation when the decision was taken that we should attempt to cross the fjord to our next camping location in the Johan Petersen fjord. It was a decision that terrified the living daylights out of me for numerous reasons. 1.There was an approaching thick blanket of fog rolling in that looked positively menacing. 2. Not knowing precisely the condition of the ice in the fjord. 3. Not knowing precisely where we could set up our tents. 4. The reliability of our replacement boat to cross that fjord should we encounter difficulties and being unable to communicate with the local boatmen in a language between that we both understood added to the uncertainty. 5. A sea swell that was showing signs of becoming a threat to our progress. As it turned out the local boatmen sensed the danger and permission was granted half way across to turn around. Just before that point I was numbed into silence thinking we were heading for serious trouble.... life jackets no point in those freezing waters. I have never felt so alive or about to be dead in my life !!! Returning was no less anxious as icebergs swayed this way then that way dipped and bobbled and at one point it looked like some monster was going to topple over..... it didn't of course and my shredded nerves had time to recover for the next adventure................... GREENLAND..... IMMAQUA.......... MAYBE !!!!!!!

Confronting pack ice requires meticulous precision in the absence of an icebreaker. It is a craft that takes years to perfect in being able to glide your vessel almost motionless ,then to accelerate and turn abruptly when required through the complex channels of ice. It is eerily beautiful but utterly terrifying. I will leave the last word with our Danish skipper " We have to be careful ".