65:38.91N 37:04.65W

Early morning Arctic advection fog greeted us, and so we took the opportunity to motor round into Tastartik fjord for a cosy anchorage and some well earned lunch! Gringo and Tracey set off up a pleasant rocky ridge - felt like granite - and some solid hand and footholds which felt very reassuring. We scrambled up to an 800m summit, waved down to Umiak, and descended the same way. Karl, Mike and John went for a lovely ramble up the valley past beautiful waterfalls coming over magnificent orange coloured slabs. Olly had been fishing from the boat and the dinghy, but with no luck so far. 

We drowned our fishing sorrows by attacking a slab of beer, having left a fishing line dangling off the back deck with three silver mackerel lures, and tucked in to a delicious chicken curry with dahl and rice.

Olly suddenly spotted the line moving and we all rushed out to spot a huge Arctic cod caught on the line. Everyone was keen to give their opinion about how to land it, as Karl launched himself into the dinghy head first, and managed to grab the fish with his hands and held it aloft in all its splendour! Meanwhile, whilst we all wondered at the magnificent specimen, the line was being reset, and seconds later, another beautiful 90cm long cod arrived, followed by a third, about another minute later! Big celebrations and hilarity all round, assisted by the hazy fog of alcohol. We left the three cod buddies out in the bucket for the night (the rod produced no further action) and the fish stories continued!

Saturday 23rd Aug

What a grey day! And fortunately we haven’t had too many of these. So we took the opportunity to get some cleaning done and some more fishing (to no avail). Gringo and Tracey got out in the afternoon and wandered up the waterfall valley to stretch the legs! Meanwhile Mike had been busy with the cod and produced some fish cakes for lunch and cod filets for dinner.