Greenland

Position 70 22.3N 54 50.6W
This is our furthest north! We are at Hareo I. just NW of Disko I. Our passage north of Disko was unbelievable. 1000's of bergs and steep bold mountains on either side. Like sailing through the Alps, Tetons, and Grand Canyon.

6/22/08
Position 70 00.4N 52 28.2W
The past 24 hours we feel like true explorers.
Departing Ilulisaat we followed the cruise ship Ocean Nova. Completely surrounded by ice turning 1000 RPM in the lead created by the ship. At close to 4 miles out the ship radioed that they had left a passenger behind and they were turning around. We were on our own for 2.5 more miles of thick ice. The Bowdoin performed like a champ! Clutching in and out, picking our way through the big pieces she held her reputation for being agile and able.

At 0215 (that's a.m.) on June 18, in bright daylight, Bowdoin and her crew of 16 crossed the Arctic Circle 66 33N at 54 38.5W.
Bluenoses we are! Realm of the North Bluenose ceremony: clad in swim attire, the reading of welcome, the painting of noses, doused by the fire hose, and kissing the stem of Bowdoin. Air temp 40 water 36.

Report from Captain Rick Miller:

We arrived in Nuuk the morning of 6/14, after an eight day passage from St. Johns. The weather forecast upon departure was unsettled with vastly different forecasts every 6 hours. We left anticipating favorable conditions (light wind and fog) but saw the possibility of gale force winds out of the Northeast by the evening of day two. Moving mostly with our diesel engine we made our way north and only experienced moderate wind from the east and were soon sailing away from the stronger gale winds. We shut down the engine and sailed for 2 ½ days in 20 to 25 kts of wind on our starboard quarter. Seas built to about 10 ft. but the ride was comfortable and we were making great progress. As the big low pressure system to our south created strong winds, we stayed north of the adverse weather and raced along.

We arrived in St. John's this morning, a beautiful day and a stunning city. On our way in we observed icebergs on radar, and at dawn could see a huge cruise-ship sized iceberg about 6 miles away. We also saw a number of "bergie bits", that are small house-sized chunks calved off of icebergs. Awesome sights. Today we will be going ashore for showers, and exploring. Looking for cell phone signals and internet access, so that we can communicate with our family and loved ones. Plan to stay in port all day tomorrow and will be departing Friday, Saturday or Sunday, depending on the weather.

Bowdoin departed Castine on Thursday, 5/29/08, around 12:30 pm with many family, friends, MMA staff and Castine community members on dock to send them off.
They expect to make landfall in St. John's, Newfoundland tomorrow, 6/4/08, around 1700 (5:00 pm). This is a day earlier than their itinerary forecast.