Hi to all!  We have been traveling south in Peel Sound since 6:30 this morning and have seen rough and flat seas; right now it is flat. Shane and Walt put the new parts on the water maker while the seas were flat and have back flushed the system. The water temperature is 36.7 and Walt wants to wait until it is 40 degrees to try it again. So that is good progress and we are hopeful for a fix.

The ice report was full of warning as the winds are blowing ice down McClintock Channel, and in two days they expect the area ahead to be packed again. We are now running straight through tonight and tomorrow all day on shifts to sneak through as quickly as we can. The skies are grey with patches of fog.  We did have a moment of excitement when we were hailed by an Aussie boat coming the opposite direction!  We took their picture and they hope to get it published in their home town paper! They man who hailed us was on watch and didn’t want to chat so we don’t know much more, but it was encouraging to see someone made it! That man, Gary, who is sailing solo and had the motor troubles is up and running and is in Gjoa Haven now. Each night we make contact over the ham radio with a man in Cambridge Bay named Peter Semotiuk, and all boaters in the area tune in to and exchange info with him. He has the current ice information too and we get the benefit of hearing from others who are on the water.

I have nut bars just out of the oven and we are having a ham dinner tonight at 9:00 after Shane and Pat wake up. We have seen many seals and birds again but haven’t been close enough to shore to see much else. The land appears pretty flat with mountains only about 650 feet. There are NO trees and haven’t been for three weeks, we think, since Manvers Run, Labrador. There is green coloration however from lichen and low growing plants.

At about midnight we will pass Bellot Strait which is the northern most point of the North American continent. Everything else north is an island. Much love to you!

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(73 deg 50.9′ N, 095 deg 08.0’W — Heading South) The water maker parts arrived! [ed. Charlotte reported the details in her comment] After fueling again from the beach this morning, we headed south in snow flurries across Barrow Strait and into Peel Sound. The crossing was pretty good with swells between 6-10 feet with a 25 knot wind. We found an anchorage at 11:00 pm and are all ready for the sack. We saw no ice today and again got encouraging ice reports for an open path through. We saw several seals and birds as we went. Kathy Robertson made three City Team burgees for us so Geraldine again flies colors out front in the bow!

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Hi Geraldine fans. I had a chance to record my conversation / interview with the crew today and ask them your questions. It ended up being about an hour long. They were using the phone and internet at the local hotel: South Camp Inn. The staff there were so accommodating and it was nice to have a more solid connection than the satellite phone. I’ve discovered I’m not much of an interviewer, but I hope you enjoy hearing the familiar voices (total download is nearly four megabytes):

Editor’s Note: Photos have been added for posts back to 8/9/08, bringing us up to date. Check them out!

Another wonderfully cold day in Resolute. The weather today will consist of 0* (for those not used to the metric system THAT IS FREEZING) with snow flurries and 25 knot winds out of the West / Northwest. Ah just what you want for a balmy August day!! The local Mayor and hotel owner (Azzi) was so kind as to pick us up near the shore in one of his vans and drive us to his hotel. We enjoyed a great breakfast sans rocking and wind noise along with internet access. He has been very helpful and hopefully we’ll be able to get our parts and laundry done. Now for the important part!!

Being a cold blustery day here, and even though the crew is getting along great I would rather spend it with someone else. Four short years ago the most wonderful and beautiful woman said I DO… to me!!! It was a wonderfully WARM day, though that was not what I was concentrating on. She was stunning and it was an absolutely beautiful day. I tried to warn her of what she might be getting herself into, but neither of us could have imagined we would spend our fourth anniversary so far apart with me so close to the North Pole. She is truly an amazing woman to put up with my shenanigans and I am a better man because of her.

Happy Anniversary Mrs. Rebecca Robertson, Love, your husband 800 miles or so south of the North Pole.

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