As with Annex A, the notes in this section are intended to supplement and not duplicate the information available in the RCCPF Greenland Pilot. They focus primarily on advances in communications and electronic charting that have been made since the Third Edition was published in 2004.
Charts
Although we found the Danish Charts to be excellent for the areas south of Disko Bay, once north of the Nugssuaq Peninsula they became increasingly less useful, with only occasional lines of soundings/spot depths and scant topographical data.
When it came to locating possible anchorages we found the 1:250,000 Saga maps contained a far more detailed representation of the coastline and topography. They even contained a reasonable degree of maritime data such as locations of isolated rocks and known anchorage locations, some of which were not shown on the nautical charts.
Our electronic Navionics Gold charts showed a similar level of detail to the Danish paper charts but could not be relied upon for inshore navigation. On numerous occasions our GPS track showed us apparently tracking across dry land or anchored anything up to a mile inland. Even adjusting the datum on the electronic chart plotter was not sufficient to remove these discrepancies!
Satellite Communications
Knowing that we would be operating right on the outer edges, and sometimes beyond, the advertised satellite coverage envelope for our Inmarsat BGAN Sailor 150 satellite phone/broadband data system, we contacted Inmarsat for an expert view on whether we could rely on their system in northern Greenland.
We were told that we could expect patchy coverage at certain times of the day, but that generally the Inmarsat satellites would be too low on the horizon to give us good reception. On the strength of this recommendation, we fitted an Iridium Pilot system which is guaranteed to give coverage even in the Polar Regions.
The Iridium Pilot did indeed perform as advertised and we never encountered any gaps in coverage or noticeable degradation in upload/download speeds. We were able to send e mails with up to 1Mb of attached images in 3-4 seconds, download GRIB files in 1-2 seconds and even browse web pages and connect to our office server via Windows Remote Desktop Services at acceptable speeds.
However, much to our surprise the Inmarsat Sailor 150 system continued operating well beyond the advertised limits and we were still getting coverage at 71N. However we did not have sufficient airtime resources to extensively test whether we could have relied solely on the Inmarsat system for our satellite communication needs.
Shoreside Internet Facilities
Internet facilities generally can be found ashore in the major towns and settlements in the Seamen’s missions and other places such as cafes and libraries. Connections speeds are adequate although prices are generally extremely high by European standards. The only place we discovered free internet connectivity was in the library in Nuuk but that was strictly rationed (book a slot by appointment only) and connection speeds were slow.
Once north of Disko Bay we encountered no publicly available shoreside internet facilities, and the only way of getting access ashore was to befriend a local inhabitant and use their connection.
GSM Mobile phone coverage
We found good GSM mobile phone coverage in all the towns and settlements we visited, although the smaller ones did not always have 3G data coverage. However, when 3G data coverage was available we found it to be of an excellent standard with generally far higher reliability and connection speeds than you can expect to encounter in many European cities. However the GSM coverage was extremely localised and rarely stretched more than a mile out to sea beyond the town/settlement so could not be relied upon for communications whilst under way.
Whilst you can connect to the voice/data network using your normal home based SIM card, roaming charges make this prohibitively expensive. It is now possible to purchase a “Pay as You Go” Tele Greenland data only SIM card which can be inserted in most mobile devices such as iPhones, I Pads, USB dongles etc. The PAYG data prices are not cheap by European standards, but much cheaper than roaming data charges and broadly comparable with the price of shoreside internet connectivity in Greenland. If you are cruising in Greenland for more than a week or so and need internet connectivity, then investing in one of these cards would be a cost effective investment.
Setting up one of these SIM cards on your mobile device is not as straightforward as the instructions (available in Greenlandic and Danish only) would lead you to believe, if only because one vital setting is omitted from the instructions. If purchasing one of these cards from a shop you would be well advised to get the shop to get it set up and working for you on your particular device before leaving.
However once set up they are simple to use and provide excellent connection speeds. Moreover the SIM card supports mobile tethering so one card can be used to provide mobile data hotspots for all your other internet enabled devices.
Oxford Greenland Expedition 2013 