THURSDAY 13TH - A DAY OF CONTRASTS

We were to be landing at another bay on Devon Island this morning but the 60 knot winds put a stop to that plan. Instead we had some very informative lectures on birds of the Arctic and photography to fill in the time while we made our way to this afternoon's destination, Southcape Fjiord on Ellesmere Island, where we were able to find a calm anchorage.

 

Ellesmere Island's claim to fame is that it has a meteorological station which is the northern most inhabited place.

The ship has an open bridge which means that you can see the crew at work and monitor charts and an ipad showing the course and position of the ship.

This afternoon could not have been more different to this morning. We went ashore in extremely calm conditions with the sun intermittently shining and, very virtuously, did a lot of walking to explore the face of a very substantial glacier.

Some distance up the side of the glacier was an ice cave which looked as if it could collapse at any time. The guides made sure that we remained a safe distance away.

On this occasion we weren't accompanied by guides with guns. The armed guides set up a perimeter within which we could explore on our own, a much better system.

To complete the day, the captain took the ship up the fiord to the two large glaciers at the head of it. Very stunning.