SUNDAY 16TH - WELCOME TO GREENLAND

Over night, we crossed the border between Canada and Greenland. We are now in the Greenland Arctic.

 

 

Once again the plan for the day changed as the day dawned to a foggy snowy day. The plan was to land on Littleton Island and do some exploring on land but the fog was too thick. Fog is a problem for landings because it means that the guides can't see sufficiently far to safely determine that there are no polar bears in the area.

So we moved on to our second intended destination, Etah. It is a place at the end of a fjord which was once a settlement and is still occasionally used for hunting groups. There are some abandoned buildings there.

The ship had to anchor at the entrance to the fjord and we explored it by zodiac. We started out in the fog and snow but the weather improved slightly while we were there so we able to safely land and go looking for the musk oxen which were grazing on the vegetation growing on the snowy terrain.

Once we got back on the ship and under way, we passed a very impressive iceberg.

An unusual evening in that our second expedition of the day took place after dinner. We landed at Siorapaluk the northern most community in the world! We had previously landed at the northern most community in Canada but this one in Greenland is further north.

It has a population of approximately 40 people and 200 dogs. They use sled dogs for transport in winter. This was a truly hunting and fishing community which obviously catches seals, walruses and Greenland sharks and, on the land, caribou, musk oxen and from the look of what they were wearing, the occasional polar bear.

 

 

The community is at the face of a very impressive glacier but there was no information as to its name, perhaps the Siorapaluk glacier.

We got to our northern most point today before turning south being 78 degrees north. There is very little between here and the North Pole. From now on, we head south exploring the west coast of Greenland.

SATURDAY 15TH - SMITH SOUND - A POLAR BEAR

Very quiet day today until about 4:00pm. We spent it heading north in Smith Sound, the body of water between the Canada Arctic and the Greenland Arctic. We were apparently supposed to be some distance north of where we were earlier in the day to enable some excursions to occur but the ship encountered heavy sea ice over night so was considerably slowed.

Once we got going though, we made excellent progress at 13.6 knots in 172 metres of water. The screenshot shows our course since leaving Pond Inlet six days ago.

 

 

The staff kept us entertained/informed with some very interesting presentations on Glacial Ice and Polar Bears.

But at about 4:00pm, the highlight of the day occurred. We came to a vast area of sea ice where a polar bear was sighted so the captain manoeuvred the ship until we were adjacent to the bear but outside the ice. To get closer, he then took the ship into the ice.

The bear appeared to be quite interested in the big blue monster festooned with yellow parkas approaching him and gave us incredible photo opportunities. To quote the expedition staff, one is never going to safely get any closer to a polar bear than we did.

FRIDAY 14TH - ELLESMERE ISLAND

We spent today in Grise Sound, two fjords east of where we spent yesterday afternoon. But what a contrast. After all the glaciers of yesterday, Grise looked positively barren by comparison.

This morning was spent doing a walk on shore with the medium medium walking group. All our guide wanted to do was to see what was over the next hill which was of course another hill so we had a good workout and got to observe the variety of plant life that lives in this environment even though, from a distance, it looks completely barren.

This afternoon, we went ashore to the community of Ausuittuq, a name which means the place that never thaws out. It is the most northern civilian community in Canada.

It appears to be a totally desolate place but the local community gave us a tour of the town and treated us to a concert which was actually quite good. They seemed to be genuinely pleased to be able to show off their talent to outsiders. Apparently they don't get many visitors.

Each evening we have a recap of the day's activities. Tonight we heard from the two inuit people on the ship that several high arctic communities including the one we visited today came into existence because, in the 1950's, inuit were forcibly relocated by the Canadian government to establish a Canadian presence in the North West Passage.

In winter, the temperature gets down to minus 40 degrees Celsius and the sun simply doesn't rise.

It is said on the ship that those like us who have done both the Antarctic and Arctic trips are truly bipolar.

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.

WEDNESDAY 12TH - THE EXPEDITIONS BEGIN

 

No ice problems today. We were able to get to our proposed destinations being Philpots Island and Bethune Inlet on the eastern side of Devon Island.

 

At Philpots, we went ashore in small groups, each accompanied by an armed guide in case we encountered any polar bears The weapons are intended to be used to scare any bears away but, if all else fails lethal force may be used. Fortunately we didn't have any encounters.

The shore excursion demonstrated what a desolate place the Arctic region is. We are hearing a lot about John Franklin and his failed attempt in 1845 to navigate the North West Passage. Today we gained some understanding of what he had to contend with once his ships were crushed by the ice. Unfortunately he and most of his men perished. What actually happened to them remained a mystery until relatively recently.

 

 

When we got to Bethune Island, it was snowing and the wind was blowing at 20 knots. The zodiac cruise was offered for those “sure footed and confident” enough to handle the rough conditions but we declined. The face of the glacier was reasonably visible from the comfort of the ship.

 

TUESDAY 11TH - THE EXCITEMENT BEGINS

 

A very exciting start to the day. Even before breakfast, an announcement was made that there were polar bears to be seen. Unfortunately they were a long way away and only those with high powered binoculars or a very large lens got a decent look but a great start.

 

 

Yesterday afternoon we started out in open water with no ice to be seen other than on distant glaciers but that had changed dramatically by this morning. The ship spent the day surrounded by significant ice resulting in very slow progress.

We encountered our first substantial iceberg today.

The Canadian Coast Guard ice breaker went by. Nice to know he is around should we need him.

Our destination for a zodiac adventure this afternoon was to be Dundas Bay on Devon Island but the sea ice was too thick to enable us to get there before dark so on to our next destination for tomorrow's adventures.

MONDAY 10TH - THE SHIP

After a long day starting at 3:00am this morning involving two flights and a lot of waiting, we boarded the ship by zodiac at Pond Inlet on Baffin Island this afternoon.

 

 

The bags are unpacked, we have had the lifeboat drill and the ship is under way to tomorrow's destination. We are told that the internet is very poor so pictures may need to be added later but we will see.