Iceland, Greenland and the Arctic
(cont'd)
Chapter 2 Arctic Canada
Pond Inlet
Pond Inlet is a small Inuit Community at the northern edge of Baffin Bay. Looking at the town from the water, it appears as a small, bleak outpost in the Arctic. On land, it’s the same—bleak. But the views of the mountains, water and glaciers surrounding the area are beautiful. We explored the town and found its inhabitants to be friendly and welcoming. They even put on a show of local customs and culture at their community center. Seal hunting is an important venture here, and it was not unusual to find seal hides drying on racks.
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| Pond Inlet, Nunavut |
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| Inuit in native dress |
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| Seal Pelts |
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| View of surrounding glaciers and mountains |
In the afternoon, we explored the local bays by kayak. It was the first time we kayaked with icebergs. Just getting into all of the gear was an exhausting experience. We dressed in 3 underlayers followed by a dry suit, splash skirt and booties. To say we felt like the ‘Michelin Man’ would be an understatement. But once in the kayak, we had a relaxing and rewarding experience following the rocky coastline and meandering around icebergs.
Fecham Bay and Icy Arm
Today’s walk on the beach was somewhat curtailed because there was a polar bear in the local area that we needed to avoid. We watched (her) from our balcony on the ship, but honestly, there wasn’t much to see, because she mainly slept. In the afternoon, we sailed through a magnificent fjord where we saw more polar bears, including a mom and cub. There were also many orcas. One pod numbered about 9, and they had made a fresh kill of a narwhal. The thing I most want to see on this trip is a narwhal, but not a dead one being torn apart by orcas! The orcas stayed close to the ship all afternoon and appeared to escort us out of the fjord later on. As a side note: we have not seen a night sky since we left home. The land of the midnight sun is living up its name, even though it’s past the time of the summer solstice.
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| Icy Arm fjord |
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| Icy Arm Glacier |
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| Orca |
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| Polar bear mom and cub |
Bylot Island
Bylot island is part of Sirmilik National Park. There is nowhere to land a boat, so our activity was a refreshingly cold zodiac ride adjacent to the towering cliffs to view the geology and bird colonies from the water. There were hundreds, no thousands of guillemots and kittiwakes nesting on the cliffs as well as some glaucous gulls. It was a fantastic morning of bird viewing and unusual scenery.
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| Bird Colony |
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| Glaucous Gull |
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| Glaucous Gull Chick |
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| Guillemots |
Devon Island
We awakened to a glorious blue sky today. Our first exploration was of Dundas Harbour, a Canadian Mounted Police outpost that was used intermittently from the 1920’s to the 1950’s to control foreign whaling and other commercial activity in this region. It was a lonely, barren place situated on the tundra and punctuated by icebergs in the harbor. The few wooden buildings there were in ruins. Artifacts were abundant--from rusted cans, empty liquor bottles, bones of animals that live in the area and other detritus. There was also a cemetery, one of the most northerly in the world. It seems that two of the men assigned here were ‘accidentally’ killed from bullets to the head from their own guns. The irony seems to be that if they were so depressed to kill themselves, by doing so they remained on this island forever.
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Former Royal Canadian Mounted Police Outpost
(Dundas Harbor, Devon Island) |
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| Abandoned Living Quarters |
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| Beached Iceberg |
The captain made an announcement at our briefing on the previous night indicating that the ice report was going to prevent us from further entering Lancaster Sound. It might be possible to get in, but the way the ice was moving might prevent us from getting out. Since none of us wanted to get stranded as the early explorers had, we understood and agreed with his plans to visit other areas that were more navigable. So, on this glorious sunny, mild afternoon we sailed into a fjord which at the end presented us with its prize--stunning views of two tidewater glaciers. As the afternoon progressed, we lingered to view magnificent reflections from the sun shining on the mountains and glaciers.
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| Bearded Seal |
Philpots Island
As we arrived at this small island off the coast of Devon Island, the fog played tag with us. One moment we were marveling at a sunny, blue sky with a remarkable view of an ice sheet on the island and accompanying bergs in the water. Then in a snap, visibility was reduced to zero and we were seeing only fifty shades of gray. Nevertheless, we donned our gear—3 layers of everything, to take a zodiac ride around the area. The first thing we saw was an item on my wish list, something I’d never seen in the wild before, a walrus. But not just one, there was a whole group of them resting on the rocks and some swimming in the water. Such a treat!! Now, if I can only get a better view of narwhals, especially males with their large tusks, my wishes will be fulfilled. Our ride continued with sightings of a few birds and many icebergs. And now a word about the icebergs. Each is totally unique in structure, color and texture. As we gaze upon them, it’s easy to think that nature has carved each one into a piece of art. Some look like animals, others look like architectural works and so on. The colors range from white, to transparent, to many shades of beautiful blues and aquas. And the texture can be smooth, striated or look like frosted glass or bubbly glass.
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| Walruses |
In the evening, the Captain gave us an update with the ice map, indicating that we would need to make yet another diversion. So, Ellesmere Island is now off the itinerary, and we will be sailing back to Greenland for the rest of our cruise.
FOR CHAPTER 1 CLICK HERE: CHAPTER 1
