Saturday 24 August: Disko Bay – Sylvia

Overnight we continued heading north along the west coast of Greenland. Unfortunately I didn’t sleep that well, despite calm seas. At about 4am I peaked out the window just as we were sailing past some quite large icebergs so I pulled back the curtains to enjoy the view as we sailed past many more of them. The day was overcast and gray and this seemed to make the icebergs even more spectacular with their bright white sometimes tinged with blue or marked with black stripes.

At 7am I joined a fairly gentle hot yoga class in the studio up on deck 8, just as we arrived at the southern end of Disko Island, our destination for the morning’s activities. After a light breakfast we headed to the Ice Lounge for the mandatory briefing on polar bear safety. We are now well into the Arctic so have to be well-prepared.

Initially a walk had been planned this morning but the cloud was too low to get a good look to ensure there were no polar bears around. Instead Lauren, one of the photographic experts on board, shared some tips on taking photographs with a phone camera. Next we all suited up and boarded the zodiacs for a cruise among the icebergs. They are incredibly beautiful with their different shapes and colours. At one point, we got very close to one that is in its final stages of life, all broken into very small pieces. It was fizzing and popping as the carbon dioxide that has been stored inside for thousands of years is released as the ice melts. We also cruised along the coast of Disko island, admiring the columnar basalt that has been built up over years of volcanic eruptions here.

The expedition team had hoped that the fog might clear and we would be able to get out on shore but this was not to be. In fact the fog closed right in. Instead we were treated to an excellent and inspiring talk from Wade Davis on culture. He has been living with different cultural groups all over the world for the last 40+ years and provided incredible insights into the diversity and genius of some of the different cultures, punctuated by some outstanding photographs. He oozes curiosity, empathy and love. I wish I could have heard the same talk 5 times to be able to take it all in.

Later, while we were underway towards the northeast coast of Canada, we heard from Lars Abelson, the Cultural Expert on board. A native Greenlander, he shared about the different migrations of people into Greenland. Then, during the daily recap at 6pm we saw footage from the dive the undersea specialists took yesterday in Sisimut, heard from the biologists on board, who shared more about the work they are doing with diatoms from the phytoplankton, and Lars shared some Greenlandic language. Bud, our Expedition Leader, gave a quick overview of what we can expect tomorrow as we arrive in Canada. We will have the immigration people on board for a bit doing clearance procedures before we have the chance to visit a local Inuit community.

By this time I was too tired for dinner and fell into bed, even though we will gain two hours during the crossing of the Davis Strait. I fully expect to be awake very early tomorrow morning.

Sunday 25 August: Qikiqtarjuaq – Roger

Overnight we steamed, oops electriced, or is it motored, from Disko Island in Greenland towards Baffin Island in Canada. There is a three hour time difference between the two.  The ship is working on a two-hour difference only. Hence we were awake quite early.

We headed to the gym at around 6am to find many others had the same idea so I left Sylvia to it and headed up to the bridge. The bridge is somewhat like a Star Wars set with lots of screens, dials and knobs. There are a couple of big armchairs up the front for the drivers. There are always two people on the bridge, who spend lots of time looking through binoculars for clinkers (small submerged icebergs that hardly break the surface but are very hard). As we cruise along Bud, the expedition leader, informed me that the icebergs we are passing are the size that sunk the Titanic. The radar and sonar pick up the icebergs and the person at the wheel (oops joystick and buttons) adjusts the course to avoid them.

There is a control on each side of the bridge for docking. Interestingly when we stop off shore they don’t drop an anchor but push a button and the ship is held to within 0.8 of a meter using the props and thrusters. This is called dynamic positioning and avoids any damage to the sea bed.

There is a blue and yellow screen that plots the depth and course of everywhere the ship goes. This system is called Olax and is used by hundreds of ships world wide. All the info is fed back into it and it is gradually charting the uncharted waters of the world. Many of the waters in this area do not appear on digital charts so the courses are plotted manually. They even have a kit they can put on the Zodiacs to plot stuff closer to the shore.

Icebergs calve off the glaciers on the west side of Greenland, many from around Disko Island. The warm currents coming up from the Atlantic take them north up the west side of Greenland. They are then picked up by the cold currents coming from the Arctic and taken down the east coast of Canada.

During the morning we had a great presentation from Ralph Lee Hopkins, The National Geographic Photography Expert. He share some great tips and showed some of the impressive photos he has already taken on this trip. At one point while he was speaking we passed quite close to a large iceberg.

Late morning we arrived off Qikiqarjuaq and waited for the arrival of Canadian immigration who had flown in. It was late afternoon when we finally received clearance for the ship and mounted the Zodiacs to head into town.

On arrival we were guided up to the town hall for a welcome. One of the elders lit an oil lamp in a soapstone bowl as a traditional welcome. Speeches were made and then a couple of women did some throat singing, which was definitely interesting. The different sounds they made were quite impressive.

After this we went for a stroll through town and up to an observation point. All the buildings are built off the ground to stop the heat from the building melting the permafrost, which would cause the foundations to collapse. Lots of ATVs and pick-up trucks raced around the streets and the people we passed were very friendly. We headed up to a lookout point then back to the beach. On the way back I ducked down a side street to check out a polar bear skin we had seen from the ship.

Soon after returning to the ship it was dinner time, at which we, once again, enjoyed the company of some pleasant, interesting people. With 102 passengers and 102 crew on board we are now sailing to the northeastern end of Baffin Island.

Monday 26 August : At Sea off Baffin Island – Sylvia

We woke this morning after a fairly good night’s sleep. I did notice a bit of rolling at one point but generally the passage has been fairly calm. I headed for the stretching class at 7am before meeting Roger and heading to breakfast. We then spent a bit of time on the bridge, scanning the horizon and marvelling at the variety of icebergs as we continued north.

At 9:30 we headed to the Ice Lounge where Peter, one of the cultural ambassadors on board, shared a presentation about the Thule Inuit people. Then Jonathon Fuhrmann gave a very informative lecture on glaciers. The lounge is incredibly well set up with screens all around to ensure we all have good visibility to whatever is being presented.

After another delicious lunch – today I opted for the Icelandic fish and chips – and a short break for digestion purposes, we headed to the gym. It is not huge but well kitted out. At 2:30pm Dan Odess, one of the Nauralists, presented another fascinating lecture with more details about the archaeological history of the Arctic. The people who have lived in this area over thousands of years have been incredibly hardy. It is definitely not a hospitable area. For the first time on any of these cruises, I opted to listen and watch on the TV in my room as I was a little hot sweaty after the gym.

The sailing has been smooth. Most of the time we have been able to see Baffin Island in the distance. Icebergs of varying sizes, shapes and colours floated past, and we have been followed by a variety of sea birds including Norther Fulmars, Glaucous Gulls, Arctic Terns and Thick-Billed Murres.

Later in the afternoon we reached Buchan Gulf at the northeastern end of Baffin Island. What a magnificent sight as we cruised slowly past towering cliffs, streaked with red from the pyrite. Glaciers hung precipitously from the mountain tops, some reaching all the way to the water line. It was hard to tear our eyes from the views, even while eating dinner. The photos really don’t do this place justice.

We headed up to the top deck again after dinner to soak up more of the views, Roger in his shorts and jandals, while the rest of us donned multiple layers, hats, gloves and parkas. Just as we were about to head down to bed a narwhal was spotted in the distance. Honestly, I could just make out a speck and the ripple of movement on the water but nice to know they are around.

Tuesday 27 August: Buchan Gulf, Baffin Island – Roger

Bud’s slow drawl sparked over the PA at 0540 as narwhals had been spotted from the bridge. We had slowly worked our way up to the end of the Buchan Gulf last night. Heading to one of the forward decks we spotted the narwhals surfacing close to the steep cliffs that line the fjord. The size of the cliffs made them look quite close; in reality they were a kilometre away. Not surprising we couldn’t see the narwhals too well.

After breakfast we headed out on the kayaks for a paddle around the bay. On several occasions we saw the narwhals briefly break the surface, just enough to take in air, before heading for the depths again. We paddled over to a nearby waterfall, seeing many more narwhals break the surface around us.

Back on board we ate lunch as the ship made its way back towards the fjord entrance. We stopped in Feachem Bay and, after the expedition team had scouted the area, we boarded the zodiacs for a run ashore.

We chose the long hike option, along with some 15 others. Lead by Erland Folstad, a former Svaallbard policeman, we headed up past some old Inuit houses, which had been constructed by digging a hole with a tunnel below the floor level as an entrance to keep the cold out. Reindeer skins, sewed in such away they are waterproof, are put over a frame to make the roof.

Recently laid polar bear and arctic fox tracks put Erland on the alert as he lead the way up the nearby ridge with his 308 Tikka Rifle on his back and flare pistol on his belt. The idea being if a polar bear comes too close, the flare is fired first to try and scare him off. To date none of the guides have had to shoot a bear.

As we wandered up the ridge we had a good view looking back over the bay. On reaching the top of the ridge about 130m above the bay, we looked down on a tarn, watching a flock of Barnacled Geese (Canadian Geese) land. We followed another ridge back down to the shoreline where, on the beach, there were old gin traps and other materials lying around.

Around 4.30pm we headed back to the ship and soon set sail in the mist for Devon Island. Just now we are around 71 degrees North.