Out of the Northwest Passage, with Adventure Canada on the Ocean Endeavour, Sept. 2017

There were about 200 passengers on the trip + Adventure Canada staff + several Parks Canada people + invited specialists. The ship itself (including cabins + meals) is run by a separate staff.
We were above the Arctic circle for the whole trip, except the last day in Greenland. No trees, some snow, occasional sun, 4 time zones.

Route map (provided by Adventure Canada)

I've reduced the size of pictures so the blog will load more quickly. Contact me if you'd like a better quality version of my pictures. Like most guests on board, I took a mess of pictures -- this is a small selection.

Day 1: Due to unforeseen ice buildup, the incoming ship was a bit delayed and so there was a
change of plans and instead of Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay was chosen as our starting point.
There were 3 separate flights from Edmonton to Cambridge Bay. Our plane, run by Summit Air, was heavily loaded and had to make a quick stop in Yellowknife for fuel before continuing on to Cambridge Bay.

Ocean Endeavour from Cambridge Bay

Cambridge Bay from ship

Then a short bus ride to the zodiacs and our first ride to the ship.

zodiac

We had a late lunch,  and then our bags met us in our rooms. My room was simple but comfy.

cabin

Day 2: A bit choppy — 2 m. high waves, and a gentle sway to the boat for most of the night. We were in the middle of a large low pressure system, and the planned excursion was cancelled but there were several Erebus warm up lectures instead: Polar bear video, do’s and don’ts, etc.
new book: Dead Reckoning. author gave a talk about the Franklin expedition.
Parks Canada gave a couple of talks — one on the search and discovery of the Erebus and Terror.

Snow here now. They cancelled our trip to the Erebus site just before supper. Too much wind. Many disappointed people, including the Parks Canada staff who have been working on the visit for 5 months. The current plan  for tomorrow is to visit a small bay nearby (McLintock Bay) that might be sufficiently sheltered to allow us to zodiac in. Our first off-ship trip. It will be nice to get off the ship and stretch our legs. Some potential ice issues a bit further along the route that also might affect us, but the wind is the main problem.

Lots of good presentations but everyone is a bit drained, even us young guys.

Burned through my internet access and decided to move to a less online life by purchasing  a special email-only package that uses the ship's email server with no attachments allowed.

Day 3: In Mclintock Bay. 0C.
Underwater archaeology: Erebus wreck recovery — Parks Canada. Detailed account of the current state of the wreck. Terror wreck.

Today’s landing is iffy — winds have died and there is some sunshine, but waves are a bit high. We haven’t given up hope. Tomorrow we will land at Gjoa Haven and spend most of the day there at a community event (it was reported in the CBC news last week).

Landing at the bay cancelled due to winds/waves.

Carver at Gjoa Haven

Day 4: Arrived at Gjoa Haven last night after passing through Simpson Strait. Spent about 5 hours in Gjoa Haven. A tour of town, then some events in the local high school: throat singing, drum dancing, square dancing (clogging) and some presentations. And then some free time to walk to a cairn/memorial for Roald Amundsen who overwintered here for 2 years. His sunken ship was recently floated and barged back to Norway.

Beach at Gjoa Haven

Gjoa Haven

A wet trip back to the ship. Tea and then afternoon presentations. Supper at a “captain’s table” — free wine!

Belugas -- see their white backs?

Day 5: Had a short workout on an exercise bike before breakfast. Then some deck time — passed through some great ice. GPS workshop.

Coningham Bay: Belugas galore! Some polar bears in the (far) distance. One zodiac claimed to have seen a wolverine! Time zone change overnight. The Fort Ross stop was skipped for icy reasons.





Day 6 (Sept 12): archaeology presentation. John Houston movie: Songs in Stone, Parks Canada briefing on tomorrow’s park trip.
Ashton Bay landing — lovely afternoon walking around a perimeter: burial cairn, dorset dwelling structure, polar bear tracks, sea ice.

Ashton Bay

Polar bear tracks -- fresh

I was invited to another “captain’s table” for supper which turned out to be the birthday table — there were 2 of us with birthdays.The entire Adventure Canada team sang Happy Birthday to us and signed a card. With 200 passengers there are probably quite a few birthday events for them to process. Anyway, a lovely meal (Arctic char), free wine, and interesting company.
ice=sikku

Day 7: -4C, cloudy
The morning presentations were on climate in the Arctic, and the author Ken McGoogan on board has a new book out -- Dead Reckoning about Franklin, Rae and the Inuit. Both were really interesting.
Quasuittuq park: hiked for about 3 hours. Saw some caribou and muskox at a (great) distance. And some polar bear tracks. Chilly but dry. There was some thin ice forming when we left the ship but the zodiacs could just plow through and it was clear when we returned. At 75 degrees 33 minutes, it will be our northernmost point on the trip.
The evening movie was “the Fast Runner” part 1.

Day 8: 0C

Beechey

Beechey Island: 2.5 hour visit — 4 graves + Northumberland House + artifacts. This is where Franklin’s expedition got stuck in ice and overwintered the first year. Not a good camping site. A tiny island almost connected to Devon via a tombo(?).
Presentation: Health issues in the Arctic.






Day 9 above 0, cloudy, no wind.
Sirmilik National Park (N. Baffin Island/Bylot Island) "place of glaciers". Tay Bay -- Had 4 hours to hike up Mt. Toogahlik (Narwhal)

Extreme hike near Tay Bay

Hoodoos Canada Point

2nd landing! at Point Canada (also in the park). Some cairns, a carved claim for Canada, polar bear tracks. The sun came out and now it is mostly clear and warm.
Canada 150 theme night. Faint Northern lights.









Day 10

Pond Inlet

Pond Inlet. An early start. lovely to start, some snow later and a wet ride back. Went in the heated swimming pool to warm up.


Presentation in the community centre -- throat singing, drumming, dancing, high kicking.
Hunting and living on the land talk by Derick.
Watched part 2 of "fast runner"

can you spot the sailboat?

Day 11: Sam Ford Fjord + Walker Arm. Deck day -- cold but spectacular views. 1 sailboat! with a solo Dutch sailor.

Presentations: bearwitness -- circumnaviagation by David Reid of Bylot Island; Eckhart: ship info,
Good Northern Lights at 10 pm.

Day 12: Mostly a deck morning as we went down a fjord.

Tundra

Auyuittuq National Park -- 4 hour hike along a valley (8km) -- 3 lakes. stony and some tundra. +8

Lovely supper. early start tomorrow.....
Hot chocolate delivered on board the zodiacs by a polar bear.








Day 13:

narwhal tusk

Qikiqtarjuak (QKQ) village (pop. 450) 10C and some sun -- a lovely meander through town. We started early. The local Narwhal hunters had been lucky  in the past few days and there were fresh tusks to be seen.

We had some narwhal meat for an afternoon snack as we headed along the coast. Saw some bowhead whales fairly close to the ship. Now on to Greenland.
Whisky label night -- I won a full bottle of Glenfidich (which I shared with the room).

Pups in Qik

Day 14: +3 Davis Strait -- a travel day with workshops to keep us busy: the expeditions of Knud Rasmussen, camera composing, bridge tour.

Day 15 Illulissat (Iceberg) (pop 4,000 + 6,000 dogs). A UNESCO world heritage sight.

dogs are kept outside town

 calving -- glacier moves 4.5 m/day!

Knud Rasmussen museum. And afterwards, a spectacular 1.5 hour zodiac ride through the icebergs.

among the bergs

Day 16 Itilleq Fjord -- tundra walk to some small lakes, and another arm. Last wet landing.
Polar plunge for about 25 brave souls. There was a snorkel group too that had about 4 dives throughout the trip.

note landing spot in middle

Day 17. Disembarkation from the Ocean Endeavour followed by a trip to the Greenland icecap.

Greenland icecap

Finally, a flight to YYZ where it was +33, and I didn't really need my long underwear.