Traveling through the Northwest Passage has been a dream of mine for many years, nurtured by my interest in explorers and exploration, which is part of my love for antique maps. So when Silversea cruise line offered this trip, I signed up, and then asked my tentmate from many years ago, Melissa Wissman, to come with me. I figured that if she and I could build an ongoing friendship that included 12 weeks in a 2-person tent across Africa, we could get along for the 25 days of this expedition cruise. And we did!
The group gathered at the hotel in Montreal. A bit of tension, as AirCanada was on strike
and several passengers had to scramble to get to Montreal. Melissa and I took an extra day beforehand to
explore Montreal and taste some of its fabulous food, and then -- Farewell
Montreal, and on to Greenland!
This was a thorough and rigorous journey – at the end of
which we discovered that we were only cruise ship # 101 to have traversed the
entire passage, in the history of recorded time. The total of all ships,
including commercial as well as passenger, is only 340 so we are among the
fortunate few to see these glories before global warming changes things for our
lifetimes. Already, some of the communities in the Arctic are seeing substantial
changes. One that we went to, Pond Inlet, has recently seen permafrost thaws
that have caused landslides that takes houses with them into the sea. (Global
warming and consequent diminishing sea ice may make this voyage easier, but
future passengers will never see the Arctic in its glory like we did!)
Here is the pictorial of the journey:
Of course there were many attempts to explore the Arctic,
with various exploration routes. For
historical perspective, you might enjoy this:
And so our exploration begins…. August 24,
2025
Pippi and I are waiting at the charter terminal at
Montreal to take our flight to NUUK in Greenland. We get on the ship there and
later tonight are on our way through the Northwest Passage.
3 1/2 hours from Montreal to Nuuk Greenland.
Because of warmer Atlantic currents flowing into Baffin
Bay, most people live on the island’s west side. There are only 75 miles of
roads. Greenland, a former Danish colony sustained by the export of Atlantic
cod and the import of Danish welfare services, is home to just 57,000 people,
most of them Arctic Inuit. Most
transport is by boat or aircraft. Greenland’s
inland ice sheet holds 7 percent of the world’s fresh water but has faced
increased surface melting. Greenland’s
mineral riches have long been known, but new interest in its largely untapped
and hard-to-reach critical raw materials has highlighted its potential,
especially at its southern tip.
Flying into Nuuk.
Astounding landscape. Most of the white specks you see in these photos are
small ice floes. Finally, you see some fishing boats. And then you see an
industrial area, around the corner of which is the most amazing airport, which
has literally been scraped out of the mountains nearby. According to photos
from Google Earth, the airport takes up about 1/2 of Nuuk itself.
Not far away from the airport is a huge prison that I
originally thought was an industrial area. I scraped the picture of the prison
at night from the Internet, because it shows some of the village-like features
that were included in its planning. Turns out that this is a humane
institution, per ai research; Ai: The prison in Nuuk, Greenland is named
Anstalten, also known as the Ny Anstalt prison. It is Greenland's first
high-security, closed prison and opened in 2019 to house serious offenders who
were previously sent to Denmark. The prison is designed to resemble a
"small village" and incorporates natural elements, providing a more
positive and less punishing environment for inmates. Anstalten has a capacity
for 76 inmates. Its opening ended a system that required Greenlandic prisoners
to be incarcerated in Danish prisons, addressing a longstanding human rights
issue.
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| The Airport |
We had no time in NUUK on August 24, as we went straight from the airport to the ship. I was disappointed about that. However, I am pleased to report that even at first taste, Greenland is spectacularly beautiful, rugged, remote, and Cold.
Our ship, the Silversea Endeavor, is well suited for this
voyage. It was Constructed in Germany in
2021, it features State of the art navigational technology, the
highest ice-class rating and a top speed of 20 knots that allows this ship to
comfortably tackle challenging polar waters.
August 25, 2025 –
Views in Maniitsoq Greenland.
Obviously, the brightly colored photo is from a tourist brochure, but in truth,
all of the houses in Greenland are painted in these lively colors. Another
thing that’s quite noticeable as you walk around this town, is that the houses
are built quite high up, sometimes sharing the rocky nature of these islands as
part of their foundations.
The local museum in MANIITSOQ
features beautifully carved figurines from local artisans who work in
whalebone, beautifully beaded attire worn by Greenlanders, an old cemetery that
overlooks the ocean, and some lovely photos of the early years of this region
and city.
Fishing continues to be a key activity in
MANIITSOQ, and there is a fish shop which sells to the local
people as well. All kinds of ocean catches are for sale in there, but I was
also surprised to see muskox pieces available too.
The townspeople in Maniitsoq invited us to a concert. The
“new church” is perched at the top of the town with wonderful views of the
harbor.
To hear the singing, go to https://www.facebook.com/reel/979917587593702
Or scan the QR code below….
In Maniitsoq Greenland: a
ramble around the town takes you past the old church… also Lutheran, I’m sure…
and you can get a view of the harbor at a lookout where whale skeletons that
have been erected in an arch, AND Here’s where we are on a map. Next stop:
glacier!
(I have yet to meet a Greenlander who wants to be part of
the United States, by the way.)
Tomorrow we will have sailed overnight to find ourselves
at 7 a.m. in the midst of a fjord called EVIGHEDSFJORD. The activity for
tomorrow is a two hour ride on the zodiacs, which accommodate about 12 people.
That happens in the morning. We put on our arctic gear in the ship’s mudroom.
We are handed into the zodiacs by the crew. (for more on zodiacs, see my comment at the very end of this blog....)
This is what a loaded zodiac looks like from the top of
the ship…
And off we go~!
In the afternoon the ship actually goes pretty deep into
the fjord so we get to see a lot of glaciers up close… But not too close. The
mountains on either side of the fjord reach in excess of 6000 feet and the
fjord has a depth of up to 2100 feet. In case any of you get really wealthy and
want to do some heli-skiing, this is a famous place to do it.
BIG SURPRISE EVENT at EVIGHEDSFJORD glacier field on the
west coast of Greenland… the tidal glacier right in front of our zodiacs had a
HUGE calving event. One of my fellow passengers captured it on his iphone, and
just airdropped it to me. I know this post is out of chronological order, but
you really really must see this. Amazing! Also, kind of sad… The evidence of
climate change has been everywhere on this trip.
To see the actual calving event, go to:
Of https://www.facebook.com/reel/1406842743730820
The itinerary we are SUPPOSED to take through the
Northwest Passage is noted below. But
there were many surprises… you’ll just have to read on through this long
blogpost!
AUGUST 26, 2025
August 26
Evigshed Fjord and the famous Eternity Glacier: by
morning, our ship was positioned at the entry to the fjord, and we enjoyed
watching the steep mountains topped with snow and ice as the ship transited
through most of the fjord.
In
late afternoon, we put on most of our cold weather gear to get on the zodiacs
and take a closer look at the famous “Eternity” glacier which flows from the
Greenland ice sheet . This glacier is known for its calving icebergs, and we
were fortunate enough to see a lot of the calving activity from the part of the
glacier which touches the sea.
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| Melissa getting ready for the zodiacs.... |
Our zodiac driver pulled a little iceberg …small bits are
called GROWLERS… into our raft so as it warmed up we could hear the faint
crackling of the captured ice bubbles which are millions of years old.
In the fjord, lots of this year’s crop of kittiwake
chicks join their parents in the cliffs and waters near the glacier. They
are a type of gull with a distinctive call that prompted their name.
At the end of this day, with beautiful sunshine and
views, we had a cocktail party on the deck overlooking the fjord.
August 27
We sailed to Sisimuit for a full day in
town
Our tour of Sisimuit included a stop at the outskirts of town, an area referred to as “Dogtown“. There are 15,000 working dogs in Greenland; 1000 of these are in Dogtown. The dogs are owned by individual families and used as sled dogs for transport during winters. The dogs are fed and housed here. The pups are encouraged to socialize, but visitors are discouraged from trying to pet the grown dogs.
Here is a brief recounting of the archaeological
history of Greenland, based on exhibits in the museum at Sisimuit:
In the years 1200 to 700 BC. Greenland’s most
northeasterly corner was inhabited a number of times. These cultures were
called “independence“ after the name of the biggest fjord there. From
archaeological finds, we know that Independence people were big muskox hunters.
During the four dark months of the year, they lived in small settlements, but
when spring arrived, they continued traveling for the game, and only lived
periodically in set places. In archaeological excavations, these Stone Age
people‘s homes are seen on the ground as a ring of stone or in shallow banks of
gravel, but most of the walls and roofs of their houses were made of muskox
hide, which did not survive the test of time.
From 2300 to 900 BC, there were people in West Greenland
also, these were the SAQQAQ people and the oldest traces of their habitation is
around 4000 years old. They relied on reindeer and seals. The winters were mild
in this area of Greenland, and there were open navigable waters; these peoples
lived in a different way than those in the north.
From 500 BC to 100 A.D., a people known as “DORSET“ lived
in Greenland during two different periods. The first ones came around 400 BC.
At that time, no one lived in the western part of Greenland because the last of
the Saqqaq people had disappeared more than 500 years before. The Dorset people
were the third set of people who came to Greenland. They were also inuit, They
used the same type of tools as the people who came earlier, but they also
utilized different materials, such as stone, bone, tooth, and iron.
From 700 A.D. to 1200 A.D., the period known as Dorset 2,
corresponds to a people called the TUNIT. These people mostly hunted animals in
the sea. From the edge of the ice, they caught walrus, beluga, and seal with a
harpoon. The Tunit did not have dogs. They therefore had to drag the heavy
hunted animals home over the ice, using a small sled, which the hunter pulled
himself. The Tunit people also hunted caribou, but they did not have bow and
arrow weapons, and therefore they had to run as fast as the reindeer itself.
When they got close enough, they killed these animals with their harpoon.
The THULE people, from 900 A.D. to 1700 A.D. were among
new peoples who began to enter Greenland. They are direct ancestors of the
Greenlanders. The Thule people used slate that had been sharpened as weapons
and tools. They also used iron for tools, which came from meteorites. The small
pieces of iron from meteorites were hammered completely flat and used as knife
blades.
The Vikings arrived between 900 A.D. and 1500 A.D. They
sailed to Greenland from Iceland. The Vikings were mostly farmers, but also
fisherman and hunters. Their homes were dispersed along the long fjords. Most
of them lived in the eastern settlement, a few lived in the western settlement
near Nuuk.
In the 1600s and 1700s, whalers from Holland, France, and
England traveled toward the Greenland coast to go after the big whales.
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| This is a museum display of harpoons used during what hunts by inhabitants of Sisimuit |
HISTORY “The colony of Holsteinsborg, now Sisimuit, was established in 1756 with the thought of its being a whaling town. Whaling remained the primary occupation of the colony throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The Greenlandic population were increasingly involved in this industry and more and more people settled in the colony. In 1778, a whaling station was established just south of the town. Prior to colonization, the Greenlandic Inuit lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle with winter spent in turf houses along the coast and summers spent in tents or tent houses in the fjord and inland regions. Gradually more and more people would congregate around the colony during the winter. A large number of people gathered in one place could create an unsustainable pressure on local resources and cause serious deprivation and famine in case the whaling failed. Colonization and changing settlement patterns brought other challenges. With the newcomers arrived a number of new and infectious diseases that ravaged the district.In 1800-1801, a smallpox epidemic killed almost 90% of the population.” (Info from museum display)
At the Sisimiut museum complex, an actual turf house.
I took a close-up of the ways that peat and wood and vegetation and rock were
used to provide insulation for these houses.
At the Sisimuit cultural center, we were
offered a chance to taste typical Greenlandic foods. I have come to understand
that these foods are often referred to as “country food“, and that people who
move from these areas of the Arctic look on this food with nostalgia and yearn
for it. Not to be a food snob or anything like that, but I’m not sure that
beluga whale skin would ever be a big factor in my fave food list…
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| Muskox stew |
August 28
Today we felt finally like we were explorers in search of
the Northwest Passage. We pushed off last night from the dock in Sisimuit, all
excited to go to Ilulissat today to see what’s called “the birthplace of
icebergs”. But overnight, dense fog set in and that, combined with lots of sea
ice and large and small icebergs as we neared Disko Bay, led our ship’s captain
to conclude that we could not safely make it to our destination.
So we turned back, and instead headed for Kronprinsen
Ejland, an island group in Greenland. Some passengers decided to get on zodiacs
and get a bit closer to the islands, but it seemed to me that watching the
icebergs float by and enjoying some peppermint tea was a good alternative.
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| Purple = not so good |
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| We tried going close but were diverted! |
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| Just too much big ice around! |
August 29
Today still presented some pretty bad conditions for
sailing. So we have given up entirely the idea of going to Disko Bay,
and instead are proceeding towards our next stop, which is Pond Inlet.
During our end-of-the-day recap, the ship’s crew showed
us the ice map that they had in hand plus a lookout of the cabin window at
intense fog so dense they could not see ahead. Despite the radar in use on this
shop, the captain and navigators must be able to actually see big icebergs - in
order to turn the ship quickly if needed.
Dense fog is not imaginary! This is what the navigators viewed from the
ship’s bridge!
August 29 -AN UNEXPECTED DAY AT SEA
Here is a look at some of the topics of the
educational seminars that were presented to us today, which turned out to
be a day at sea. That day at sea was not exactly in the schedule, but… This is
what expedition travel is all about.
August 30
Today we had an unexpected day “at sea” – actually just
at anchor, not really moving, and this anchorage was not far from the village
of Port Inlet. This is due to the fact of high winds, up to 40 knots, which
means waves of a height of almost 3 meters.
When the expedition leaders opened the door to take an
exploratory zodiac ride out this morning, a wave washed into the ship portal
that was almost 6 feet high. So… too dangerous to take zodiacs over to the
shore.
Instead, the ship
created several very interesting educational lectures. They are: “Pinnipeds”,
also known as seals and walruses; Lichens and what they tell us about the state
of the environment; the history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police- the
Muskox Patrol and Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic; a workshop on nautical
knots, and how to tie them; and lecture on Northern relocations where
communities across the Inuit territories were subjected to government imposed
relocation programs.
Our expedition leader introduces some of the lecture
programs….
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| Pinnipeds galore! |
… in case you didn’t know…. Lichens are a fave food of
caribou. The oldest continuously growing lichen in the Arctic is 10,000 years
old. Want to know more? The lecturer recommended the book Lichens, seen on the
right side of the book slide. By the way, don’t try to eat lichens no matter
how pretty they are; lichens are toxic to humans. The captain of the Franklin
expedition sent his sailors to gather lichens when food supplies ran low, and
the sailors got sick. Apparently you have to have a two-chambered stomach if
you’re eating them. (This was not an attribute of British sailors.)
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| the map view does not do justice to this beautiful park! |
August 31, an introduction to Pond Inlet:
“Nestled on the northern tip of Baffin Island in Nunavut,
Pond Inlet, which is known to the Inuit as MITTIMATALIK, is often called the
JEWEL OF THE NORTH. With a population of roughly 1500 inhabitants today, many
archaeological sites of ancient Dorset and Thule people can be found nearby. It
was named in 1818 after the English astronomer John Pond. This remote hamlet
overlooks Eclipse Sound, with a striking back drop of Bylot Island’s snow-clad
peaks and glaciers. Its location has long made it a place of both cultural
continuity and exploration, linking Inuit traditions with the stories of
European adventures who charted these Arctic waters in search of the Northwest
Passage. Historically, Pond Inlet has been a gathering place for Inuit hunters,
whose knowledge of sea ice, weather, and wildlife sustained life in one of the
harshest climates on earth. Today, traditional practices – such as hunting
narwhal, ringed and harp seals, fish, polar bears, walrus, Arctic hares,
caribou, geese, and ptarmigans – remain important, alongside the growing
presence of modern Inuit art (especially printmaking and carving) that has
gained recognition worldwide. Winters are long and bitterly cold with
temperatures plunging well below -30°C, mild summers, bring constant daylight,
wildflowers blooming across the tundra, and rich feeding grounds for wildlife.
Polar bears roam the ice floes , while beluga and bowhead whales migrate
through the waters. Meteorological extremes, paired with breathtaking
landscapes, make Pond Inlet a window into the wonders of the High Arctic.”
(Source: Silversea daily Chronicle)
Pond Inlet- notice the houses built on stilts. This is
because the Permafrost is melting, and without the stilts, many of these houses
would be subject to landslides and falling into the sea.
Pond Inlet- notice the houses built on stilts. This is
because the Permafrost is melting, and without the stilts, many of these houses
would be subject to landslides and falling into the sea.
Interesting exhibits at Pond Inlet library:
The library had some fascinating exhibits. I loved the
beautiful Inuit amautik robes they had on display. This is considered the
national costume of Inuit women, and it is worn on special occasions like
weddings. To produce it requires experienced handicap skills involving skin
preparation and sewing, bead work, and embroidery. These intricate outfits are
considered quite valuable and are often passed down as heirlooms in the family.
Throughout history, the most important tools of the Inuit were the knife and
the needle.
OTHER EXHIBITS - a
game based on bones, and a sled dog and sled - note the foot protection on the
dog.
Aug 31 at Pond Inlet, we
were treated to several performances at the hamlet’s cultural center. One was
to see an athlete demonstrating kicking games. “The Inuit game involving
jumping to hit a hanging target is called the High Kick. There are three
variations of the High Kick, all of which are featured in the Arctic Winter
Games and World Eskimo Indian Olympics.
The three main versions of the High Kick are:
One-Foot High Kick: The player jumps off of both feet,
kicks the suspended target with one foot, and lands on that same kicking foot
while maintaining balance.
Two-Foot High Kick: The player jumps with both feet
together, kicks the target with both feet simultaneously, and lands on both
feet while keeping their balance.
Alaskan High Kick: An athlete begins in a seated position
on the floor, balancing on one hand and holding the opposite foot with the
other hand. They then use the kicking leg to launch up and hit the target
before landing back on the kicking foot.” (Ai search results…)
More demonstrations at Pond inlet cultural center -
THROAT SINGING - “Inuit throat singing, also known as katajjaq, is a unique
vocal game traditionally practiced by Inuit women, primarily as a form of
entertainment and social interaction, especially when men were away hunting. It
involves two women facing each other, creating sounds by rhythmically inhaling
and exhaling, often mimicking natural sounds like animal noises or the wind.
The game is a playful contest, ending when one singer laughs or runs out of
breath. It's also used to soothe babies and as a way to pass time during long,
cold winters.” (Ai search results)
to
see and hear the actual performance, scan this QR code or go to
https://www.facebook.com/592039044/videos/pcb.10165560264589045/1663281504312547
ALSO at Pond Inlet cultural center, a drumming
demonstration!
“The main Inuit
percussion instrument is the wooden frame drum called the qilaut that is made
from bending narrow strips of wood into a circular frame with a protruding
handle. Originally, caribou skin was stretched across the frame, but today
synthetic membranes are most common. These drums can reach a metre in diameter
but are usually smaller. The qilaut is struck on the edge of the rim with a
qatuk — a wooden stick, wand or beater. The sound is a combination of the
percussive whack on the wood and the resulting deep vibrations from the
stretched membrane.” (From (Indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca)
To see the live performance, scan the QR code or go to
https://www.facebook.com/592039044/videos/pcb.10165560287614045/810088774716162
POND INLET - walking back to the local pier to get onto
our zodiac to return to the ship, one of our city guides was thrilled to
receive a generous helping of narwhal blubber distributed by a local fisherman;
traditional belief is that when you share, that guarantees your success in the
next hunt. Makes sense to me! Also, look at the lovely license plate for cars!
MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 1 - cruising through Lancaster Sound.
Rough seas last night meant we arrived here too late for
a zodiac cruise in the area, but we enjoyed the views from the ship. The early
morning photo off the ship’s bow shows Lancaster Sound with Devon Island
straight ahead…this is the entrance to the Northwest Passage!
7 northwest psssage possibilities: we
seem to be following the green line BUT we could go into yellow line… BUT THAT
CAN CHANGE!
On September 1, we were treated to lecture number 4 on
the search for the Northwest passage. Our expert historian notes that (and
points to) the strait we “might” be going through….only a mile wide at some
points! All that white? Sea ice as it usually forms in the areas we hope to
sail.
The weather was pretty nice as we approached Dundas
Harbour on Devon Island - – 33°. Nice enough for Pippi to hang out on the
balcony for a couple of minutes at least.
Per the info provided by the ship’s daily guest
info-Chronicle, people say that Devon Island is the closest thing to Mars on
planet Earth, and the rocky terrain, dry, cold climate, and a 14 mile wide
crater on the north of the island have made it home for a team of research
scientists from NASA, who live in a small research station during the Arctic
summer. Other than these few men and women, Devon Island is completely
unpeopled, and the largest uninhabited island in the world. It is Canada’s
sixth largest island. It was discovered by English explorer William Baffin in
1616, but the island did not make it onto any maps until William Edward Parry’s
exploration of the Arctic in 1820. The island does show signs of having
sustained human life as many as 3000 years ago with archaeological remains of a
Thule settlement dating back to 1000 A.D. currently being excavated.
Dundas Harbor is found in the south of the island. The island is set in the Arctic Ocean, south
of Ellesmere Island and west of Baffin Bay.
It is named Talluruti in the local Inuktitut language, literally
translating as “a woman’s chin with tattoos on it”, as from a distance the deep
crevasses resemble traditional facial tattoos.
September 1
At our evening lecture, we learned from our naturalists
about the controversial Mary River Project -- a huge open pit iron ore mine
that has been in operation in northern Baffin Island since 2015; it is
one of the most northern mines in the world. The ore is trucked to a port that
then ships the ore east through Eclipse Sound and Baffin Bay. According to one
of our lecture experts, there has been so much ship traffic from the mine that
it has disturbed the whales and narwhals. One solution has been to restrict
ship speeds to less than 10 knots an hour, in order not to disturb whale
communications. Another environmental impact is that the mining operation
creates dust that blows across the region and coats the terrain, thus
encouraging more warming of the snowpack (white snow reflects sun)(blackened
snow absorbs sunlight). Obviously, this contributes to rising sea levels
worldwide. Building a railroad south has been considered, but this is fraught
when the land is permafrost.
At another evening lecture wrap-up, One of our
naturalists waxed rhapsodic about a fave Arctic bird of hers - the fulmar. They
are long distance flyers, as well, please see the photo below where one was
tagged and followed electronically. Here’s more info on them: “Fulmars are
gull-like seabirds of the petrel family, known for their distinctive
tube-shaped nostrils, which help them expel salt from seawater. They are found
in cold, open oceans in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, breeding on
cliffs and spending much of their lives at sea. Fulmars are characterized by
their stocky build, stiff-winged flight, and a unique defense mechanism where
they regurgitate a foul-smelling stomach oil to deter predators.” (Ai info)
Fulmar migration pattern – they are known for loooonnnng
journeys!
September 2
We continued our exploration of the Devon Island area by
passing Radstock Bay and the Beechey Island, which is small island off the
southwest coast of Devon Island.
Captain Willian Edward Parry was the first European to
visit the island in 1819. His
lieutenant, Frederick William Beechey named the island after his father, the
artist William Beechey. Beechey Island
played a significant role in the history of Arctic Exploration. During the winter of 1845-46, Sir John
Franklin and his men camped on the island as part of their ill-fated quest to
find the Northwest Passage; mummified remains of three of Franklin’s crew have been
discovered. In 1850 Edward Belcher used
the island as a base while surveying the area.
Later, in 1903, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen stopped at the island
at the beginning of his successful voyage in search of the Northwest
Passage. Beechey island was declared a
“Territorial Historic Site” by the Northwest Territories government in 1975 and
a National Historic Site of Canada in 1993.
It is now part of Nunavut.
September 3
Morning of Sept 3 - it was pretty foggy as we approached
Pandora Island, but there was a promise of polar bears and beluga whales, so
off we went on a zodiac cruise. This island is located in Peel Sound, a narrow
channel situated between Somerset Island to the east and Prince of Wales Island
to the west.
The feature of our morning was a zodiac expedition to
Savage Point on Pandora Island in Peel Sound. From the ship, our expedition
crew with high powered binoculars saw this resourceful polar bear jump into the
water and capture a seal which he dragged up the rocky cliff to enjoy a
breakfast of seal blubber. Gulls patiently wait nearby until he’s done, hoping
for the scraps. Our zodiac drivers quiet the outboards and we go in a carousel
formation closer and closer to the land with each turn. Our expedition leader
watches the bear’s reaction closely, as we do not want to encroach on the
bear’s comfort. Finally, the bear finishes his meal, and uses his tongue just
like a cat to begin cleaning himself off.
More activities on September 3-
During our zodiac cruise around the Four Rivers Bay area
of Peel Sound, our zodiac driver Marielle who is also a naturalist pointed out
this perfect example of the nature of permafrost in the Arctic. Per the
internet, here’s an introduction: The "top layer" of permafrost is
called the active layer, which thaws in the summer and refreezes in the winter.
The active layer sits on top of the PERMAFROST, which is the ground that
remains frozen for at least two consecutive years. Most ecological, hydrological,
The thickness of the active layer changes from year to year depending on
climate conditions and can range from a few inches in colder regions to several
meters in warmer areas. It is rich in organic carbon: Permafrost soils near the
surface contain large amounts of organic carbon from dead plants that could not
decompose in the cold. When the active layer deepens due to warming, this
trapped carbon can decompose and release greenhouse gases, further accelerating
climate change.
At our briefing on the night of Sept. 3, we were all
delighted to hear that the governing authorities for the land had given us
permission to set foot on the shores of Pasley Island, something which very few
visitors to the Arctic have ever done. However, during the breakfast hour
today, September 4, we all saw three polar bears swimming not so very far from
the ship.
The exploratory zodiac crew reported that there was lots
of bear activity in the area. So, in an abundance of caution, the expedition
executive decided it was unwise to put our feet in a place with so much bear
activity. This makes a total of 22 polar bears we’ve seen on this expedition
so far, out of the total of 26,000 which is the approximation of the total
polar bear population left in the world.
Interesting note about Pasley Bay- the current
nautical maps for this bay have not been updated for decades because it is so
rarely visited, so our zodiac crew took out a portable depth sounding device
and has relayed their collected data to the organization in the UK which then
formally updates nautical maps worldwide.
September 4
Wildlife seen from the ship, a group of narwhal, and one
of our passengers captured this picture of one of the narwhal spouting, and you
can see the long extended beak quite clearly.
September 4 – we had a terrific presentation on polar bears. Now that I’ve seen the distribution maps of polar bear population concentration, I understand more clearly why we have seen so many polar bears. Our ship spent considerable time in Baffin Bay, and also around Lancaster Sound, and those are major sites of significant polar bear populations.
This is also the time of year where food is scarce for
these marine mammals, because there is not the significant sea ice where seals
live, and seals are their major food source. So that’s why we stay away from
areas where there are a fair number of polar bears sighted – – not a great idea,
as humans might also be considered a food source, red polar Silversea parkas
and all. How long do polar bears live? The lifespan is usually 15 to 20 years.
September 4 – A GREAT EVENING
LECTURE! One of our geologists gave a
lecture on the various stages of earth’s development, and made it really easy
to understand by putting it into a yearly calendar. She noted that the
appearance of humankind on our planet is only the last five seconds before midnight
on December 31. Humbling.
By the way, when those who explored the northwest passage
wanted to pass on information about the location they reached, and the
condition of the ships and their men, they built cairns like this on a high
point so those who followed could easily find them, and in many of the cairns
there were messages left that were well sealed in metal canisters provided by
the British admiralty; there was even a form that the captains were to fill out
with information
September 5
Gjoa Haven is located on King William Island in the
Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. The permanent community was founded after the
Hudson’s Bay Company opened a trading post in 1927, which was followed by Roman
Catholic missionaries. In the 1950’s, the population was only 110 people but
has grown steadily with the establishment of schools, a nursing centre, and
other essential services.
In the museum at Gjoa Haven, there is a small replica of Franklin’s ship HMS Erebus as it appeared sunken and preserved nearby. Gjoa Haven is a community that is closely tied with the saga of the Northwest Passage. Its storied history includes contact with Scottish explorer John Ross and his crew in 1829 who were trapped in ice. It was because of the assistance of the local Inuit that they survived. Gjoa Haven was also the last location of the ill-fated John Franklin expedition in 1845. John Franklin and his crew perished without ever finding the Northwest Passage. In 2015, after years of fruitless searching, researchers acted on the oral traditions of the Inuit of Gjoa Haven and found the remains of Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated 1845 expedition. They found the remains of his two boats, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror preserved in the arctic waters off Gjoa Haven.
At the Gjoa Haven museum: the Inuit figured out how to
combat snow blindness. I took a photo with my hand so you can get a sense of
proportion of these well crafted “sunglasses”.
At the museum in Gjoa (pronounced JOE) Haven -many wonderful
exhibits about language and arts. The sculptures are incredibly beautiful.
So that’s why sunsets and sunrises are so longlasting in
the Arctic - the angle of the sun to the horizon !
At the library at Gjoa Haven, a huge bronze bust of
Northwest passage explorer Roald Amundsen is a feature. It was Norwegian
explorer, Roald Amundsen who founded ‘Gjøahavn’, noting it was the ‘finest
little harbour in the world’. He successfully traversed the Northwest Passage
as the first explorer in 1906 due in large part to the local Inuit people who
taught him how to survive in the Arctic. ALSO In browsing through the notices
on the community bulletin board, we see that wildlife does come down into the community,
and it’s a concern – – residents are urged to report sightings quickly.
September 6
The area around Cambridge Bay was seasonally used by pre-Dorset, Dorset, Thule
and Copper Inuit to hunt and fish. It was only after the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police and the Hudson’s Bay Company decided to set up posts on Victoria Island
in the 1920s that outsiders settled here, while the Inuit community only came
to live at Cambridge Bay in a more permanent way after World War II when a
LORAN (long range navigation system) tower was built. Today, Cambridge Bay is
one of Canada‘s northernmost villages with close to 1800 residents. It is the
administrative center for the Kitikmeot region and an important transportation
hub for cargo by sea and air. Arctic char, which is caught in rivers nearby, is
Cambridge Bay’s major export article.
Cambridge Bay is considered a hamlet and is located on
Victoria Island. It is now known as a hub for Arctic research and a gateway to
the Northwest Passage. The community, whose Inuktitut name is Iqaluktuuttiaq,
meaning "good fishing place," has a rich history as an Inuit
gathering place for over 4,000 years. It has become a center for science and
technology, with the Canadian High Arctic Research Centre located there.
Despite the allure of the research center, I decided to
forgo today’s zodiac ride onto the windy beach at Cambridge Bay. Getting in and
out of the zodiacs in any event pushes at my boundary between exciting and
treacherous, and doing so with winds of 30 knots an hour is even less
compelling. We were told over the intercom to make sure we had on our high
rubber boots, waterproof pants, several extra layers of warmth under our polar
parkas, and all of this information placed a red flag “no go” warning in that
part of my mind which deals with self preservation. I’m sure there will be
other interesting community visits over the next 11 days before this Northwest
Passage cruise ends. I was sorry to disappoint my friends on Facebook who were following
this journey… But at least I will live to write another day. 
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| Zodiac with passengers coming back from Cambridge Bay; as predicted, winds picked up. |
September 7
More about Edinburgh Island. Edinburgh Island also was part of the DEW Line (Distant Early Warning Line). These sites (see map) were radar stations built across the Arctic during the Cold War (1945-1991) to detect incoming Soviet aircraft. The sites were primarily situated in remote Arctic regions. They were built on high ground, including cliffs, and featured their own permanent airstrips. The DEW Line was replaced by the North Warning System (NWS) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and a major project was initiated to clean up and restore the environmentally compromised sites.
September 7 - this was a view
from the front of the ship as we approached Edinburgh Island this morning.
Conditions looked pretty good for a landing on shore so we could do some beach
combing, bird watching and hiking, that is until… the announcement came over
the intercom that a grizzly bear had been spotted on the land. So, expedition
on shore canceled.
Here is a picture of the grizzly bear which prevented our
group from going on shore today. At our recap briefing at the end of the day,
we were presented with a lecture on grizzly bears. The point is, that with
global warming, they are pushing their habitat north. This is the first time
that any members of our expedition team has ever seen a grizzly bear in this
area. They are the biggest of all bears, as you can see from the lecture photo,
and they are able to sprint easily at 35 mph. That’s likely faster than any of
us could run in our polar gear … So, no landing.
For those of you who are used to our
California Black Bears. Here is a photo of a Grizzly. Notice the big hump on his back near his
neck? Grizzly. Very dangerous.
Well, this is what we MIGHT have seen this morning. Seems
as if the grizzly bear is going to have the place to himself 
September 7 - it’s sad we
couldn’t put foot on Edinburgh Island beach, but we are on our way to our next
destination, which will take us out of Nunavut and into the Northwest
Territories. It is really a beautiful day, and we’re so fortunate to have this
opportunity to see the landscape and these unpredictable but gorgeous seas. It’s a little bouncy to sit with a cup of tea
and look out the lounge windows, but the view is ever changing.
September 7 evening -
blood moon rising as the ship makes its way through the Dolphin and Union
Strait, which is near Simpson Bay off the southwest corner of Victoria Island.
Gorgeous!
September 8
We are en route to Ulukhaktok in Northwest Territories
waters. Speed 9.3 knots. Why is such low speed important? See the last part of
this article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/.../five-dramatic-ways.../
September 8 - We are now in the
Northwest Territories of Canada, in the Inuvik Region. We are visiting the
community of Ulukhahtok which is located along the banks of the Amundsen Gulf,
an Arctic inlet on the west coast of Victoria Island, the ninth-largest island
on Earth. It is surrounded by rugged tundra and Arctic scenery. Formerly known
as Holman, this Inuvialuit community numbers about 500. Its name translates to
“where there is ulu material,” referring to the copper used to make the
semi-circular Inuit knife called an ulu. Although people travelled here to
harvest slate and copper, this wasn’t a permanent settlement until the opening of
a Hudson’s Bay Company store and Roman Catholic mission in the 1930s. Since
then Ulukhaktok has become famous for two things: exquisite Inuit prints and
the world’s most northern golf course. The world-renowned Ulukhaktok Arts
Center originally known as the Holman Eskimo Co-operative, was formed in 1961
to sell Inuit artwork.
September 8 -ULUKHATOK ~ during
a walk through the town, I went into one of the two grocery stores, in this
instance, the co-op. Among other services offered in this store was a post
office. A clerk showed me shelves (note blue tags) where the nutritional
program supported by the government of Canada offers staples at a 75% discount.
Supplies come into the town generally twice a year, and have to be ordered far
in advance. We cruise ship guests are cautioned not to buy any food stuffs
whatsoever when we are in these towns, because this would contribute to the
food scarcity that they often experience. In this town, the grocery shelves
were fairly bare, because the food shipment which was expected three weeks ago
is late as the supply ship got stuck in the ice and had to be extricated by an
icebreaker.
September 8 - Ulukhaktok has an
active Anglican church congregation, although you almost wouldn’t know that to
look at the outside of the building, which has been battered by snow and wind.
However, inside, congregants of the church of the resurrection gather every
Sunday for services conducted by a lay minister. One of the interesting pieces
of religious art is the seal skin tapestry showing the Last Supper. For
sacramental occasions like baptisms, an Anglican (protestant Episcopal ) priest
flies in from the capital of the Northwest Territories. The church has a street
number etched on the form of an ULU.
SEAL SKIN TAPESTRY
A few more notes about walking around ULUKHAKTOK. The hamlet office is painted a nice cheery blue. The arts center, unfortunately, moved, despite the sign stain where it does; we were not able to see much in the way of the lauded printmaking that defines this town as an Inuit artist’s Mecca. My new best friend, Emily, gave me a ride in her ATV back from the community center to the shore of the town, where our zodiacs waited for us to clamber through a few feet of cold arctic water to get on the boat back to the ship.
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| note the street number in the form of an ULU |
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| I'm never too proud to hitch a ride... |
September 8 - a spectacular
polar sunset!
September 9 - ice ahead!
Pack ice! We knew we would be seeing a fair amount of it
as the Silver Endeavor is proceeding west off the shores of the Northwest
Territories on our way to the Yukon area and Smoking Hills. By 9 a.m. our
captain is looking for a way through the ice, which should not really be a
problem because it is so-called “new ice” and not icebergs that have fallen off
glaciers.
September 9 - READY SET GO! 25
passengers and 3 crew took the Polar Bear Plunge this afternoon. A rope
is attached to each participant to make sure they get back in the boat quickly,
but most people s wam of their own record. Water temperature was 4°C.
SEPTEMBER
9 - in the wee hours, just 15 minutes after midnight,
we got the intercom call that there were Northern Lights on the port side of
the ship. With a lovely ribbon of moonlight, the combination was beautiful!
SEPTEMBER 10
Overnight we arrived at Smoking Hills. The Smoking Hills
are located in the Northwest Territories, specifically on the Arctic coast
along the east side of Cape Bathurst. of Cape Bathurst. This unique
geographical feature is characterized by continuously smoking slopes caused by
the spontaneous combustion of sulfur-rich oil shales, a phenomenon that has
been occurring for centuries. Cape Bathurst and its peninsula is the
northernmost point of mainland Northwest Territories and one of the few
peninsulas in mainland North America protruding above the 70th parallel north.
September 10 -
we took a 2 hour zodiac ride to get closer to this natural wonder, SMOKING
HILLS. The sulfur smell was faint as the winds blew the smoke away from us.
September 10 - do you see them? Do you see them? Do you see the muskox herd on the side of the hill in Smoking Hills? OK, admittedly, it was pretty remote, but we’ve been looking and looking for the duration of this trip. Here is what you need to know about muskox:
The musk ox (Ovibos
moschatus) is a goat bovid that can reach up to 2.3 meters in length and 1.5
meters in height at the shoulders, as well as weighing up to 400 kg. It lives
in arctic regions, and thanks to its fluffy coat it can withstand temperatures as
low as -40°C. Despite their name, musk oxen are more closely related to goats
than to oxen.
Their name comes from
the odor emitted by males during the mating period, called musk. During the
mating season, which climaxes in mid-August, males compete for dominance, and a
dominant bull drives other adult males out of the group. Females are sexually
mature at two years of age, and males reach sexual maturity after five years.
The gestation period is eight or nine months. Almost all pregnancies yield a
single calf, which nurses for a year but may begin eating grasses a week after
birth. They also have a distinct defensive behavior: when the herd is
threatened, the bulls and cows form a circle around the calves. This is an
effective defense against predators such as wolves, but it makes them an easy
target for human hunters.
Physical characteristics -
Both sexes have long
curved horns. They are 2.5 m (long and 1.4 m high at the shoulder). Adults
weigh at least 200 kg and can exceed 400 kg. Their coat color is a mixture of
black, gray and brown, and they have long protective hairs that reach almost to
the ground.
During the summer, they live in
wet areas, such as river valleys, moving to higher elevations in the winter to
avoid deep snow. They feed on grasses, reeds and plants from the Cyperaceae
family, and others. They dig through the snow in winter to reach their food.
September 11 – a DAY AT SEA
Thought I’d share some big waves punctuated every once in
a while by a “growler” (small piece broken off an iceberg) floating by. We are
in waters off the Yukon Territory and tomorrow will make a “technical stop” in
Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay (of oil fame or infamy, depending on your point of view);
there we will bring on board a captain who knows these waters, to work with our
captain to bring us ultimately to Nome. So many of the seas of the Northwest
Passage are still not very thoroughly charted.
September 12
-Today’s big excitement was our sailing close to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska’s north
slope.
From Prudhoe Bay, a local area captain was motored out to
join our ship, and guide us through the waters to Nome, Alaska where this
expedition cruise terminates. As a special bonus for watching his assent on a
rope ladder lowered from the side of our ship, we all got to be pelted with wet
snow when we went to outside decks to watch…first snowfall for this trip!
eptember 13 - slowly but surely, the ship is en route to Nome. This morning = snow flurries.
Sept 14 at 11:30 pm in the Alaskan Arctic
Northern lights display off the ship’s bow. Our expedition leader woke passengers up with an intercom announcement to enjoy this celestial event. Very much worth putting on parka and shoes over nightclothes and climbing a few sets of stairs.
September 14-
the waters off Point Hope, Alaska, were a bit too choppy for me to feel
comfortable taking a Zodiac to the shore for a Village visit. So some of the
photos here are those taken by my fellow passengers. Point Hope is the oldest
documented continuously inhabited settlement in North America, dated from 2500
years ago. in local language, it is known as TIKIGAQ. The Inuit people of Point
Hope still rely on hunting for much of their food, and that includes seals,
walrus, beluga, and birds. They are allowed to take 12 bowhead whales per year
under a permit issued for those who are subsistence hunters. in the past, they
hunted in seal skin boats, but today they use motorized boats. The village has
been moved once already away from the edge of the sea, as sea ice disappeared
and sea rise threatened structures. Within one man’s lifetime, he saw the last
traces of the original Village obliterated by a recent storm, and fears that
the village will have to be moved even further back to accommodate the effects
of climate change.
September 14, evening.
Sailing in the Alaskan Arctic. It’s 9:30 and the sun is just now setting. The
ship is leaving a lovely undulating path in the sea.
Monday Sept 15 at 6 a.m
We are a few miles from Kotzebue Alaska - a barge pulls
up to the side of our ship, and refuels the Silver Endeavour. After the
passengers disembark tomorrow, the ship goes on for a few weeks until it begins
a cruise to the Arctic polar regions beginning in Valparaiso Chile.
On September 15 in the afternoon,
our ship went carefully south through the Bering Strait en route to Nome,
making sure to stay in US waters. During the Cold War, the Bering Strait marked
the border between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Diomede Islands
(Big Diomede is Russian and Little Diomede is US territory) are only 2.4 miles
apart. Traditionally, the indigenous people in the area had frequently crossed
the border back and forth for "routine visits, seasonal festivals and
subsistence trade", but were prevented from doing so during the Cold War.
The border became known as the "Ice Curtain". It was completely
closed, and there was no regular passenger air or boat traffic.
Since 2012, the Russian coast of the Bering Strait has
been a closed military zone, difficult to visit even with a visa.
This is probably as close as I’ll ever get to
Russia…
September 16
It is a bright and sunny day in Nome Alaska. Pippi says
farewell to the ship, as she and I are about to take the tender over to the
city of Nome, and from there we get on a school bus (best available tour group
transport here) to go to the airport and catch our Alaska airlines flight to
Anchorage. Sept 16 - it is a bright and sunny day in
Nome Alaska. Pippi says farewell to the ship, as she and I are about to take
the tender over to the city of Nome, and from there we get on a school bus
(best available tour group transport here) to go to the airport and catch our
Alaska airlines flight to Anchorage.
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| What a lucky girl, to go on this marvelous voyage! |
September 16 - after a 6 AM announcement to come clear customs in person to re-enter the United States, which clearance happened very quickly in our ship lecture center, we boarded the tender from the side of the ship, walked up a pier and got on school buses. We were fortunate to have a very quick drive-through of the city of Nome, before we reached the compact airport. Which is another way of saying – – Small.
The flight took us over the city of Nome, where we could
see the usual tree-less tundra, and our ship in the waters off Nome. Nome was
originally called "Anvil City" after the nearby Anvil Creek where
significant gold was discovered in 1898. Miners and merchants chose this name
due to the resemblance of a rock on the mountain to a blacksmith's anvil. The
city was later renamed Nome due to confusion with the nearby Cape Nome, but the
name Anvil City reflected its gold rush origins and is still commemorated today.
September 16 -
it has been more than three weeks since I’ve seen an actual tall tree.
Admittedly, there were Arctic willows all over the place in the glacial
terrain, tundra and islands which we saw maintaining a foothold in that harsh
Northwest Passage climate.
But, flying into Anchorage from Nome, we saw forest! If I
have ever taken a tree for granted, I hope the creator will forgive me!
Anchorage city is set in a beautiful part of Alaska. The primary mountain range
near Anchorage is the Chugach Mountains. Other ranges visible from Anchorage
include the Talkeetna Mountains, Kenai Mountains, Aleutian Range and the Alaska
Range (which includes Denali, North America's tallest peak).
September 17
Final leg of this trip, Alaska airlines from Anchorage to
San Francisco. Lovely clean and spacious airport in Anchorage with some
interesting exhibits in the concourse. I liked this explanation of how the
indigenous people here used to catch beluga in the Cook Inlet; ingenious!
And then… HOME
Nb: Special note that I sent to friends on September 4… about Zodiacs….
This morning, during breakfast, the ship sent out some exploratory
zodiacs to take a look at the environment and the prospect for doing a
so-called “wet landing” landing (ie hopping from the side of zodiacs into
freezing Arctic waters wearing heavy unmanageable boots) onto a little bit
of Pasley Bay’s shore, but the expedition leader reported that there were too
many polar bears in the area to safely land our 200 guests. So instead, they
offered a cruise in the 8 to 12 person zodiacs, looking around the area for two
freezing hours to see what could be seen. My roommate went, and she saw a
curious young seal. When she came back she quickly jumped into a hot
shower to bring her body temperature up above morgue level.
I am trying to be lighthearted about these zodiac Cruises, but in fact it takes forever to get into all of the Arctic gear, and then you sit on the side of these puffed up rubber boats, holding onto a rope for dear life, as these young zodiac drivers put the boat into high speed and encourage us all to move towards the back of the boat for weight distribution reasons. I find it mildly terrifying. Actually, I find it really terrifying, and am always quietly, but in fact, deliriously Happy to return to the ship without being dunked in these cold waters. I gallump up the stairs of the portal where the zodiacs return and launch from, and I’m happy to get back in the cabin and immediately put the tea kettle on.
This is a rosier picture than the one I present on my Facebook postings, but I am sure you will appreciate this honesty…
