Northwest Passage
The NW Passage refers to the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada often blocked by ice. The most well-known expedition in search of the passage was led by Sir John Franklin in 1845 that ended in disaster without any survivor. An ice-bound route was discovered in 1850 by Robert McClure during his search of Franklin’s missing party. Roald Amundsen became the first person to find a route making a complete passage in 1903-1906. The passage essentially comprises three sections: east of Baffin Island – Greenland; centre comprising Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and west – coast of the Bering Strait.
Inuit Nunangat
Inuit are the descendants of the Thule people who emerged from the Bering Strait and western Alaska around 1000CE. They are believed to have split from the related Aleut group about 4000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants. They then spread eastern across the Arctic. In Canada, Inuit formed the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami in 1971 (from the former Inuit Tapirisat of Canada). Today, Inuit Nunangat is made up of four distinct regional homelands: Inuvialuit (Northwest Territories), Nunavut, Nunavik (Northern Quebec), and Nunatsiavut Northern Labrador) that became its own territory in 1999.
Day 8 September 3 Pond Inlet, Nunavat
As we would be sailing the whole morning, we attended two lectures in the morning: one on “Centralisation and development of Greenland” and the other by Nick on iphone photography (1).
Pond Inlet is not strange to me as I was there on 11 and 13 August 2018 with a Canadian expedition. As it took a while to clear customs, we could not disembark till almost 3 pm. We had the same programme beginning with a cultural performance in the community hall with a dozen performers including a 70-year-old lady who looks fit and healthy. I remember the twin sisters! The performance including throat singing, Inuit games, dance, kicking, competition etc. last for over an hour. I remember some of the faces and took photos with my old friends! Afterwards, we had a quick stop at the museum. It started to drizzle and I was back on the boat around 6pm.
Day 9 September 4 Lancaster Sound & Crocker Bay
In 2018, I visited the Dundas Harbour and Croker Bay. This time, we had a morning cruise at Lancaster Sound enjoying our first Arctic icescape. The weather was perfect and we stayed on Deck 7 with panoramic views. We saw a bearded seal with a big wound on ice too. I also attended a lecture “When Nunavut was created“
In the afternoon, we had zodiac cruise to see glaciers and icebergs in Croker Bay. We saw gorgeous icebergs in amazing shapes and all shades of blue. There were plenty of seals in the bay too. We celebrated the great day with a glass of champagne in the zodiac. In the evening, I watched a documentary movie “Ice and sky“.
Day 10 September 5 Beechey Island & Devon Island Nunavut
We had arctic weather this morning: cold, grey and miserable. We visited the most well-known historical site associated with Franklin’s lost expedition which set off from the UK in 1845 with a total of 129 officers and men on HKS Erebus and HMS Terror under the command of Sir John Franklin (1786- June 847). Their task was to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the NW Passage int he Canadian Arctic and to record magnetic data to further understanding on navigation in the region. They had three years’ provision on board and wintered on Beechey Island in 1845-46. They were icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island and both vessels were abandoned in April 1848 by which point Franklin and two dozen men had died. The rest led by Francis Crozier (second-in-command) and James Fitzjames (Erebus’s captain) headed south setting out for the Canadian mainland and eventually perished. Their mysterious disappearance sparked off a spate of search for the lost men and research studies. In 2014, a research team of Park Canada located the wreck of Erebus in the eastern portion of Queen Maud Gulf. The wreck of Terror was located south of the King William Island in 2016.
In the afternoon we visited another archeological site at Caswell Tower which features impressive and imposing geological feature. It was a grey bleak day with drizzle and fog. I walked a long way along the beach to see several Thule remnants with bowhead whale bones. Atmospheric!
Day 11 September 6 Creswell Bay Somerset Island & Bellot Strait
I signed up for a morning canyon walk on Fury Island which landscape has turquoise green water and sheer cliffs reminiscent of the Grand Canyon or the High Atlas in Morocco. But before 8am, we spotted four bears on the beach. Their presence changed our plan: we stayed onboard watching a big male bear and a mom with two cubs for almost an hour. No landing!
The expedition team decided to arrange us to visit an archeological sites at Creswell Bay to visit a large Thule settlement with many units built with bowhead whales. The main one has as many as 15 bowhead whale bones. The polar desert landscape is surreal especially on a beautiful sunny day with blue sky and reflections. The water was crystal clear with a sort of jelly fish! I had a most wonderful and relaxing walk for an hour. The boat set sail for Bellot Strait around 3pm.
I attended a lecture on “Did Franklin eat his shoes again?” that refreshed my memory of this disastrous expedition. Unfortunately by the time we arrived at the entrance of the strait, it was around 8 pm. We were told we would have a scenic sailing through the 17-km long strait which has various locations with history. It was getting dark and foggy. Apart from seeing Fort Ross at the entrance, we hardly saw much. Nothing one can do with the weather! At 10pm, I went to the main lobby to enjoy live music for half an hour. There were only two guests at the lobby after a group of officers left. I stayed on till the end to support the singer with a lovely sweet voice
Day 12 September 7 No Landing at Pasley Bay & Crusing
After stretching exercise and a good breakfast, I got ready for a medium walk on the Pasley Bay which is located on the east side of the Boothia Peninsula and laying on the east side of Larsen Sound near the entrance to James Ross Strait, north of King William Island. Henry Larson overwintered on the second successful transit of the Passage, going west to east and passing through Bellot Strait in 1940-42. The landscape is supposed to include a low gravel and bog foreshore populated with sedge and cotton grasses. We were on the zodiac around 9:30 am heading to the shore only to be told to turn back five minutes later: a bear was spotted nearby and all passengers had to be evacuated. Back to the boat! C’est la vie on an expedition.
The weather and strong wind meant nothing could be arranged. I attended Nick’s iphone photography (2) on “How to organise your image” in the afternoon and Daniela’s talk “Polar bear: The Lord of the Ice“. At the Officers’ Dinner tonight, I was on a table with two young female French navigation officers and three other passengers. I learnt a lot about their work at the bridge and life of officers on board.
Day 13 September 8 M’Clintock Channel
The Captain decided to make a diversion north to the M’Clintock Channel to give us the last chance to see and experience sea ice. We were not disappointed: an hour-long zodiac cruising among the sea ice gave us an opportunity to understand the formation and beauty of sea ice that is different from ice broken from icebergs. It was atmospheric as it was foggy with a melancholic atmsophere.
I watched a documentary “The Great Ice Bear” at 11 am and attended a lecture on Roald Amundsen in the afternoon. For the second time, I watched the show ”Singing in Paris” performed by the five artists of Le Boreal in the Main Lounge till 10 pm. A full day!
Day 14 September 9 Gjoa Haven Nunavut
Gjoa Haven, a town in King William Island named after Amundsen’s boat, where Amundsen spent two years living and learned the Inuit way of life for survival in harsh Arctic environment. Today it has a population over 1,000 with a majority of young people. We disembarked after 1:30pm and I spent three and a half hours ashore. There is a small museum on Inuit life and culture. I flipped through a book on the discovery of HKS Investigator that made two voyages (1848-1853) to the Arctic to search for Franklin’s ill-fated expedition. It was abandoned in 1853 after becoming trapped in the pack ice. In 2010, a research team led by Park Canada located the wreck of Investigator in Mercy Bay at the northern tip of Aulavik National Park on the northern end of Banks Island.
At 4 pm we gathered in the community hall for an hour’s performance by local artists, two female throat singers and six dancers. David and his team members, and some passengers danced with the locals. I was glad to see many kids and local people coming to watch the show, had snacks (soup made with salmon and caribou and bread) and danced. I took many photos of the lovely kids.
Tonight, I signed up for a dinner with a naturalist. It was like a blind date as I did not know who would be the host. I was indeed delighted to find Max as our host. He is a good story-teller telling us vividly about his close encounter (less than 100m) with a big bear in Pasley Bay. This is a once-in-a-life time experience. He was calm when he looked into the bear’s eye. He felt the bear was just as shocked to see him and had no intention to attack him. After gazing at each other for a brief moment, the bear stepped back but came forward shortly afterwards (he gathered there was a slope and the bear had to advance in order to walk away). At this point, he fired at the sky and the bear ran away. After a delightful dinner I watched a 2-hour movie “Roald Amundsen” in Norwegian with English subtitles. Another long active day!