BIG ICE never fails to work MAGIC!
Final posting from our Adventure Canada voyage Out of the Northwest Passage . . . Day 15: Ilulissat Late afternoon in Ilulissat, voyagers returned from a 90-minute zodiac cruise among the icebergs looking and sounding exhilarated. The message they carried: BIG ICE! BIG! FANTASTIC! Ilulissat is the third-largest town in Greenland, with 4,541 people (as…
Read MoreArctic landscape calls out for Return
Voyaging Out of the Passage with Adventure Canada Day 13: Qikiqtarjuak “The whalers used to call us Yaks,” Billy Etooangat said as he rode back to the ship in the zodiac to retrieve his luggage. He was arriving home in Qikiqtarjuak in the sunshine. “After Yaks, we were Eskimos.” He took a beat. “I didn’t…
Read MoreWrestling Visions of Climate Change in the Northwest Passage
Sailing Out of the Passage with Adventure Canada Day 12: Aujuittuq National Park Katabatic winds came roaring down off the mountains of the fjord. By some estimates, they were gusting up to 80 km, carrying higher-density air under the influence of gravity. Just before noon, the winds forced a brief closure of all decks for…
Read MoreBeechey Island whiteout inspires Dead Reckoning video
Scenes from September, voyaging Out of the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada. Day 8: Beechey Island For visiting Beechey Island, the best-known historical site in the Arctic, the day was perfect: cool and overcast. We went ashore in zodiacs and climbed the rocky, snow-swept slope to the graves of the first three sailors to die…
Read MoreGjoa Haven features Amundsen, Kamookak, Martin Bergmann
Voyaging Out of the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada, September 2018: Day 4: Gjoa Haven The little kids stole the show. Five to seven years old, they emerged in pairs, jigging out into the centre of the high school gymnasium. Within seconds, we visitors were dabbing at our eyes. These innocents were dancing so intently,…
Read MoreParks Canada expects to find human remains on Franklin ships
Voyaging Out of the Northwest Passage last September with Adventure Canada. Day 3: Simpson Strait “I expect to find human remains.” So said Marc-Andre Bernier this morning in response to a question about diving on the Erebus. “Most likely bones, skeletons.” He noted that Inuit testimony speaks of at least one body on what would…
Read MoreLighting the Kudlik in the Northwest Passage
As a rule, when we sail in the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada, I end up writing the “official” logbook that goes out to passengers as an illustrated booklet. Towards the end of the year, I like to post a few excerpts. It gets me remembering . . . and excites me about next year.…
Read MoreArctic Return Expedition backs Orkney vision of a John Rae World Heritage site
While announcing the 2019 Arctic Return Expedition, which will follow in the footsteps of Arctic explorer John Rae, team leader David Reid spoke of yearning to do something about the dilapidated condition of Rae’s birthplace in Stromness, Orkney: the Hall of Clestrain. “Clestrain stands as an example of something once proud, dignified, and strong,” he…
Read MoreArctic Return Expedition will seek Northwest Passage in the footsteps of John Rae
“A snow storm of great violence raged during the whole of [April] 14th, which did not prevent us from making an attempt to get forward; after persevering two and a half hours, and gaining a mile and a half distance, we were again forced to take shelter.” — John Rae on his 1854 expedition In…
Read MoreGeologist finds relic from Franklin search
Canadian geologist Francis Manns was prospecting for lead and zinc. The mid-summer day was bright and literally endless — 24-hour sunlight. Manns was working his way along the Abbott River in the middle of Cornwallis Island, some distance north of Resolute Bay, when he spotted a cairn on a ridge or pinnacle. “It was two…
Read More