Gjoa Haven
This morning we arrived in the small community of Goa Haven. Located at the heart of the Northwest Passage, the name is in honor of Roald Amundsen’s ship the Gjoa, which landed here in 1903. Admundsen spent two winters here in the ice before successfully completing the Northwest Passage. As with all of out community visits, the people are very friendly and curious. For both Pond Inlet and Gjoa Haven, we are the first passenger ship to visit since the start of the pandemic.
Community of Gjoa Haven.
We have two community ambassadors on board, Mariah and Annie. This is not a great photo, but they are part of the initial landing party who went ashore and seek permission/agreement from the community leaders for us to come ashore and visit. While we only have 98 passengers on board, it can still be a bit overwhelming for these small remote communities.
Arctic Chard drying in the sun.
Polar Bear skin.
Musk Ox fur/skin.
In addition to where Roald Admundsen wintered over, Gjoa Haven is also the nearest community to the shipwrecks of the Erebus and the Terror, from the ill fated Franklin Expedition. The sites are a restricted area, thus ae cannot go there and explore the site with the ships submersible ROV. The community of Gjoa Haven are caretakers for these sites.
Returning to the Resolution. If you look closely at the bow you can see missing blue paint. This was not there before we left Fort Ross. I am told that this is the hardest they have pushed pushed this boat in the ice.
5 thoughts on “Gjoa Haven”
Thanks for sharing all of this…very interesting!! What an adventure!
I love all the pictures. Joyce especially loved the polar bears and the narwhal shots.
What’s temperature been like? I notice some one on shore wear a tee shirt.
The weather has been perfect, even in the ice. The only issue is the wind. The only time we have gotten wet is during the shore landings and the foul weather gear takes cate of that. The muck boots are indispensable as most landings, even in the towns are on the beach and wet.
I see power lines in the village. Is there a big community generator that supplies them? It seems too remote to be connected to any grid.
Also, I’m curious… Why are the houses built up on piers? Because of permafrost?
Yes that is exactly why. They have pilings that they drive down into to the permafrost. The settlements have a central Diesel Generator plant that provides electricity. They revise one oil shipment a year and have tank farms for storage. All the oil lines run on the surface.
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