This morning we arrived in Jackson Inlet. This is a very remote spot and I was told that we are just the second expedition ship to visit here. It is amazing that after breaking thru ice floes you find large areas of open water with just a few ice bergs. Our approach and departure from Jackson Inlet. NG Resolution in Jackson Inlet Looking back at the entrance to Jackson Inlet. One of our trusty Guides, Brett. Armed with…
Just a couple of hours after dinner the crew advised that there were Bowhead Whales off the bow. We were treated a number of Polar Bear sightings. We saw 7 or 8 bears on the Ice. This guy seemed curious about our boat parked amongst the ice and actually approached the bow of the boat.
We departed Dundas Harbour and headed SW towards Prince Regent Inlet. This involved breaking thru an ice sheet several feet thick for 10+ miles before we reached open water. It is amazing how one minute you are in almost solid ice and then you find and enter a small inlet or harbour that is mostly ice free. At 10:00 PM last night we had our first polar beat sighting. I was on the bridge at the time and Captain Martin…
The original plan upon leaving Pond Inlet last evening, was to head south to Buchan Gulf, to explore the gulf, Icy Arm and Feacham Bay. However, this did not happen. While in Pond Inlet, our crew discussed our plans with the town elders and they requested that we did not head down thru the fast ice (ice sheets that are attached to the shore) as they were planing to be hunting there. While the resolution is fully capably of handling…
This afternoon the crew launched the Zodiacs, and, after our first wet beach landing, we spent a wonderful afternoon in Pond Inlet, a remote community of 1800 people. Much of the community survives on hunting seal, Narwhal and polar bear. We left Pond Inlet at 6PM local time. We are now heading south, traveling due west of the same ice sheet we had to avoid last night, while heading north and then east to Pond Inlet. We are looking for…
We have spent the last day and a half crossing the Davis Straight, from western Greenland to eastern Canada. The original plan was to head directly to Isabella Bay, then Buchan Gulf and Pond Inlet. Due to a massive ice sheet along the coast we headed north and them made a turn SE towards Pond Inlet. We are currently approaching Pond Inlet and hoping to do an afternoon landing there. While the boat can handle the sheet ice, it slows…
Today we arrived in Ilulissat, the third largest town in Greenland with a population of 4,453. This morning we took a small local boat into the iceberg fields at the end of the Ilulissat Ice Fjord. This afternoon we hike to Disco Bay where the Jakobshaavn Isbrae glacier, the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere, meets the end of the fjord. The glacier flows at a rate of 25-30 meters per day. The glacier calves over 20 billion tons…
Today we visited the town oy Sisimiut, Greenland’s second largest city. Sled dogs on summer vacation……l
Before leaving for the arctic, we made our annual trip to the Ross Laker Resort in the North Cascades.
On July 15th we fly to Boston to meet our expedition team. After a couple days in Boston, we are all flying Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, to meet the National Geographic Resolution. For the following three weeks we will be completing an east-west transit of the Northwest Passage, arriving in Nome Alaska on August 7th. I plan to provide updates on our progress, and lots of photos here: Orcella.org (a.k.a. “ken book”) While I hope to make daily updates, there…