On shore this afternoon at the very northern tip of Baffin Island off Eclipse Sound, Nunavut. My first encounter with a tundra environment. It is very stark but also very beautiful if you look closely. Incredible plant life. Glaciers streaming down the mountainsides. We had a beautiful sunny day (40’s) but when the wind crept up on us it got really cold… took me a couple of hours to thaw out once we got back to the ship. It’s kind of funny that I find myself in the Arctic given how much I dislike cold weather. Go figure. 🙂

Goose feet!

At about 6:15 this morning an announcement told us that narwhals had been spotted and the ship had changed course to get closer… Soon after we stopped and floated so as not to scare them. Tho’ I don’t have a photo to show for it (I am just using an iPhone so my capabilities are limited) I did see the group traveling along in the distance… brown backs & white bellies. It was fun to be on the bridge with the Captain and First Officer & lots of passengers looking for the narwhals and anything else that might be nearby. Here are a few pics of what we experienced this morning.

Bridge mascot.

On the Bridge!

Along the side of our ship.

Looking for narwhals

Our Captain and First Officer spotting narwhals and seals in the distance.

Goodnight from the great North!

After sailing for a day and a half we arrived at Pond Inlet at the North end of Baffin Island. Baffin Island is 950 miles long and about 450 wide with a total population of about 19,500. At Pond Inlet we are at latitude 72 which is 300 miles North of the Arctic Circle. Now it is evening tho’ the sun is brightly shining and we have departed Pond Inlet heading North again. It’s hard to imagine living in a place like Pond Inlet tho’ the people we met were lovely and mostly spoke English. The total population is under 2000 and is 95% Inuit, there are no trees or pavement and, for the most part it is a community of hunters & fishermen… they are hard workers and are determined to preserve their Native culture.

It’s a miracle I was able to upload 7 images from today’s adventure… I have a feeling our internet access is going to get slower pretty quickly now but I will certainly keep posting as I am able. Thank you so much for reading and commenting… it definitely helps to feel connected to my family & friends.

Arriving at Pond Inlet (Baffin Island)

Zodiacs take us back and forth from ship to shore.

Nunavut Library/Museum and City Center is designed to look like an iceberg!

One of the exhibits at the museum/library/city center

Looking back at our ship from shore

One of the many nice things about our ship (National Geographic Explorer) is that most of the time the Bridge is open to passengers and the Captain and crew are happy to talk and explain and just generally hang out.  This evening I went up there to discover about a dozen other people who had the same idea and a lovely view of the slow-setting sun and yet another iceberg.  Sunset tonight is at 22:56 (11) PM and sunrise will be at 3:32 AM.  Fortunately all of our cabins have black-out shades so that we can get some sleep!

Tomorrow we are scheduled to clear Canadian immigration mid-afternoon and then arrive at Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik), Nunavut on the north end of Baffin Island where we’ll take zodiacs ashore in groups of 10. More on that tomorrow!

Yup, it’s true… this woman (moi) who really, really doesn’t like cold weather is leaving soon to spend 3 weeks in the Arctic.  Crazy, huh?  Well, the good news is that it’s August and the temperatures can reach a balmy 70 degrees so, I’m sure I’ll survive.  Like I did in 2012 I’ll be traveling with my friend, Lois.  I’m so grateful I am able to accompany her!

We start out by flying to Reykjavik, Iceland where we’ll stay over just one night before flying to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland where we’ll get on board the National Geographic Explorer… our home for 3 weeks.

Getting ready for such a big adventure takes a lot of focus and time (you should see all my lists!) so I probably won’t write here again ’til we’re on our way.  I hope you’ll read my posts and send me comments so I won’t feel so homesick :-)!   ~ Love, Claire ~

This ship will be our home for 3 weeks.