Polar bears

I knew we were covering a lot of territory, but I’m not sure I realized how big the distances are between places.  So Friday was a full day at sea.  The highlight of the day was the New Zealand (All Blacks) vs. France opening match in the Rugby World Cup.  Needless to say, there are a lot of French people on board, but the All Blacks had a small and vocal cheering section.  In the English speaking contingent on board, there seem to be more Aussies and Kiwis than Americans.

We finally reached Canada on Saturday, and then had to wait to be cleared by the Canadian authorities.  But our scheduled visit to Pond Inlet, a village in Baffin Bay was cancelled because of high waves at the landing site.  And Sunday was another scheduled full day of sailing.  Fortunately, the views continue to be outstanding.  Greenland looked bare and desolate.  At first, Canada looked like Canada - towering, snow-capped mountains.  But then the mountains leveled off and look like the mesas of the Southwest. Some views from my cabin:

Finally on Monday we made it ashore on Beechey Island, Nunavut.  About twenty years ago, the portion of the Northwest Territory inhabited by the native Inuits was renamed Nunavut.  The first successful voyage through the Northwest Passage was made by Roald Amundsen in 1903 - 1905.  As late as the 1800’s, expeditions were trying unsuccessfully to traverse the Passage.  The closest thing to success in those years was survival.  Many men died and some just disappeared.  The Franklin Expedition, which was well equipped and planned by the British Navy, was sent out in 1845 and never heard from again.  Over the next twenty years, successive expeditions tried to find out what happened to them.  Our stop on Beechey Island was a homage to the Franklin Expedition as the graves of three of the party were found here.  At least they died and were buried before the rest of the party disappeared.

In the afternoon, we (finally) saw a polar bear and two musk ox from the safety of the deck.  The next day, we were scheduled to have two landings - one in the early morning and one late afternoon.  But they did not let us go ashore in the morning because there was … a polar bear on the landing beach.  Again, we watched from the ship as he walked back and forth on the beach, but he was not leaving, so we did.  Then in the afternoon, there was a mother polar bear nursing her two cubs on the other side of the mountain from our landing beach.  We did go ashore with armed guides, and one guide on top of the mountain, watching to see if he had to alert us to make a run for it.  Fortunately, we did not.

Today we reached Coningham Bay where we went on a zodiac ride to see whales in the oceans and polar bears on land.  The former never put in an appearance, but we did get to see several polar bears on the shore and swimming in the water.  Polar bears are solitary animals, so we never saw any groups, just solitary bears pacing and swimming.

This polar bear let us get way too close without moving.  It made for a good picture, but the bear is most likely dead.

Peggy and I had signed up for dinner with two crew members tonight, but then got invited to the captain’s table.  That is an invitation that one does not turn down.  We found out from the captain that there is way less ice this year and last year than in previous years.  No surprise, but it does cut down on the animals that we will see as the polar bears like to travel on ice.