Aug. 28, 2009
This is the first in a series of blogs being filed by the four Trottier brothers Lorne, Marc, Elliot, and Howard, during an arctic cruise expedition aboard the Lyubov Orlova through parts of the Northwest Passage. This year's adventure is the latest in a long-running tradition of Trottier family get-togethers, which normally include our spouses and many of our kids, and which have encompassed biking and hiking odysseys in Quebec and New Hampshire, astronomically-themed trips to observatories in rural Quebec, an Alaska cruise including a day-trip to the Yukon last year, and a planned trip to the South Pacific in July 2010 to coincide with a total eclipse of the sun. This is the first year in which the Trottier boys have traveled as a family, but without their better halves – too bad for us. As consolation we have our adventuresome fellow travelers and the expert and very personable guides and crew on this charter trip, organized by Inuit-owned Cruise North! Our trip is intended in part to celebrate two “Big-Oh” birthdays, a 50th for Howard and 60th for Marc, but our real purpose is to experience the stark beauty and inspiring mystery of Canada's far north.
We departed Montreal at 8:00 AM on Air Inuit with a nice hot breakfast served on board. The plane stopped in Iqaluit on Baffin Island for refueling after a flight if about 3 hours 15 minutes. The pilot decided that one of the tires needed to be checked, so we were allowed to deplane and wander around the terminal. Iqaluit used be called Frobisher Bay, after the 16th century explorer. It was renamed when it became the capital of the new territory of Nunavut. Iqaluit has a population of about 7,000.
We then re-boarded the plane for a 2 hour and 20 minute flight to Resolute Bay. The Boeing 737 jet landed on a gravel runway! As we landed, we could see our small ship anchored out in the bay – it was the only one. Resolute Bay is a hamlet of about 270 people with no paved roads. We didn't see any cars, but there were snowmobiles and ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) outside most of the homes. All of the houses are raised above the permafrost. The surrounding countryside was bleak and barren. The climate is so cold and dry, and the winds are generally so strong that practically nothing grows here – not even lichen. The landscape reminded some of us of what Buzz Aldrin said when he was walking on the moon – “Magnificent Desolation”.
After a light lunch, we were taken down to the gravel beach where rubber zodiacs transported us to the ship, the Lyubov Orlova. The ship immediately set sail. It was a beautiful sunny day, calm seas, and a temperature of approximately 10 C. We had a delicious buffet-style supper on board. After dinner we were shown a film about an Inuit
goddess: “Nuliajuk, Mother of the Sea Beasts.” That night, it never got completely dark – it was more like twilight. Even though the sun had set around 10:15 PM, at this high latitude, the sun did not go very far below the horizon.
Aug. 29, 2009
Today we spent the entire day at sea. We sailed almost due south from Resolute along the west side of Somerset Island and down through Peel Sound retracing the route of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845.
We were within sight of land the entire day, mostly Somerset Island to the east with some views of Prince of Wales Island to the west. As far as we could tell, these lands are uninhabited. By late afternoon we had passed Bellow's Strait separating Somerset Island from the Boothia Peninsula, the most northern point of North America. The weather was calm and mostly sunny throughout the day. The temperature was near freezing. As the day wore on, we started encountering more ice floes.
Occasionally we spotted groups of seals swimming in the ocean.
At intervals during the day we attended lectures by the expedition staff, the first being on: “Where Exactly is the Arctic?” This turns out to be a lot more complicated than one thinks, with no clear definition.
Another lecture described some of the early history of the search for the NW Passage with a focus on the ill-fated Franklin Expedition.
Finally we enjoyed a lecture on the birds of the high arctic, many of which migrate here during the arctic summer to raise their young. The quality of the expedition naturalists is very high, with many holding PhD degrees in their respective specialties. The film this evening was a National Geographic documentary “Arctic Kingdom”.
August 30, 2009
We awoke to learn that the ship had stopped during the night due to the pack ice. The plan at the start of the day was to complete the passage of Peel Sound and to do a Zodiac landing on King William Island. This is the place where it is believed that the Franklin Expedition ended in disaster. Early on we encountered heavy pack ice and were forced to stop. We are extremely lucky that the Canadian icebreaker Sir Wilfred Laurier was in the vicinity. They offered to lead us through the pack ice towards our destination. By mid morning the Wilfred Laurier had met up with our ship and we started following behind her. We were treated to spectacular views of the huge expanse of ice, and the sight of great blocks of ice being driven from the path created by the ship.
We enjoyed a morning lecture on Pinnipeds of the Arctic, the group of finned mammals that includes walruses, various sea lion, and seal species.
During the morning polar bears were spotted on the pack ice on two separate occasions. Each time it was a female with two cubs. The second sighting was closer to the ship, and we were able to take some pictures and videos, with binoculars affording exceptionally detailed views of the mother sniffing the air in search of food, and licking her chops in anticipation.
At 2:45 in the afternoon we are about ? way between the southern end of King Edward Island and the northern point of King Edward Island, due east of Parsley Bay on the Boothia Peninsula. We are carrying our own GPS from which we can take our position.
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