To the Arctic– two back to back forays into the North West Passage.

For Aurora Expeditions this was their first expedition into the Canadian Arctic and the North West Passage. The expedition began in Kangerlussac on Greenland’s west coast and headed north to the Illusiat the birth place of most icebergs found in Davis Strait and Disko Bay. Then across Davis Strait to explore the fjords of Baffin Island and visit the Inuit town of Pond Inlet. Along the way we saw bowhead whales near Isabelle Bay and on the shores of Baffin Island polar bears.

Nunavet has been inhabited by Inuits for almost 1000 years and the expedition visited modern and ancient Inuit settlements. A site made famous by the ill fated Franklin Expedition of 1845 were visited on Beechey Island, where the graves of three of Franklin’s men were visited during both seventeen-day expeditions. The abandoned Hudson Bay Company site at Fort Ross and Port Leopold were both explored. And the amazing bird cliffs at Prince Leopold bird sanctuary were a site to behold with so many breeding arctic bird species. 

It was a privilege to see gyrfalcon adult and their young as well as snowy owls. The distances involved voyaging in the Arctic are greater than around the Antarctic Peninsula. Two log excerpts on consecutive days are evidence of why and how much I enjoy my time in the region:

5th September 2022: What a cool day at work. Prince Leopold Island with 250k birds needing an air traffic controller. At the bottom of the cliff two polar bears munching on the birds that did not fly… followed by a Hudson Bay trading site and Thule house remains.

5th September 2022: Bear prints, Thule houses and the Beechy Island Franklin grave sites. Another good day to be at work in the north.

At Cambridge Bay, the ship turned around, new guests boarded and the experiences were repeated in reverse. The fall colors were all around and Baffin Island covered in the first snowfall of the year as we headed back across Davis Straits.