Time to complete the Bucket List

We were all woken at 7.30am for breakfast at 8am so that we could be taken ashore on the Zodiacs for a 11.36am charter flight back to Edmonton via Yellowknife.

As it was a nice sunny day and the wind had dropped, it was a much nicer walk of 2km back to the airport and on the way, the local people of Pelly Bay (called Kugaaruk in the Inuit language) opened their new community centre for us to look at. It had some bone carvings by local artists in display cases, pictures of the Inuit games and a room where the leaders of the Hamlet of Pelly Bay met which included a Polar bear skin laid out in the room.

Pelly Bay was very pleasant in the sunshine with no wind but does get colder as the sign below at the airport states.

The RJ85 aircraft of Summit air arrived and the first 80 of us left for the 3 hours flight to Edmonton via Yellowknife.

As promised One Ocean had put us up in a hotel near the airport which was very nice and were paying for dinner and the bar bill for over 100 people. We got stuck into the the C$45 per bottle Malbec, their most expensive, and were thrown out of the restaurant at 12 midnight as the staff wanted to go home and were not used to so many people crowding into their bar.

I managed to rebook the same flights home today that we would have had next Sunday although at addition cost so at least we will arrive in the UK on Tuesday morning.

As I write this we are just sitting in the lounge at Toronto airport feeling disappointed that we are not still cruising the Artic Ocean spotting Polar bears and Narwhal, although we did see a couple of Narwhal yesterday on the way back into Pelly Bay.

Once we get home, we will have to console ourselves with the thought of Costa Rica in December this year.

We were woken at 6.00am to find the sister ship, Akademik Sergey Vavilov, moored next to our ship and we were told that we would be transferred across with our baggage at 8.30am.

When we got to the Akademik Sergey Vavilov we found that it was full of passengers who had finished their tour but had not been able to fly out of Pelly Bay the night before as the weather had been so bad. So we did not have cabins and were asked to go to the bar area and camp out there. The ship then left and headed for Pelly Bay.

We then had two shifts of passengers going for breakfast, lunch and dinner and were concerned what would happen if we all had to stay on the ship that night. Luckily for us, One Ocean had arranged for a charter flight for the 100 original passengers so after dinner they left and we took over the ship and their cabins as we would be leaving the next day.

The plan was for 2 aircraft to arrive the next day and take us back to Edmonton where we would be put in a hotel at the expense of One Ocean. We even got some free wine with dinner so the day did not end too badly.

The call came over the ships tannoy at 7am that a polar bear had been spotted on the pack ice on the port side at nine o’clock so we rushed up to get a glimpse. The bear had disappeared but shortly after another was spotted on the pack ice. Unfortunately no photos, as it was too far away, but we got a great view through the Nikon binoculars that have been provided to each passenger.

We then went down for breakfast at 7.30am and the tour leader gave us some information about how the day would pan out and the team of experts introduced themselves. They were a very impressive bunch of seasoned guides, historians, writers, photographers and archaeologists whose expertise was in wildlife, history, photography, the Inuit culture and we even have an artist in residence. The Chief Scientist of the Northwest Passage project from the University of Rhode Island gave a brief talk on what the project was doing and the many experts that they had as part of the team. In addition to the scientific side they would be making a feature length documentary of the project. The scientists and their students will be on the boat for 20 days so will do the trip we are doing and return the other way with the next group of fare paying passengers.

After breakfast we had to do the mandatory lifeboat drill and were able to go into the lifeboat to see how it looked inside. As the boat was a Russian Cold War vessel, all the writing around the boat is in Russian and in the mud room (this is where you exit the boat to go ashore in the zodiacs) there is a massive long range antenna used for more sinister purposes during the Cold War period.

As we joked about not wanting to have to use the lifeboats, at 11.43am, there was an enormous scrapping noise and the ship juddered to a halt. We had grounded. After a short while, the tour leader came over the radio saying that the Captain had said that there was no breach of the ship’s hull and he was trying to get the ship back afloat using the thrusters.

Apparently, we were not in danger, and the sister ship is not too far away but at this time it was unclear what it meant for our trip.

Our intended destination for our first landing by Zodiac was the Astronomical Society Islands and the map below shows where we hit the rocks.

The tour leader was not sure if and when we will have to leave the ship but he said that after a grounding the Maritime Authorities will not allow the ship to continue without a full inspection of the hull.

Therefore, Day Two continued with the Captain trying to get the ship off the rocks.

Apparently, this was the first time that One Ocean had picked up passengers in the Pelly Bay Area and the route the ship was taking was not one they had used before so it was down to the Captain to approve whether or not we took a particular route through the many islands that the ship had to go through to exit Pelly Bay into the Gulf of Boothia.

We were then told that we would be transferred to the sister ship, Akademik Sergey Vavilov, which would be coming to pick us up the next day and take us back to Pelly Bay. The Akademik Ioffe had to go to be inspected and repaired. The holiday for us was over as the sister ship was taking the next group of people for their tour.

Not a good way to end Day Two.

As with all trips to the Artic or Antarctic regions they are often subject to change at very short notice.

We left Edmonton on the 23rd August with the smoke from the wildfires in British Colombia still blocking out the sun and made our way to the executive airport for what was originally expected to be our charter flight to Resolute Bay.

Due to the ice that had recently broken off the Greenland ice sheet the ship could not get into Resolute Bay so we had to fly to Pelly Bay another small Inuit community on Simpson Peninsula in the Gulf of Boothia.

As the airport at Pelly Bay is only a small one serving the small community of Inuits, the B737-200 of Canadian North only took us to Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories where the group of circa 100 was split in to two and we boarded 2 ATR72’s for the final leg to Pelly Bay (called “Kugaaruk” in the Inuit language)

Upon arrival in Pelly Bay, we all had to walk 1.5 miles to the harbour to board Zodiacs that took us to the ship. As soon as we stepped off the aircraft at Pelly Bay, the difference in the temperature was evident with a biting wind so the walk was welcome to keep us warm before we had our Artic jackets and trousers which were in our cabins on the ship.

The cabins are nice and comfortable and as we were upgraded to a two room cabin so happy days.

The ship left Pelly Bay whilst we were having our first dinner board and went north in to the Gulf of Boothia.

Just leaving the hotel for the charter flights. The tour leader tells us that we may still get to Beechey Island but it is still all weather dependent. Only 65 passengers on the boat and 35 researchers.

We visited today the Fort Edmonton Park which is one of the many parks situated on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River about 6 miles from downtown.

The 150 acres of the Park is divided into 4 sections (as set out below) and is preserving the historic buildings of Edmonton.

Some of the buildings are original and have been donated to the Park by the owners and others have been recreated based on the originals. They also give rides on street cars from the Municipal and Metropolitan eras and a steam train, although that was not running today.

They also have a good selection of working cars from the early 20th century which they drive around the site.

The Park provides a good balance between education and fun for the kids as, in addition to the historic buildings, there is a period fun fair in the Metropolitan era section. They also have people in period costumes acting out roles, such as suffragettes.

The New Capitol Theatre showed a very interesting 15 minute film about the establishment and rise of the city of Edmonton from about 300 people to thousands after the railway was built in 1891.

The Park is certainly worth a visit if you are interested in the history of Edmonton.

Whilst at the Park, the sun disappeared behind a haze and we were later told that this was caused by the hundreds of forest fires currently burning in British Colombia.

We returned to the hotel for a first meeting with the One Ocean people who are running the “Pathways to Franklin” trip to the Northwest Passage. They advised us that, due to ice breaking away from the Greenlandic ice sheet, the ship was not be able to get into Resolute Bay and we would be taking 2 flights to another location to meet the boat. The good news was we did not start at 5am but at 8.30am and the increased ice meant that we were more likely to see wildlife such a polar bears.

Any trips to the Artic or Antarctic are very weather dependent so it will be interesting to see what the next 10 days brings. As from tomorrow we will be mostly out of the range of WiFi so the posts will be more sporadic.

The weather in Edmonton has been fantastic today, 26 degrees Centigrade, sunny with a nice breeze. Not what we were expecting but very welcome before the frozen north on Thursday.

The city is set in a valley with the North Saskatchewan River running through the middle. We are staying in the downtown area, in the historic Fairmont Hotel MacDonald (see below) that overlooks the river.

It seems that Edmonton was originally a Hudson Bay Company outpost where they found coal in the Victorian times which was mined extensive until the decline of coal mining that started during the Great Depression with the mines along the river all moving out of Edmonton by the mid 20th Century.

Edmonton now has many parks along the river where the mines once were which give a nice feel of open space in the middle of the urban areas.

I am sure that you are all aware that the Oilers are the Edmonton ice hockey team and we visited their home at the Rogers Place in the aptly named Ice district. Rogers Place also hosts music concerts with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Fleetwood Mac playing there in the next few months. Unfortunately, there is nothing on this month for us to go to.

We did see Wayne Gretzky though, one of the Oilers and the NHL’s greatest players who was inaugurated into the Hockey Hall of Fame after his retirement in 1999. He is lifting what looks like a milk churn but is actually the Stanley Cup which the oilers won 4 times.

Near Rogers Place there is a novel site called the Open Air Neon Sign Museum. So as not to lose the city’s heritage from the early 20th century, with sponsorship and the use of the side of the Telus building, they have restored and hung neon signs that were once placed around the town when neon signs were the latest tool for promoting a shop, business, theatre or railway. It is very effective and much better than the graffiti that often adorns the side of buildings in so many cities.

We are off to Fort Edmonton tomorrow which is, I understand, an area where they have recreated streets from various times in the history of the town.

Ah, the perils of conversation… you never know where it will land you!

Hi all. It’s Sue here. As we head to Edmonton for the onward flight to Resolute Bay, I wanted to explain how all this came about. The story actually goes back to the 1980s when I saw an ad for London Walks (a rather long way from the Arctic I have to admit). I had lived in London all my life but knew little about the capital’s history.

I decided that while John attended the Crystal Palace FC home games on a Saturday, I would go on some of the group walks around London. This led to a fascination about the history and, particularly, social history.

At that stage we had travelled a little, mainly sun-drenched visits to typical beach resorts such as Rimini and Salou. We then extended this to two-destination resorts as our interests expanded. Later, in search of something different, we came across a holiday travelling in Guatemala for a week, followed by a week on the beach in Cancun, Mexico. The first week, we felt would satisfy an increasing interest in social history inspired by the London Walks, while the second week would be perfect if we really did not like the travelling… we could chill out on the beach. By the time we reached Cancun, however, we discovered we did not want to stop travelling and, particularly, learning out about the life, people, cultures and scenery in other parts of the world.

Following this, some 20+ years ago, I visited the Destinations Show in London. I was attracted to a stand publicising the Antarctic…views of whales, penguins and remote destinations abounded. In conversation, the lady on the stand offered some sound advice, which stayed with me. “Travel on the smallest ship you can afford.” The key being that only 100 people at a time can be allowed on to pristine, delicate and protected areas (eg the Arctic and Antarctic). If a ship has hundreds of passengers there would never be time for them to disembark. They were wise words. It took 20 years before we were able to take her advice, travelling initially to Antarctica with just 65 passengers in 2012, and then to the Arctic in 2014.

But why this trip to the Arctic now? That is the result of another conversation, this time with my golfing friend Liz Beaumont, previously a bookseller and a font of knowledge on so many things including historic exploration. She introduced me to maritime people such as James FitzJames, and later John Rae who worked for the Hudson Bay Company. Part of Rae’s work was to map, on foot, the areas of the uppermost reaches of the Arctic. I became hooked. John (Cruse) too became fascinated by maritime history.

John Rae grew up in Orkney. The Hudson Bay Company employed several people from Orkney as they were experienced in tough terrain and weathers, similar to that of the Arctic. Rae’s mapping coincided with reports of Sir John Franklin’s missing ships. Rae, on his travels, met with Inuits who spoke of seeing Europeans dressed in inadequate clothing. He was shown items, which were obviously from the ships, and there were oral reports of cannibalism. There was much taboo about this latter aspect in Victorian times (and, of course, today). Rae confidentially relayed his findings to the UK authorities. Unfortunately, the content was reported in the media, to much controversy. Despite Rae’s great efforts, unlike others of his time, he was never knighted, although a campaign to change this is still ongoing.

We were so taken by his story we wanted to visit Orkney and found a guide to take us to the area he grew up in. Not only did we visit his house, but managed to go inside the dilapidated building. That was a special moment for us… amongst the pigeons that now frequent the crumbling rafters!

That visit led us to more readings, this time about Sir John Franklin. About the same time I was in email conversation with the bird expert guiding our Antarctic cruise and told him the one trip we would really like to do is to follow the North West Passage as the great explorers had done. We did not know if anything like that existed. Geoff responded: “If there is one trip you should go on, it is with One Ocean.” We delved further. It covered all the aspects we were looking for and, as John has reported earlier, the company was involved with the finding of the HMS Erebus and Terror in 2014 and 2016.

The rest, as they say, is history. Hopefully we will not be stuck in ice for four years as the Franklin crew were, and at some time we will have wi-fi connection to report our exploits. However, if we don’t there is one more conversation worth adding. We visited the Maritime Museum in Greenwich a few weeks ago to learn more about Franklin’s fatal trip. As we waited for the doors of the lecture theatre to open Michael Palin joined the queue behind us. He told us he was writing a book on the subject (due out in September) and had travelled on the same trip as us a year ago. Asked how it went, he replied: “There was a lot of ice.” With current reports of snow, we wonder what is in store for us during the next two weeks. If you don’t hear further from us seek a copy of the book to find out more! Hmmm… I understand that humans taste a lot like pork. Now did I pack the apple sauce?

 

The actual route the boat will take is set out below. I have just looked at the weather in Resolute where we board the boat and the current temperature is 2 degrees centigrade and snowing. Good job we are not going in the winter. That said, the days are currently still very long as Resolute is so far north with sunrise at 3.23 and sunset at 23.20.

The area we will be visiting in now known as Nunavut.

Nunavut is the newest, largest and north-most territory of Canada although the population, of mostly Inuit, is estimated at less than 40,000. Nunavut was officially separated from the Northwest Territories on the 1 April, 1999 with the capital being Iqaluit (formerly known as Frobisher Bay).

Just checked in for our flights, British Airways to Toronto and Air Canada to Edmonton so not long to go now.

We are off the Northwest Passage on Monday. We are flying to Edmonton via Toronto where we join our shipmates for a charter flight to Resolute where we board the ship, Akademik Loffe. Before we leave Edmonton we will enjoy the sights of the town and are lucky that our visit coincides with the Edmonton fringe festival.

The trip is primarily historical and follows in the footsteps of the ill fated voyage of Sir John Franklin which left Greenhithe, England in 1845 tasked with finding a way across the top of Canada, referred to as the “Northwest Passage”.Franklin and his men sailed in two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and overwintered on the ice for two winters before they abandoned the ships. Franklin had already died by this time and the crew tried to hike back to the nearest civilisation via the Back River. All 129 perished hundreds of miles from the nearest civilisation.

The ship we are travelling on was part of the expedition that found both ships, the Erebus in 2014 and Terror in 2016. We will see the graves of 3 of the Franklin crew who died in 1845/6 on Beechey Island as well as other artefacts left 170 years ago.

In addition to the historical side of the trip, we will also visit remote Inuit communities and see the fantastic wildlife such as Polar Bears, Walruses, Whales and countless species of birds.

As you would imagine, the window for this trip is very short and there is normally only a couple of months a year when the ship can navigate this area.

More to come when we reach Edmonton.