Gary on the back observation deck

The sea ice we were trying to navigate

More Ice

Woke up this morning to find we are inching our way through a field of ice. Coverage is about 30%. Some ice is thick enough the captain has to steer around it, other he runs through or moves aside with the trusters. Occasionally a bump as we moved through some ice surrounded by fog. All we can see is ice, water and fog as we ghost towards Grise Fjord.

Each night at 5:00 pm The ship gets the ice report. It is a satellite reading that shows where the ice is, how dense e.g.  70% coverage and the thickness.  We were set to get into Grise Fjord at about 1:30 pm. At noon the captain made the decision to turn around due to the high winds blowing more ice into our path. We were told we would hang around this area to see if the ice would clear and when the report is received tonight decide on the next step.

This is basically the view we had most of the day

More ice

Yes, more ice – it was cold going out of the bar to take these pictures!!

A big disappointment for us on board and I expect for the people of Grise Fjord.
We had 2 lectures this morning one on the history of the Alexandra Fjord given by a researcher who does research on Ellesmere Island and one on the involvement of the RCMP in the north given by a former RCMP officer.
The things that struck me most were:
– the geographical centre of Canada is in the Arctic, (near Baker Lake) we are an Arctic country
– the end of the Canadian Shield is in Alexandra Fjord and the pictures of where it terminates has amazing colours – I have all the slides from the presentation but am not able to download them to the blog. (if you want to see them I can show you on my computer – it will only cost a little “bubbly”)
– the furtherest north Canadian installation is at Eureka which on the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, it is a weather station, a military base and part of an early warning system (not the DEW line).
– in 1954 the Canadian Government relocated Inuit from Quebec to Resolute, Grise Fjord and Alexandra Fjord. They were promised that if they didn’t like it they could return in a year. Because ice breakers could not get into Alexandra Fjord that settlement was abandoned and the people all were split between Resolute and Grise Fjord. A year later when they wanted to return home, their request was denied.
– there is a plaque on the Bache Peninsula to A.Y. Jackson who was there on assignment for the Cdn government to document the area in paintings
– in the race to the North Pole several explorers tried an overland route using dog sleds and to feed their dogs they slaughter the muskox, which were also hunted for skins to exporting to USA and Scotland. 500 – 600 skins were being sent offshore each season. In 1903 an RCMP officer implemented a prohibition on the export of Muskox skins. This meant the Inuit could still hunt them.
– a number of Norwegian explorers were in the area and tried to claim much of Ellesmere Island for Norway, they were followed by Canadians who removed evidence of the Norwegians and planted the Canadian flag and started a number of research projects.
– to claim sovereignty Canada established a number of RCMP outposts, set up post offices, established a number of Inuit settlements and established some research projects.
– the research projects are focused on predicting the impact of climate change with some experiments, a deglaciation study, testing northern crops and studying the impact of species moving north (eg parasites that used to be unknown here).
– Muktuk is not whale blubber but the skin of Muskox or whales (Narwhale or Beluga) that you chew.
– A Norwegian (Sverdrup) mapped and claimed 275,000 sq. kms. that the Cdn government bought from him in 1902.
– in 1910 there was a dispute about sovereignty with Norway, the Norwegians claimed the area in dispute is “No Man’s Land” and open to anyone.
– starting in 1922 the RCMP established a series of outposts as part of the process to prove sovereignty, the relocation was ordered under the belief of “use it or lose it”
– as part of his talk Ken (RCMP) pointed out that China has also been poking around in the Arctic – they have 2 icebreakers, they own the “pilot book” for the Arctic and the Crystal Serenity which crossed the NW passage last year is owned by Chinese Mainlanders.

One of Gary’s Sunset Pictures (not this day)

The Lounge where we all gathered