80 Degrees North, 9/4/2024, National Geographic Endurance
Aboard the
National Geographic Endurance
Arctic
The morning was glorious.
We stayed overnight along the ice floe with our bear from last night, and he was obviously hunting. He was still there at sunrise, patiently guarding the breathing holes of the seals.
We left him at peace and wished him good luck and continued on our way to reach 80 degrees north. We arrived right after breakfast. The calm winds and the mirror-glass ocean surface were too tempting to resist and our expedition leader called us out for Zodiac cruises or kayaking among the beautiful ice. Then of course, polar plunge at 80 degrees north!
The afternoon was spent cruising south, back towards Canada for a few more adventures before we cross over back to Greenland.
Anne has been diving around the world for about 20 years, starting in Mexico and continuing to the darker and colder waters of Sweden, her home country. The interest of diving started when she was growing up in the archipelago outside Stockholm, and ...
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A relaxing day on board with calm seas and partly cloudy skies. Huge flocks of dovekies (aka little auks) joined National Geographic Endurance’s southern migration, circling the ship and daring photographers to get a decent picture of these fast, low flying birds. Occasionally, a northern fulmar tested the air close to the ship, hoping to find some drafts off the hull for a free ride, but the lack of wind meant there were no eddies or currents to be exploited. Several presentations were scheduled throughout the day, and a highlight was surely a detailed description of how the ship was built and the many unique features that make it perfectly suited for the challenges of polar exploration. In between lectures, there was time to edit photos, relax in the library, or take a well-deserved nap./p> After dinner, the Ice Lounge was packed as everyone attended the world-famous National Geographic Endurance Crew Show! We danced into the wee hours…
After having spent a pleasant night in the large Buchanan Bay, we spent some time waiting for the fog to dissipate in Alexandra Inlet on the southeast coast of Ellesmere Island. Eventually, National Geographic Endurance entered the open waters of Smith Sound on her way to Greenland. “Open” is a relative term in this part of the world, as extensive areas were covered by sea ice. We all enjoyed admiring the ship’s superb ability to navigate in such conditions. It was particularly interesting to witness the formation of new layers of ice over the ocean as temperatures lowered during the past couple of days. Countless photographs and videos were taken as the ship maneuvered around the ice, and we never tired of admiring the sheer beauty. We saw several ice floes marked by large tracks and eventually found the indisputable king of the north, a polar bear! What a great way to say goodbye to the Canadian Arctic.
At some stage of the journey, every proper expedition involves mud. Timing being critical, preferably the muddiness doesn’t present itself first thing after breakfast, and this was duly averted by a morning Zodiac cruise past Pim Island in search of icebergs and walruses. As National Geographic Endurance cruised slowly deeper into Alexandra Fiord, the ice and walruses grew even thicker, and when we arrived at a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police post (occupied briefly for a decade in the mid-1900’s) we were excited to get onshore and see what else was waiting to be discovered. A spongy tundra covered in the last breaths of cotton-grass and hidden pools cloaked in hoarfrost greeted us, and for over two hours we wandered through the beautiful silence of an Arctic autumn. And then, at last, came the mud. Eastern Canadian tides can be legendary, and we watched as the beach we’d landed on grew steadily larger, grounding large icebergs and draining tidepools beneath our feet. With patience and persistence, we found enough stable footing to make it back into the Zodiacs and deep enough channels to get the boats out, but at one point it looked like some of us might be walking across the tidal flat to the ship! Fortunately, good timing and careful driving got everyone off the shore and back in time for dinner. What’s an expedition without adventure?
