We spent the morning cruising across Lancaster Sound to reach the entrance to Queen Harbour on Philpots Island, just off the east coast of Devon Island. Our goal was to view a walrus haulout with around twenty male walruses lounging on the rocks. After lunch, we launched our fleet of Zodiacs and cruised by the haulout and along the shore. We also checked out some of the nearby icebergs, one of which had striking blue colouration. This reveals that ice preferentially absorbs the red end of the light spectrum. In addition to the walruses, we also spotted ivory gulls, eider ducks, and Arctic terns. One of today‘s achievements was the completion of a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle worked on by many guests and staff over the past few days.
8/25/2023
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National Geographic Endurance
Itiullipest Fjord, Greenland
As we headed south along the west coast of Greenland, Kerstin Langerbergen gave a talk about how to determine whether a polar bear is male or female. It was very interesting for guests to try to apply the methods she revealed to the bears (around 19!) we saw on this trip. There were definitely some surprises! Later in the morning, Ken Garrett shared his photos from the trip. Reliving the last three weeks through his photos was a very emotional experience. After lunch, we did something rarely done on our ships – operations in the afternoon before disembarkation day! Some guests chose to hike with a backdrop of beautiful glacial cirques, while others kayaked around the beautiful fjord where we stopped. Another group took off for a Zodiac cruise. They saw metamorphosed pillow basalts, several peregrine falcons, and even a reindeer! What a wonderful afternoon in Greenland! A very heartfelt bon voyage to all our new friends!
