After an extra hour in bed, following dialing our clocks back the evening before, we arose to find National Geographic Explorer making good speed through the very calm waters of Baffin Bay. We are en route to Pond Inlet on Baffin Island, after our day in Greenland yesterday. With a full day of presentations, briefings, camera workshops, and of course a little dining, there will hopefully still be a little time to spend looking for wildlife from the bridge!
Alternating periods of great visibility with flat calm seas, and foggy bouts, were the course of the day, but much of the morning we were able to see a reasonable distance, and whilst checking out some beautiful icebergs, we also started to sea our first pack ice. The pack ice was sparse, but the birds were not. All morning we encountered a lot of small flocks of little auks or dovekies, bobbing around on the water’s surface, often diving to flee from the approaching ship, or sometimes taking flight. With so many of these birds around, it was clear that their favored food—copepods, a small planktonic crustacean—was also in abundance. We wishfully searched for larger plankton eaters…
We also had a presentation in the morning by Robyn on the Arctic as a homeland, discussing the archaeology of the Dorset, Thule, and Inuit peoples in this harsh environment. Lisa and the rest of the expedition team then gave an overview of the best way to use the ship as a platform for exploration, how to make the most of photographic opportunities, general safety in polar bear country, and etiquette for visiting towns and visiting with people during our voyage.
After lunch there was more opportunity to scan the seas, with several more species of birds added to the list, the odd seal, and more beautiful bergs. An iceberg with a ‘blowhole’ gave us a start, making us think we could actually be watching a blow from a whale, but this was as close as we were to get to a cetacean today. In the afternoon Eva also gave a presentation on life in Pond Inlet, followed by a lively discussion of politics, health, and education in Nunavut. An excellent opportunity to start to understand how current day life here in the Canadian Arctic really is. Rich then gave some tips and tricks for operating a smartphone as a camera, something many of us do, but will hopefully do with more success after seeing his presentation.
Our first evening briefing and Recap was followed by an excellent dinner, and then a showing of the Arctic classic—Nanook of the North.
