We had a quiet night last night anchored off Pond Inlet in Eclipse
Bay. Yesterday’s snow accumulated in Pond Inlet. Once ashore we were told it
was their first snow announcing the end of summer. We had to get up early since
our complimentary community visit tickets were timed for the first departure at
8:30am. We went to Lido for a 7am breakfast. I had strawberry pancakes as a
concession to Sunday Breakfast. They would have been better served hot.
I don’t know if I said it, but at some point since we’ve been
in Canada, one night we were given by Crystal a nice post card with postage
attached. Clay mailed it to Warner & Vivian since he’d emailed to see how the
trip was going. Last night we got another more generic stock photo post card
without postage!
Pond Inlet is a small community of about 1600 set on a bay,
on a hill overlooking Eclipse Bay and Bylot Island. It is on the northern end
of Baffin Island and is at 72 degrees 41.99’N 78 degrees 00.59’W. It is the
largest community this far north in Canada. It recently opened the northernmost
Tim Horton’s in Canada. We missed it because it is attached to the Northern
Store and it was on the other side of town and uphill. We had hiked about 400
yards up a sandy, stony beach upon arrival. It was 32F and good sized swells
for the zodiac to shore. On the return in the afternoon, the wind had died down
and the swells were gone so the landing area was right below the road. When we
landed it was deep, especially when the swells came in. After I swung my legs
over, I noticed that the Filipino seaman on the sea side of me was in up to his
waist. He had on Neoprene bib overalls. From experience, I would guess we’re
about the same height. My waterproof pants end at my waist. My waterproof boots
end at my knees. I didn’t drop off the side and into the water until the wave
ebbed back. It came up to my mid-thighs about 2 inches below the hem of my
parka! I hustled up the surf before the next swell rolled in. “The dangeur
comes from the sea.” We had a local volunteer escort up the beach. She was very
friendly and informative. We found a waiting school bus to shuttle us uphill to
the community center. We were happy for a ride. There was no pretense of gravel
roads here. It was dirt, mud or frozen mud depending on sun exposure I suspect.
There was a sod house being built near the landing as a demonstration of former
nomadic homes. There were seal hide processing demonstrations in the community
center as well as kicking contest demos. There were art & crafts sales.
Clay found a cool t-shirt and I found a mug as well as some local art note
cards. We walked over to the Co-op where
we bought nothing, but saw several narwhal tusks for sale. This would have been
where we should have turned left to go to the Northern, but in the absence of
guidance we crossed to the right and the large gathering atop the viewpoint. It
was the captain and community elders have a plaque ceremony and dedication of the
Crystal-donated signpost. After that we continued walking downhill to find the community
center. It has a small museum and gift shop. It is attached to the public
library. I wish I had known they had a small free library between the 2 sections
as I have 2 Jane Austen paperbacks onboard that I would have been happy to
donate. As it was, no outdoor boots or shoes were allowed inside so Clay sat outside
and I couldn’t even make a monetary donation since I didn’t carry a purse. We
saw 2 small flocks of Tundra Swans flying south go by overhead. We came back to
Serenity at about our 11:30am ticketed time. We heard throat singing from Crystal
Plaza as we tromped up the mid-ship stairs from the zodiac tender area on the crew
deck. They are doing the local performers again at 4pm.
We had lunch in Lido. We have free time until 4pm and the local
performers. At 5:30pm they have asked us all to don our red parkas and go out
to decks 12 and 13 for aerial drone group photos. We have a 6:30pm Prego
reservation. We are entitled to I believe 1 more Silk Road and 2 more Prego
complimentary reservations but every time we ask to come they tell us it has to
be after 8pm. We’ve refused those and had a couple of earlier times offered but
evidently negotiations like that are required for every single reservation and we
just haven’t been up to the struggle. We’ll see.
We say good bye to several of our expedition staff here and
get new people for Greenland. I know for sure that Leslie and Stevie are returning
home here in Pond Inlet. We will miss them. Leslie pointed her grandmother out
to me in the community center participating in the seal skin demonstration. She
was cutting out boot soles and handling the blubber lamp thing. I know that
flat basin thing has a name, but I can’t remember it! We stood on the 6th
floor rail over the Crystal Plaza for the 4pm local entertainment. We had more
Arctic Games with the kicking contests again as well as some extremely more
bizarre contests such as finger and face pulling. There were ai-ai-yi singers,
drum dancers and throat singers. They did a good job. The ai-ai-yi singer lit
one of the blubber lamps and they said the name, but I’d never be able to spell
it. It starts with a Q.
We went to the 5:30pm parka photo op. The polar bear came. The
captain and his wife came. They said they were going to photograph us with a drone,
but the drone never came. There were at least 4 other photographers at the base
of the funnel though. The captain pointed out that the Shackelton is a
Norwegian built ship, the Canada Coast Guard ship that has been here next to us
all day is named Henry Larsen for a Norwegian and the center ship Serenity is
captained by a Norwegian. We walked around and took photos afterwards. Eclipse
Bay is one of the most beautiful and scenic places we have ever seen. Clay thinks
Antarctica rivals it in places but that is probably because you wouldn’t find a
Pond Inlet there. Nothing I had ever read or seen about the North West Passage
cruise prepared me for the spectacular scenery and stark and changeable beauty.
We had a 2nd dinner in Prego. We liked it better
this time. We had some different things. Clay loved his Osso Bucco. I had a
fiery hot Arrabiatta sauce on spaghetti. Clay said his was very good. We’d like
to try to return for the rest of our complimentary reservations.
No Internet now, I’ll try again later. We have to lose an
hour tonight and another hour tomorrow night! Tomorrow is scenic Baffin Island
fjord cruising.
photos
photos
