19:14
Bethune Inlet Devon Island
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| Devon Island ice cap in the background |
That was a pretty cool day although we didn’t go where they thought we initially would go. We spent the morning on board and I didn’t go to any of the workshops. Don Fysh one of the passengers who has had meals with us a few times did the Nahanni on a raft last year and he had pictures! We looked at his pictures instead. That brought back so many memories and what a luxury to do the trip from the falls down on a raft. Each raft had one guide who did the steering and 4 passengers, two in the bow and two in the stern. In the middle of the raft were specially made boxes that carried gear and got tied to an aluminum frame that sat inside the raft. They had wine, and a cook tent although they still slept on mattresses on the ground so it wasn’t quite glamping. For a brief moment I thought it would be a great idea to go back and do that trip for our 40 anniversary next year. I even know the name of the company he went with, Canoe North. I’ve had some time to think about it since this morning and my enthusiasm has cooled a bit. I’ve often said I’m too old to sleep on the ground. On the other hand there’s a chance that the experience would be much more pleasant than when we did the trip 40 years ago so there’s still a little spark of interest there.
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| Looking back at the ship |
The landing spot they found was a really cool one where we were able to actually walk part way up the Devon Island ice cap. That was pretty special. Adventure Canada had never landed there before and certainly had never set foot on the ice cap before. Unfortunately, there was a lot of rocky terrain we had to traverse to get to the toe of the glacier.
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| A rocky walk |
It was kind of boggy in between rocks, and the rocks were irregular and didn’t provide nice steps between them. I think it’s easier to go through rocks when your climbing or descending because there are generally places where you can hold onto the rocks for stability. I stumbled a couple of times in the rock field and sat down gracefully in the snow when coming down the glacier.
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| Standing on the ice cap |
I don’t feel too bad about that because the trip photographer, Michael Winsor, who was slightly ahead of me on the descent did exactly the same thing. I wasn’t wearing my mitts so my hands got cold in the snow. Peter, one of the Inuit guides, came over and put my hands between his huge mitts and they warmed up fast. I then put my gloves on.
We were going to do a zodiac cruise up along the ice face but that was changed because so we could have more time on the land with the ice. Instead we did a ship’s cruise. They opened the bow to us, served hot chocolate and Baileys, as we cruised among the bergs.
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| Admitted to the bow |
This area is uncharted so Captain Dominic was moving the ship quite slowly and carefully.
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| Ice bergs |
It was a bright sunny day but not too long after we started cruising the clouds started to roll in and we will probably get some weather tonight and tomorrow. I think that was our last landing in Canada and it was a pretty spectacular one. It’s time for supper so this might be it for today.
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