Where have all the photos gone? Arctic Adventure #1

View from RCGS lunch

Where have all the photos gone? I'm not actually sure. Are they on my computer, in the Google cloud, in my camera, on my phone? That is partly why I haven't written a blog about the fabulous summer in the Arctic. I'm far from organized but I must start somewhere or I'll never get anything written or get any photos posted. This series of posts isn't going to be a chronological record but I will start at the beginning and try to pull a few photos from the pile.

Time for heavy clothes

We flew to Ottawa on Sunday August 5 expecting to spend the night and then fly to Resolute where we would meet the ship Ocean Endeavour to start our adventure. The adventure actually began in the hotel on Sunday night. Matthew James Swan our expedition leader welcomed us and gave us a quick lesson on ice charts. I'd never heard of ice charts before and I would say I'm quite familiar with them now. They are put out every 24 hours by the Canadian Ice Service and they ruled our lives for the month we were on Ocean Endeavour. On July 25 the passage into Resolute was completely clear. After that date the pack ice drifted in and choked the entrance. We were not going to Resolute. The ship had turned around half way across Baffin Bay and was heading back to Greenland. Thinking about the logistics of returning to Greenland made my head spin and for the first of many times I was extremely grateful that someone else had to handle the details.

Ocean Endeavour was hosting the “Students on Ice” program and the students had expected to get off the ship in Resolute and the fly from there to Ottawa on the planes we were planning to fly in on. Also, Resolute was to have been the resupply point for the ship. I don't know how all of this got worked out other than many people with a lot of experience worked many hours.

Our plane to Greenland

Our charter flights had to be cancelled and another carrier found who could, within 36 hours, get the proper paperwork for an international flight from Canada to Greenland. The company that managed to organize that was Sunwing. We all had a good laugh at the irony of that name.

In order to get everything arranged our departure was delayed. We were to spend Monday in Ottawa and fly overnight to Greenland. Suddenly Adventure Canada had over 200 people in Ottawa for a day and needed to do something with them. We had to vacate our rooms at noon and members of the Adventure Canada took turns babysitting our luggage during the day while we went on guided tours. In the morning we went on walking tours then were bused to The Royal Canadian Geographical Society for lunch. In the afternoon we went across to Hull to visit the Museum of Civilization and then back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner we changed into our warm clothes (Did I mention it was in the high 30's in Ottawa?) and boarded buses for the airport where Mother Nature gave us another taste of what we were in for. There was a wild thunder storm and all planes were grounded until it passed. The commercial flights had priority so we spent 4 hours in the airport before we were able to board the planes and take off. We arrived in Kagerlussaq at around 7 a.m. I got a bit of sleep on the plane but not much. We boarded buses and cleared Greenland customs. One official boarded each bus and walked down the aisle looking at our passports. When all was in order we drove to the dock transferred to the ship via zodiacs. 

Looking back at the dock in Kangerlussaq

Breakfast was waiting for us on the ship but before we could get underway there had to be a a boat safety drill. We ate breakfast and zombie-like followed instructions about lifeboats and lifejackets.We managed to get the lifejackets on and then off and when the drill was finished we went to our cabins for a few hours of shut-eye as the ship sailed up the coast of Greenland to Sisimiut. So ended the first lesson in Arctic travel: you may have plans but the wind, waves, and ice may have other ideas and it behoves you to pay close attention!