Covid onboard: Arctic 9

Now that I’m back in Calgary I think I should talk about Covid 19 with respect to our trip to the Arctic. Covid was a major concern for us in the lead up to the trip. We wore our masks every time we stuck our noses outside the door, kept our bubble small, and met with friends mostly outside even though we were all fully vaccinated. I did my best not to think about what it would be like if one of us tested positive before we boarded the ship or if one of us tested positive once we were on the ship.

Adventure Canada required a negative PCR test within 72 hours of boarding the charter flight to Iqaluit and, at the initial briefing the night before we boarded, they administered a rapid test to each of us. One person we know of had a positive result on the PCR test and could not go on the trip. He signed up to go during the 2020 season which was cancelled and then postponed to 2022. It was a huge disappointment to him and his sister with whom he was to have travelled. It was also a sobering reminder to the rest of us.

We heard that on the trip before ours there were more than 20 cases. Then there was a five-day repositioning sail and only essential crew stayed on board while the whole ship was cleaned stem to stern, again. We didn’t find out until the end of our Heart of the Arctic trip that the ship remained free from Covid for our entire voyage. The protocols were strict. We wore our masks whenever we were in public spaces. We could remove our masks in the dining room when we were eating but the moment we stood up to get other food, the masks went back on. Unlike previous years, we sat with the same people for meals and went out in zodiacs with the same group.

At the first recap Jason Edmunds, expedition leader extraordinaire, demonstrated what he called the nutcracker method of drinking to be employed after a meal or anywhere else on the ship where we might have a beverage. Pull the mask down below your chin, take a sip, and replace the mask. I have to wonder if alcohol sales were in any way affected by the enforced slow down in consumption. People being people, we all forgot our masks at one time or another and all of us had the responsibility of gently reminding anyone in a public space whose bare face was hanging out to mask up. In every case the reminder was a shocked look of recognition followed by a hurried ‘thank you’ as the offender scurried off to get the mask or quickly whipped it out of a pocket and put it on.

There were many face-palm moments as we told each other “I got all the way to the mud room before I realized I didn’t have my mask,” “That’s the third time today I got up from the table without putting on my mask,” and conversely, “Don’t try to lick your finger when you have a mask on - bad idea.”

Those of us not in the health care professions got a small taste of the irritated skin and sore ears that comes from wearing a mask for extended periods of time. My main bugbear was the foggy glasses. I solved the problem by simply taking my glasses off and carrying them in a case attached to my belt loop. I’m extremely grateful for the successful cataract surgery that allows me to wear glasses or not as I choose. I know some of my friends will be re-horrified (if that’s not a word it should be) by my complete lack of fashion sense. In this case it came back to bite me when I leaned against my glasses and bent the frames. I did my best to bend them back but they are still wonky and fairly uncomfortable to wear so I continue to take them off when I don’t need to read. [ed. They are now fixed and I wear them morning til night as usual.]

I had a hunch while packing for the trip that I should bring a pair of drug store readers with me. After I munched my expensive progressives, I took to leaving those in the room and carrying around the cheapies. I also had a pair of safety sunglasses that I bought at Rona. It’s actually more comfortable for me to hike without the progressives so that worked out well.

On the last night of the expedition, Jason declared that our trip had been Covid free. We all cheered and I felt a twinge of anxiety about the new group of passengers that would board the ship while we stayed on for a second expedition. Even though they followed the same testing protocol as we did, Jason had to announce a couple of days into the trip that Covid was aboard. Everyone who was a close contact had been notified and the unfortunate soul(s) who tested positive enroute was confined to the cabin for 10 days. If that wasn’t the whole trip it was pretty darned close to it. I don’t know which would be worse finding out before boarding that you had Covid or getting onboard and spending the whole voyage in your cabin having contact with only the person who brought you food and water. I have to hope that whoever it was and however many people there were at least had a porthole to look out.

The important thing is that Covid didn’t spread on the ship; I don’t think the case(s) were severe: and we weren’t responsible for taking it into any of the remote communities we visited. We wore masks when interacting with the locals even when we were outside.



In Ottawa we continued to wear our masks when in public spaces indoors. At one point we hid out from the heat in the Rideau Mall. I watched for about 5 minutes and noticed only 6 people in addition to us had masks. I’m really hoping that as the vaccines get more sophisticated there will be one that not only protects from severe outcomes but also protects from contracting the virus in the first place. I don’t even know if such a thing is possible. In the meantime we’ve signed up for another expedition cruise next summer. We will cross our fingers and hope that we will be able to sail and if we have to follow the same protocols we will. However, it would be very nice to be able to dial down the level of anxiety caused by not knowing if you have Covid or not. I’m putting that though on the back burner for later. At the moment I have photos to sort, blogs to publish and both of my camera batteries are now fully charged. Lesson learned, I hope.