Back to the MacKenzie River Delta & Herschel Island
We left the Smoking Hills (Franklin Bay) during the afternoon yesterday – these are an unusual geological phenomenon, discovered by John Franklin on his 1826 expedition. The hills contain strata of hydrocarbons (oil shales & lignite) that combust spontaneously when they are exposed to air through erosion. The hills have been burning for centuries.
As we sailed west, I took some time to stand on the bow, camera ready, as the afternoon light caught the smoke from the Hills. Off in the distance I saw a DEW (distant early warning system) structure – a relic from the cold war, but probably still in use by the US. I was hoping to also see whales or seals – managed to see some birds, but no marine life at all. Perhaps this is because winter is rapidly approaching.
Through the night we had passed Inuvik, a large town in the North West Territories that is in the Mackenzie River Delta. The MacKenzie River is the largest and longest river system in Canada – it ends in the Beaufort Sea. It, along with the Beaufort Gyre, accounts for approx 11% of total river flow into the Arctic Ocean, bringing nutrients into the massive Delta. We have seen more birds today, and even blows from bowhead whales this evening, a reflection of this rich environment that supports fish, ringed and bearded seals, beluga whales as well as bowheads, and beautiful birds.
While we were in the region of the Delta, we had our last flight with the Canadian helicopters – David, Pat and Pascal are now on their 3-day journey home to Quebec. I had the fun of being in the co-pilot’s seat this afternoon, a fantastic view as we flew low over the sea and coast. It has been great having them with us for the last 2-3 weeks and lots of passengers were outside waving good-bye when they took to the air at around 5pm.
They flew around the ship before heading south east, and we sailed west towards Herschel Island. We had hoped to land here and look at the old whaling station – it is an important island in Canadian Arctic history, and is also the place that was the start of my polar adventures about 16 years ago (see post).
Unfortunately the Canadian parks people left Herschel 3 days ago, and we were not allowed to land without them there. But we did sail close by, seeing Pauline Cove over the hill – we’d landed on the sea-ice, and stayed there with the dogs. It was somewhat strange seeing Herschel from the sea – the distance to the mainland seemed much, much further with water between the two than when I’d been there with solid sea-ice - but then it take many hours to sled across the ice and pressure ridges. A very different time and place!
As we sailed by, someone spotted a polar bear on the shore – but there was no time to stop or slow - we’d also been seeing consistent blows from several bowhead whales in the distance. The blows caught the evening light beautifully – although we never saw the whales. Perhaps tomorrow.
Having passed Herschel, Canada is now behind us and we are north of Alaska. Today’s flight was also the last excursion until we land in Russia a few days from now. Since we can’t land in the US, we have 3 sea-days ahead – time to catch up with photos, reading, information from lectures and generally relaxing around the ship. Our clocks have gone back another hour tonight – our time zone is somewhere between Honolulu and Anchorage!
Our time in Canada has been wonderful – we have travelled way north to the High Arctic, then south and west through the North West Passage. The KK has taken us through sunshine, gentle winds, strong winds, and snow storms and we’ve broken through miles and miles of sea-ice. We’ve walked on ice, new snow, mud, rocks, dirt and of course tundra, and have met people from villages in Greenland and Canada.
More new sights, sounds and experiences are ahead as we go further west. The weather has been very kind so far – we’re hearing that it might be a little “bouncy” tomorrow afternoon and evening as we sail closer to the western edge of the Beaufort Sea. I’ll let you know!