Walking the tundra; flying above Tanquary Fjord

We anchored at the end of Tanquary Fjord relatively early yesterday – skies were cloudy but at least it wasn’t snowing. Our landing site was a National Park station in MacDonald Valley – the station was closed for winter about 2 weeks ago, but it was fascinating walking around the site, looking at the small weather station, a short landing strip (with fuel stored alongside) and various pieces of equipment stored out in the open.

Behind the station is the Arctic tundra in all its glory, stretching a few kilometres across and it’s length well beyond our sight. A beautiful place with the plants now ready for winter, few animals visible (one lemming was spotted and we heard a goose in the distance) but numerous paw/hoof prints. Plants in the Arctic are adapted to the severe cold, seasonal freeze-thaw cycles, months of darkness, and a very short growing season – I was surprised to learn that the majority (95%) of the biomass of the Arctic is underground. On the ground we saw flat lying willow trees (when cut, some show rings equating to 50 years of growth), very small flowers, mostly without petals in this High Arctic region.

When I came back to the ship I checked the chart and realised that we were about 70-100km from the edge of the land – step off that edge and you’re in the Arctic Ocean, about 430kms from the North Pole!

Lunch was a barbeque on the bow – sunshine, yummy salmon, sausages, ribs, some warming gluhwein, and surrounded by the most magnificent snow-capped mountains with occasional glaciers. A wonderful time to relax and chat – although there is no lack of that most days! The two new helicopter pilots & their engineer joined us, giving us a chance to chat and learn more about them – all good!

Later that afternoon it was time to fly! I chose the white one – easier to get in and out. It was amazing – always wonderful flying over the landscape and even down and along the edge of the glacier. Some good photos and iPhone video!

Today we’ve moved to Eureka Sound where we visited the Eureka Weather Station. We were told that we’d be welcomed in two groups, the first to be in the zodiacs at 7:45am. It was a little chilly (0°C) waiting for the zodiacs to come to the bottom of the gangway, and a light sprinkle of light fluffy snow was tickling noses. Waiting, waiting – then we were told that the station is on Central Standard Time – the ship is currently on EST – oops! An hour later we were on our way.

Eureka is a fascinating place that provides weather monitoring and forecasting for the area, for aircraft flying over the Arctic and general climate monitoring. At the moment there are about 16 people there – during winter this will drop to 8. They launched a weather balloon while we were there – fascinating to see this white sphere of latex & anti-freeze shoot up into the sky with a small box of instruments below it. It will have gone approx 35,000 meters and finally exploding into pieces that will float down probably close to the Pole.

This afternoon we had the opportunity for another flight – this time to see some musk-ox. Our group was first to get away, so I shut down my laptop (had been writing this blog and transferring/editing photos), raced up to my cabin to get ready, and headed out to the heli-deck with camera and 300mm lens – after all, I expected them to be a reasonable distance away. Into the white chopper again and we were away. The light was beautiful across the water, so I started snapping away – checked the back of the camera – no card!! Fortunately, the noise in the heli was loud enough to drown out my swearing! I tried video on my iPhone as an alternative – ok, but nothing like I would have captured via the Canon. Ah well!

The weather is holding, and hopefully will continue to do so as we start to head south tonight. Only 3 more days left on this leg and lots of ground to cover before we arrive in Resolute on Wednesday morning.