Looking for Ice

Last evening our leader announced that today we would again be at sea.  The weather prediction was not great for on land explorations and they are anxious to cover ground to find some ice.  Given the foggy then snowy weather, it seemed like a good decision.  It is hard to see in the photo, but it was snowing here and not long after, the windows in the chart room were covered with snow.

Pond Inlet

Today we reached Pond Inlet, Nunavut where the staff took care of the necessary immigration essentials to allow us to land in various places in Canada.  This is a scene along the way.


After the immigration formalities were taken care of, we took zodiacs to land in Pond Inlet and tour the settlement.


The experience was rather depressing.  We learned that during the 1960's Canada wanted to make its presence in the region known so Inuit children were forcibly removed from their homes and shipped off to be "educated" at a school in Pond Inlet.  Families gradually moved off the land and into the town to be with their children.  At some point the working dogs that allowed the Inuit to hunt and continue their traditional lifestyle were slaughtered to be sure the people could not leave the towns where they were placed.
The Inuit language was originally only oral.  The written language on these signs was created by Catholic missionaries so they could translate the Bible.

Crossing Baffin Bay

In the wee hours of this morning we were wakened by an announcement that they were seeing the Aurora from the bridge.  We threw on some clothes and rushed outside.  We saw it but it wasn't very spectacular.  It just looked like a cloud with a bit of a greenish tinge.  But at least we can say we saw it once.  No idea if we will get another opportunity.

We spent today "at sea" crossing Baffin Bay to the relatively new Canadian territory of Nunavut.  We started seeing icebergs


and had a close up view of a couple of Northern Bottlenose Whales.  Even the whale expert was excited since such sightings are rare, especially in this area.

Sisimiut, Greenland

We traveled overnight and into the morning up the west coast of Greenland to Sisimiut.  It is a town of 6,000 inhabitants that was founded in 1756 and is Greenland's second largest municipality.  It's main industry is fishing.  We had a nice walk around the small town with buildings perched on the surrounding hills.

Approaching the dock.




Walking tour of the town.




Including the second oldest church in Greenland, dating from 1775.


The "qajaq" or "kayak" club where they make kayaks using traditional methods.

Off to Greenland

Today's weather was not nearly as good as yesterday's, but was apparently much more typical of Iceland.  It rained with 25-35 mph winds.  So we were happy to spend the morning in the bus.  We toured the city and got a much better view of the Lutheran Church.


We also stopped at the national museum.  Then we drove to the airport for the two hour flight to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.  Given the Reykjavik weather, it wasn't surprising to quickly rise above the clouds.  But it cleared over Greenland and we got some views of the glacier complete with melted spots.


I was surprised how quickly the snow disappeared as we flew west over Greenland.




There was not much to see at the airport.  And even less at the "dock" we went from to get to the ship.  This is a view from the ship.


The water is too shallow for the ship to come to shore, so we got there via zodiacs.






Getting the luggage to the ship was another interesting endeavor.  It was placed in an old shipping container which was loaded onto a barge and a tug pushed it to the ship.  Welcome to Greenland.


This was the view from our balcony.

Iceland, Greenland, and the Canadian Arctic

We are on a trip with Linblad Expeditions.  We left NJ for JFK Friday afternoon and boarded an overnight flight to Reykjavik, Iceland.  We headed for the hotel upon arrival and caught up on our sleep.  In the afternoon we took a bus to various sights.  We started out with lunch on the top floor of the Perlan, a neat domed building with exhibits about Iceland.

And great views of the city, including that amazing church.

Then we drove out into the countryside scattered with lava and dotted with steam vents.  We went to a geothermal power plant which provides the city with hot water and electricity.

Then we drove to the little town of Hverageroi which uses the local steam to heat greenhouses where they grow beautiful flowers.  Then off to a small horse stable to see pretty little Iceland horses perform.

Paddling Follensby Clear Pond

It's been a while since we paddled anywhere but on the Flow, so it felt good to put in on Follensby Clear Pond this morning.  We paddled the circumference for a total of about 6 miles.  We found these flowers in abundance again.  They are Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus) in the Lythraceae and they grow out into the water in several places around the lake.




There was the usual log covered in sundews.


We stopped for lunch on a small island and were serenaded by loons on both sides of the island.


We saw a couple of loons with babies.


At one point we saw a group of at least nine loons and wondered if they are already gathering for migration.

Monarch Caterpillars

We are careful not to disturb the milkweed plants that line the lower part of our driveway, hoping to attract Monarch butterflies.  But since the only butterflies I ever see there are Swallowtails, I assumed that the many caterpillars we found on the plants today were Swallowtails.  I am so surprised to discover that they are actually Monarchs.  So obviously we had visits from Monarch butterflies when I wasn't looking.  Yippee.

Quilts 60 and 61

I have finally started quilting again.  I made this one as a lap quilt to go on the pink floral chair in my study in New Jersey.


And this is the unfinished top from the Mini Citrus class I took at quilt camp.  I took the class to practice curves in preparation for the Judy Niemeyer quilt I hope to make some day.  But I'm not sure I like this one enough to bother sandwiching and quilting it.  Maybe I'll use it for free-motion practice at some point.

Orchids!!!

I got a chance to try the macro setting on the new camera today.  These teeny orchids are growing along the driveway!  I found six plants and there may be more.  Okay, so the wildflower book says they are aliens, not native, but they are still welcome along my driveway.  They are Helleborine orchids, presumably because the leaves are similar to those of false hellebore, with Latin name Epipactis helleborine.