Be It Ever So Humble There’s No Place Like Nome

Having spent a pleasant warm and sunny 3 days in Vancouver visiting Granville Island and the Van Dusen Botanical Garden with long time high school friends, it was time to get onto the main event. I wasn’t feeling great, so I decided to take a COVID test. Negative. Had to take another COVID test before embarkation at the hotel. Negative. All good to go and much to my relief, feeling much better!! Back to the airport and onto an Alaskan Airline charter, and a four-and-a-half-hour flight from Vancouver to Nome (See map insert at bottom of page) Originally discovered in 1898 when the population was a grand total of three, Nome exploaded the following year to 20000. You ask why? In a word, gold. Now the town of 3500 is probably still in shock from 300+ transient tourists on 3 charter flights having invaded this northern community on the outskirts of civilization. Can I see Russia from here? Not even close. Roald Amunsden, a famous Norwegian explorer who was the first to plant a flag on the South Pole was also the first to successfully complete the crossing of the Northwest Passage from east to west. However, he and his fellow explorers had to endure two winters from 1903 to 1905 in order to be successful and a third winter before reaching Nome in 1906 due to being locked in by the ice. We hope to complete the same voyage from west to east in 26 days. Fittingly, the name of our ship is the MS Roald Amunsden and she too flies under the Norwegian flag. This will only be the 2nd attempt of the RA to cross the passage. My understanding is that to date there have only been a total of 56 passenger ship crossings of the Passage. So, we are indeed some of the lucky few who have been fortunate enough to embark on such a journey. Lots of time for reading, picture taking and writing blogs. Welcome aboard!!