A (Frozen) River Runs Through It

Back into Lancaster Sound we make a slow turn to port and head into Croker Bay. It’s not too long before I realize why we are sailing at such a slow speed. Straight ahead I see a sprawling river of ice spilling its contents into the freezing waters of the inlet. There are actually three glaciers flowing into the waterway and our ship’s objective is to maneuver carefully and get as close as possible to the face of one of the glaciers. Surrounded by ice, it is nearly impossible to approach without striking some, but in a masterful display of navigation, the captain manages to do so, despite small icebergs and large chunks of ice flowing by. It is a beautiful day, and the camera goes click, click, click. You can tell that at some point in the past there were even more glaciers, evidenced by the carved out valleys leading to the water. Those rivers of ice have long since dried up. The ship cruises slowly, parallel to the face, and after a few hours does a turnaround and heads back out to the Sound. Shortly thereafter we turn into Dundas Harbour. A harbour in name only because it was a refuge established many years ago to shelter ships, not because there is an actual harbour to tie up to. The ice conditions here change regularly and it is next to impossible to approach without going through an ice field. The objective was to have a landing by zodiac to tour ancient indigenous underground housing. Most of the passengers were fortunate to make the trek but a quick change in the wind and weather, shifted the ice and made the landing very difficult to navigate. We were scheduled to visit near the end, but unfortunately the excursion was suspended, and we were unable to do the landing. Plan B. Hit the sauna and whirlpool and watch the zodiacs bump and swerve as they hurriedly returned all the guests back to the ship. As we left the Bay and entered Lancaster Sound once again, we were excited to see many icebergs in what I would refer to as the beginning of iceberg alley. We were advised the swells would be evident that night as we crossed over to Navy Board Inlet on our way to Pond Inlet. Jennifer had an uncomfortable sleep tossing and turning and rolling with the waves, while I on the other hand was told I snored through the whole thing. Must have been the extra glass of Beaujolais. The next morning, we awoke to calmer waters and a completely different terrain. Baffin Island was on the port side with high snow peaked mountains. Icebergs were floating sporadically all around and the fog was once again setting in. Our intended destination was Pond Inlet where we were to pick up the pilot who would escort us across Baffin Bay to Greenland. Just as well we didn’t plan on going ashore as the wind had really picked up and the ship’s zodiac driver had quite the time going into port to retrieve the pilot. The ship was constantly repositioning itself due to the strong headwinds. We watched from the safety of the observation deck and were glad to be bundled up from head to toe.