16 July-25 August 2006
A journey through the ice floes across the top of Canada aboard the Kapitan Khlebnikov, a Russian icebreaker, covering 5313 nautical miles.
Monday 16 July
Heathrow to Vancouver. Hot and tired when we arrived at the Sandman Hotel. Got tea going.
Tuesday 17 July
We had tea at 2:30am. At 7:15 went for the airport bus. Took the plane to Anchorage (Alaska). Headed to the Millennium hotel. There is a lake just a few yards away, but we could not walk around it as there are homes and businesses all of which have their own seaplane. We are on the early start tomorrow.
Wednesday 18 July
We got up at about 2:20am and we’re ready to go down for breakfast at 2.55am. Then off to the airport. The plane had the front half the cargo and the rear for passengers.
We landed at Katzabue and then on to Nome. It was now pouring with rain. Nome has grown a lot in three years; the harbour is being altered so we could not recognise it. They have removed a sand spit and are now building a sea wall. We went by the beach where they’re mining gold. On a good day they can get one ounce of gold dust.
The planes are very small turboprops. As we took off we went into clouds and saw nothing of land until we neared Provideniya where we went over some beautiful scenery. There were mountains with patches of snow on them and beautiful green meadows surrounding blue crystal clear fjord-like inlets.
We were shown into the wreck of an office and onto a bus which took us to the town of Provideniya. There were no end of blocks of flats, all derelict. Provideniya looks like a bombed area. The streets were unpaved, very dusty and dirty and bumpy. We went into a large theatre where we were given a cultural experience with dancing that was good, costumes that were excellent, and singing which was not very good.
We got to our cabin on the Kapitan Khlebnikov.
Thursday 20 July
Our first outing was to a small village of Yanrakynnot, a place of 300 people. We were taken to a sandspit below the town where there were four men dressed in traditional furs who showed us some of the activities of the people. We saw some of the games using a lassoo and wrestling.
This village, like Provideniya, has lost much of its population. Under Communism, food was provided for the villagers, but when the regime came to the end, so did the food supply. The men herd reindeer and go fishing, particularly for salmon. The women collect berries, mushrooms and edible plants. Now they have electricity and even have three channels of TV. Heating is mainly coal but also timber from pallets.
We got ready for the landing at Whalebone Alley on the trip to Yttygran Island. We landed at 4:45pm and had until 7:30pm. We kept to the shoreline and were shown the remains of the Eskimo village.
The ship started back to Provideniya where we have to clear the ship for leaving for Alaska.
Friday 21 July
The boat was rolling quite a bit today. After lunch we went on the bows to look for birds. The most interesting were the Tufted Puffins, which are black with a yellow top not. The were guillemots, Eiders, cormorants, auks, seaducks, Kittiwakes, shearwaters and Fulmars. We got so cold even though the sun was shining.
We had Peter on our table, a bird expert who has met Bill Oddie and David Attenborough. Peter was the first one to start twitching and actually wrote a book on it but now he dislikes twitches and thinks the same about them as we do. We put the clocks forward one hour.
Friday 21 July #2
There was a call at 1:15 AM new time to say we were passing the island of Big Diamede which is the most eastern part of Asia. We got out of bed to have a look. The island looked like those we have already seen but the sun was either just rising or setting so there was a lovely red colour behind the mist.
We went over the International Dateline so we’re repeating Friday again. Also during the night we have crossed the Arctic Circle and are now at 67 degrees North. There was also a call to go onto the bows for a celebration of entering the Arctic Ocean.
We saw a whale very well which was close to the ship and had a lovely view of it diving down and its tail coming up. We were told it was a Humpback. We stayed out until the cold forced us in.
Clocks went forward an hour.
Saturday 22 July N 70o54’ W 160 o 20’
The ship started banging on the ice. We were surrounded by pack ice. Spent all morning outside, mostly on the bows enjoying the sunshine and seeing the ship plough through the ice. I was surprised how warm it felt.
Towards dinnertime the boat began reversing and then pushing forward to get over the ice. We had an 8-minute flight by helicopter going around the Khlebnikov so we could take photos. Annette’s specs fell apart this morning.
There is quite a bit of shuddering and we’re averaging 2 miles an hour. We should by now have arrived at Herschel island where the next lot of food is ready to be picked up. At this rate we’re going to arrive in 12 days’ time.
Sunday 23 July N71o21’ W158 o24’. 49 nautical miles
Misty and raining. The ship is making very slow progress going backwards and forwards. At 11:00 AM we were told that they were not going to waste any more fuel until the wind hopefully changed and also a rising tide might help to shift us.
The swimming pool looked black and uninviting. At tea had fabulous cake. We were actually moving when we went to bed.
Monday 24 July N71o27’ W157o52. 4 nautical miles
Annette has the runs. We are stationary once again. Things are not looking too hopeful but at least the sun is shining at the moment. We are in very thick ice with ice coming from the north and coastal ice being pushed north and the ship has nowhere to push the ice away.
Had a helicopter flight and I was next to the pilot so had a marvellous view. It was mainly of the ship from about 400 feet.
They decided to turn the ship around and return 8 miles and then head into the coast where the ice is less dense.
Tuesday 25 July N71o34’ W157o27’. 7 nautical miles
The toilet would not flush. Spent a penny down in the gym area but that was full! I must say I’m feeling depressed.
Had a helicopter flight and went closer to the ground this time, faster and did one or two turns twists and tilts. We actually landed on an ice floe.
In two hours we have managed to go 3 miles.
Wednesday 26 July N71o41’ W157o00’
We had just finished breakfast when there was a call of the sighting of a Polar Bear. Luckily, I had my camera with me. It was quite warm as the sun was shining. Went to the gym to play table tennis again. We have improved slightly but were distracted by the naked bodies of the sauna users.
In the afternoon we had a meeting about the ships position and some of the possible outcomes for example being flown off.
Thursday 27 July N71o47’ 156o35’
Annette has a very bad bout of diarrhoea. The ship did not move at all during the night because of the fog. I tried the rowing machine for 5 minutes. I did very little for the rest of the morning as I felt too depressed.
After lunch we had a most depressing meeting about how the voyage will end.
- we get off at Barrow in USA and get flown to Yellowknife and then somehow to Ottawa or
- if we’re very lucky we might get to Cambridge Bay and be flown from there to Yellowknife.
There seems to be no chance of us being able to get to Resolute. So, we have wasted all our money on one day in Russia.
There was a special dinner this evening. Most of the people were very drunk by the end of the meal.
Friday 28 July N71o53’ W156o07’
The boat did not move at all during the night. The engine started about 10am and we were told we were in much better ice and were making three kilometres per hour.
Saturday 29 July N71o46’ W156o02’
Annette still has a bad stomach. Foggy and not moving. Then the ship was underway and going at 9–10 knots. Suddenly looked out the window to find we were in open water. Put on our clobber and went out onto the deck. It was a lovely sight.
Just coming back to cabin we saw a Polar Bear. Everyone was so excited that there was a champagne celebration. At the same time we had Glaucous Gulls around the ship being chased by a Pomarine Jaeger.
Sunday 30 July N 70o39’ W 148o41’. 180 nautical miles
We made 125 nautical miles last night. It looked really beautiful outside. We saw three or four Ringed Seals. It was lovely and warm in the sun. We are going through dead calm water with ice flows.
At 5pm we had a trip on the helicopter. It was just another flight around the boat but was different because of all the water around the area.
Monday 31 July N69o32’ W138o53’. 239 nautical miles
We are in fairly open water but it is very misty.
We anchored 2 miles from Herchell Island and were taken to shore. There is still a Northern Trading building and a type of hostel. We went into the museum which did not have much in it except bones. We walked on the prairie and enjoyed the wild flowers such as: Arctic daisies; monkshood which the Inuit use as poison in their arrows to help kill seals and Caribou; the Arctic Indian paint brush plant; forget-me-nots; saxifrage; and Arctic willows.
There is a lot of timber which has been washed up by the storms. We saw quite a lot of small birds such as Snow Buntings, sandpipers and philanthropes (phalaropes). It was lovely and sunny while we were there. We felt hot.
Afterwards there was a briefing at which we were told that the man we have been seeing in the sauna room has died of a heart attack down there. We were then told the joyful news that the majority of us that want to stay on can do so. Put our clocks on another hour tonight.
Tuesday 1 August N70o32’ W126o24. 238 nautical miles
I went up to the radio room to send an e-mail to the travel agents. A very nice American woman typed it all out for me and sent it off. During the morning we had sightings of Bowhead Whales.
We went to play table tennis but the ball was broken and would not bounce at all. The sea became quite choppy.
We went by the Burning Cliffs but could not see much at all, certainly nothing burning. They have been burning on and off for up to a million years.
We are now in the Dolphin and Union straights.
Wednesday 2 August N68o28’ W110o19’. 348 nautical miles
A lovely sunny morning. The helicopter trip was to an island just off Victoria Island. The first part of the 10 minute trip was over an area which looked as if it had been bulldozed for an airstrip or something and looked a mess. The rest had a certain beauty of a real tundra area with lots of lakes and rocky areas.
We landed on a plateau and were told to go to Peter who had a very strong telescope so you could see Musk Ox in the distance. We took the decision to walk down to see if we could get a closer look. It was hard over the bare rock but surprisingly easy where there was springy turf.
Back on the ship Karl Heinz came to tell us we were going into a cabin for three. We protested so he went to fetch Susan who said that she had said singles would have to be in threes or not go on. We had to accept that or we were to go home on tomorrow’s flight. And that was that.
I went to see Karl Heinz again asking who would be using the top berth as we couldn’t. I had seen the person who is to share and she did not look as if she could get up either. Karl Heinz came back to give us the excellent use that we were to have a cabin for two but it was on deck 8. We felt very much better.
Thursday 3 August
An announcement to say there is to be a landing at Cape Alexander so we can have a walk in the tundra. It was all over rocky shale which was not very pleasant. An Inuit family came trying to sell fish to the crew.
We transferred into the 4x4s of local people who took us into Cambridge Bay hamlet where 1600 people live. The houses are much better than at either Nome or Providenya but it still has very scruffy streets. We had a display of one woman dancing and two men singing. We went on a walking tour. For most of the way the group was pestered by two small boys saying ‘Give me money’.
We finally landed up at a cultural gift shop. The price for souvenirs was terrific but the price for clothing was reasonable. We were offered a trip to see to see The Maud, the ship that Amundsen had built as an ice station. The wreck of the boat is in fact just a few planks of wood sticking out of the water.
We were taken to the library which is bigger than Lancing library. They have 12 computers. It was 24 degrees centigrade at Cambridge Bay.
Friday 4 August N69o06’ W100o55’. 153 nautical miles
The day was a waste of time
Saturday 5 August N71o57’ W93o57’. 239 nautical miles
There was very little ice around and it became very foggy. We have entered the Ballot Straits which are 33 kilometres long and half a kilometre wide. It was a glorious sight. There is a very strong current and whirlpools with hidden rocks so it is very dangerous. There were quite a few birds, mainly Fulmars. We spent the afternoon out on the bows.
Sunday 6 August N69o06’ W80o56’. 354 nautical miles
We are in the Fury and Hecla straight. This passage is 75 nautical miles lond, joining the Gulf of Boothia with the Fox Basin. The sea was like a millpond. We went out to the bows. The call came that there were Walrus and sure enough there were dozens of them. They were in groups on the ice floes. You could see their tusks quite clearly. Soon after that there was the shout of Polar Bear.
Monday 7 August N63o53’ W78o21’. 328 nautical miles
A pleasant Sunday morning. We were called at 3:50pm to go to Salisbury Island, which is very rocky with lots of lakes. There was a surprising amount of greenery. The prettiest flower was the Large-flowered Wintergreen. Had a 10-minute helicopter flight around the island which looks very stark and uninhabited.
Tuesday 8 August N64o14’ W76o30’. 115 nautical miles
At 7:30 AM we were at Cape Dorset. We were on the third Zodiac to shore. Cape Dorset town is in a pleasant bay. There was lovely springy turf covered with mosses, flowers and berry plants. We had a very good and enthusiastic Inuit woman guide. Her grandfather was a Scotsman. There had been large Polar Bears on the beach and in the town yesterday. We could see the very large footprints.
The beach landing was at Mallikjuaq Park where we walked to see through sod houses. We walked over a ridge to see an inukshuk (an Inuit stone cairn or landmark) which is by a large lake. There were also food storage icehouses.
We then came back to the Thule sod houses which were built around 800 BC. They have rectangular walls which used to be covered by skins supported on a crisscross of whalebone. We then went across the bay to the rather modern town. We had the choice to go to the Coop, the art centre or the community centre. We walked up to the latter which was really just a large ‘shop’ selling paintings created by the locals. We bought a lovely watercolour of Eskimo fishing.
On the ship we had a seat on deck where we sunned ourselves until teatime and came in to get out of the sun as much as anything
Wednesday 9 August N61o57 W65o31’. 345 nautical miles
We went to the bows and the mist parted and we were able to see land on both sides of us. It was very stark but beautiful with steep hills and snow in the valleys. In the sea were quite few icebergs.
We saw quite a few birds such as Thick-billed Murres, a Kittiwake and we think there were Parakeet Auklets but the best was a seal. We passed by Resolution Island and were then in the Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea.
Thursday 10 August N63o43’ W65o59. 280 nautical miles
Landed on Kekerton Island which used to be a whaling station.
The ship left about 11:30am for the hamlet of Pangnirtung. The weather was perfect. The town has up to 600 inhabitants and does not look very nice. We went to a craft centre where the best part was the weaving. We were able to photograph some of the children. We went to a museum which was interesting including a Bible which was the first writing into Inuit. Finally we returned to the community hall for a display of games such as jump kicking, tag wrestling, and two girls gave a demonstration of throat singing which was unusual.
We are now sailing back along the Cumberland Sound.
Friday 11 August N66o11’ W61o22’. 272 nautical miles
It stayed foggy until lunchtime and suddenly we looked out the window and there were cliffs very close to us. From then on, the scenery was wonderful with steep cliffs and snow-capped mountains and clear blue water. We were in the Sunneshine Fjord. We eventually stopped in what appeared to be a very desolate place. One of the islands is called Bear Island. We were in the second of the zodiacs and went with the flower and bird people but there were no birds and very few flowers.
Saturday 12 August N69o17’ W68o23’. 286 nautical miles
We suddenly came out of the fog to see a wonderful sight. We were told that the ship would cruise Iturbilung Fjord. It is narrow with very high cliffs. The tops have very thick snow which feed the many glaciers. The helicopter trip was ‘awesome’, as youngsters would say today. We went up one glacier to find an unending view of ice and pure white snow. We flew in a big circle and came down an adjoining glacier.
Sunday 13 August N71o02’ W71o12’. 295 nautical miles
There was a call that there was a Polar Bear in the water. It took us a long time to spot it, but I saw and filmed one swimming then saw one coming out of the water. Then we saw one very close in front on an ice floe. Then we saw another one even closer.
The mountains were rather dramatic. We started sailing around Sillem Island. The helicopter trip was a waste of time. We had about four minutes in the air but did not go to the height of the cliffs.
We found that groups were being offered a second trip. A very nice lady was in our group, and we told her to tell the pilot we wanted to go higher. We had a much better trip. We went up to 3300 feet.
Back on the boat we could see an amazing number of small glaciers. A call came to say Polar Bears had been sighted. There was a mother standing up and sitting up and her two cubs dragging along behind. Then we saw a male swimming.
Monday 14 August
Lovely scenery in lovely sunshine. We landed at Pond Inlet, a small town 1400 people. We had a hard walk up a hill to the Coop. There was a special performance with an old woman singing, accompanied by two men on the drums and tambourine. Then we had a group of girls singing, then throat singing. Next, we had the Arctic games with three young men who were very good indeed. They were extremely powerful.
Back on the boat we had a special meeting of those that had been on the NW passage. We were given vodka or at least apple juice for us.
Tuesday 15 August N77o22’ W90o49’. 283 nautical miles
As we finished breakfast, we arrived at Prince island. We were approaching the very steep cliffs which are the breeding ground for a million birds such as murres, Glaucous Goals and Kittiwakes. I have a nasty cold.
The ship went on to Beachy island. We went in zodiacs to a massive pebble beach. There were four or five leaders around the edge looking out for bears. After that we were taken by zodiac to see the ruins of Northumberland House. There was very little to see. We anchored off Resolute for the night.
Wednesday 16 August
We eventually got on the helicopter and arrived on land where we walked to the Narwhal Hotel which now looks like a refugee camp with baggage and people all over the floor. We went to see the Thule houses. Resolute is built on the remains of a giant glacier and the scenery was nothing to rave about.
Flew to Ottowa, landing at Iqualut on the way for refuelling.
At Ottawa went straight to the Flaumont Chateau Laurier hotel.
Thursday 17 August
Walked by the parliament building where there was large crowd protesting about the treatment of Tamils. The parliament has musical bells chiming tunes like ‘No Place Like Home’ and American folk songs. We saw one mounted policeman.
Friday 18 August
During the night flight home, I suddenly felt sick. Only just made it to the loo, which was vacant, luckily.