Ultimate Arctic Whales Expedition

The realm of the Ice Bear (Baffin Island and West Greenland)

22^nd August – 5^th September 2005

Tour Report by Graham Tucker

22^nd August

Most of the group met up in mid-afternoon at London Heathrow for a pleasant Air Canada flight over to Ottawa. On route we had excellent views of the vast Greenland ice cap, as well as the numerous coastal glaciers and icebergs. It looked a staggeringly desolate and inhospitable place, and as we would be there in about a week’s time I think a few of us privately wondered what we had let ourselves in for!

We landed in Ottawa in the early evening and transferred to the very comfortable and rather plush Lord Elgin Hotel. Being very conveniently located in the centre of Ottawa a few of the party ventured out to see the Parliament Buildings and the nightly lightshow, but most if us had a quick meal and an early night.

23^rd August

Our day began with an early transfer to Ottawa airport to board our charter flight bound for Resolute on Cornwallis Island. Being at some 75⁰N this was no short trip and took us nearly five hours, with a refuelling stop en-route at Iqaluit on southern Baffin Island. For most of the trip we had clear skies and spectacular views of the mosaic of lakes and forests of Ontario and Quebec, which slowly thinned out to tundra and rocky hillsides. By the time we had got to Resolute virtually all signs of vegetation had gone and as we came in to land it looked like we were in a rocky desert landscape - only the occasional snow patch revealed that we were actually in the Arctic.

But there was no doubt that we in the polar regions once we got off the plane and walked across the exposed gravel runway. An icy wind hit us and we were thankful that we had heeded the warnings that there would be a rather large temperature drop from Ottawa. It was about 2⁰C, whilst Ottawa had been about a pleasant 20+⁰C!

After a brief wait in the ‘airport’ we were taken the Narwhal Hotel for some warmth, coffees and snacks. With mounting excitement we soon went down to the beach to board the zodiacs and then the Akademik Ioffe – our home for the next 10 days. She is a really great ship for such expeditions, being very stable, quiet, comfortable and spacious and having great viewing areas, especially from the top deck (which also has a small room for sheltering in on the coldest of days - aka the meeting room of the ‘Bowhead Club’).

We were treated to wonderful welcome cocktails and a buffet, followed by our first briefing by Aaron (the Expedition Leader), and of course a compulsory lifeboat drill. By this time the ship had weighed anchor and we were heading south across the Barrow Strait towards Somerset Island.

A few of us eagerly gathered on the top deck to start our wildlife watching. There was not much about, but we quickly came across our first Little Auks and Glaucous Gulls, as well as a few Arctic Terns, which surprisingly turned out to be quite scarce over the course of the trip.

Being so far north, it didn’t really get properly dark. But after such a long journey, we couldn’t face a whole night up watching so decided to get some rest and make an early start next day.

24^thAugust

We woke to find ourselves at Cunnigham Inlet, on the north side of Somerset Island. It was foggy at first, but this soon lifted and James found our first Ivory Gulls sitting on a iceberg. A few large flocks of Eider also flew by, but too far away to be sure if they were Common or King.

After breakfast we headed off on our first zodiac tour of the trip; into the inlet to look for Beluga, as this is one of their regular summer sites. Unfortunately, despite high hopes and excellent calm conditions, there was no sign of the Beluga. But we did see our first Ringed Seals, a Bearded Seal and excellent views of two Pomarine Skuas.

Although the weather was fine, it was cold – probably only a few degrees above freezing. So we soon found out just how cold a 20mph zodiac cruise can be, once the chill air has gradually crept through our clothing. But then just as spirits were sagging, Dick spotted a Polar Bear on a distant island. We teared off across the bay at full speed – freezing cheeks being forgotten for the time being. Despite our unsubtle approach we had great views of the bear, which to our delight turned out to be a mother with two cubs. She was not particularly bothered by our presence, and only wandered off slowly, eventually over a rise and out of sight. So we returned to the ship cold but happy, and hoping that we would see Beluga’s another time.

Once back on board we headed back across the Barrow Strait to Beechey Island off Devon Island. After lunch some listened to Scott’s presentation on the ill-fated 1845 Franklin expedition. Others took to the top deck to look for wildlife, and were rewarded with decent numbers of Northern Fulmars, Little Auks, Kittiwakes, Black Guillemots and Brünnich’s Guillemots.

We reached the towering cliffs of Beechy Island at about 16.30 and were fortunate enough to see a Peregrine and a Gyr Falcon almost straight away, though only briefly. We quickly headed ashore for an exploration of this bare and rather bleak looking place. It seemed all the more desolate and eerie when we landed and came across the gravesites of Franklin’s expedition and the ruins of the store house built for them. But it was also spectacular and fascinating. The ground showed the characteristic patterns of frost-heave, which bizarrely seems to sort out all the stones and lay them on their sides like a carefully laid pavement. We also came across our first Arctic plants of the trip – thinly scattered patches of moss, Arctic Willow, Arctic Mouse-ear and various saxifrages. There were a hundred or so Glaucous Gulls nesting on the cliffs and four Thayer’s Gulls on the shore. Just offshore a gang of Harp Seals were feeding; as usual in a tight group and occasionally spy-hoping or swimming on their backs to keep an eye on us.

We returned to the ship for dinner and set off straight away southeast across Lancaster Sound to Prince Regent Inlet (between Somerset Island and the Brodeur Peninsula of Baffin Island) in search of some pack-ice.

25^th August

The early watchers were up on deck by 5.30 as we cruised south down Prince Regent Inlet towards the pack ice. It was a beautiful day, with only a light breeze, near calm sea-conditions and mostly sunny skies.

It seemed strange to be heading south to find ice, but in recent years the amount of sea-ice in the region has declined considerably, probably in part due to climate change. Prince Regent Inlet, however, is relatively sheltered from large swells which break up and scatter ice flows. Ice therefore tends to linger more in such places.

By late morning we came across the first of the pack ice (1/10 to 1/30 coverage) and we spent the next couple of hours slowly cruising amongst it. It provided an excellent opportunity for the Captain to show of the manoeuvrability of the ship, which was astounding as we seemed to be able to weave along the tightest of channels. Being such a quiet ship this was in near silence and was a wonderful serene experience as we gazed over the ice-scape before us.

Quite a few birds appeared to be associating with the ice, in particular Black Guillemots, but Kittiwakes were also common, and we saw the odd Northern Fulmar, a flock of Baird’s Sandpipers, and several groups of phalaropes, at least one of which were Red-necked Phalaropes. But most exciting were several groups of Sabine’s Gulls, including a mixed flock of about 30 juveniles and adults (still with their black heads). Harp Seals were also fairly common, and we saw the occasional Bearded Sea and probable Ringed Seal.

Later in the afternoon we stopped and most headed off on a zodiac cruise whilst the ship drifted amongst the ice. The kayakers also got their first chance to get onto the water. The cruise was a great success as most people managed to get superb views of a group of Ivory Gulls and a Bearded Seal that remained obligingly on a couple of nearby icebergs. The cruise also gave a wonderful new perspective on the ice field from near the waters edge and gave the opportunity to study the weird and wonderful shapes and texture of the bergs in close up.

After the cruise the Captain turned the ship and we slowly picked our way back north through the ice to head for Prince Leopold Island at the northern end of Somerset Island and Prince Regent Inlet. Unfortunately though the fog built up in the early evening and curtailed our wildlife watching for the day.

26^th August

We arrived at Prince Leopold Island at about 6am and then embarked on an early zodiac cruise up to the spectacular seabird cliffs. It was an amazing sight and sound (and smell) with tens of thousands of seabirds crammed on to the towering cliffs or flying in and out to their feeding grounds. A little mist on the tops of the cliffs added to the atmosphere. Brünnich’s Guillemots were the most abundant species on the cliffs, but there were also many thousands of Kittiwakes. Glaucous Gulls were nesting on the upper slopes of the cliffs and Black Guillemots were commonly seen swimming or flying, as they were nesting in the nearby boulder slopes at the base of the cliffs. Around the point of the island, many thousands of Northern Fulmars were breeding at the top of the more gently sloping cliffs.

After spending an hour or so cruising around the seabird cliffs on mirror calm seas, we headed back to the ship for a much appreciated breakfast, whilst the ship uped anchor and headed north once again across the Lancaster Sound – this time to Devon Island. Again we enjoyed excellent weather conditions as we crossed the straits, with virtually no wind and only the slightest of ripples on the sea.

We arrived at Maxwell Bay on the south side of Devon Island just before lunch. But way before then Bill and Aaron had seen a distant Polar Bear down near the shore some seven miles ahead of us! As we got closer further inspection of the area revealed that there were in fact three more Polar Bears on the slopes. By now it was obvious just how much they stand out against the bare rocky hillsides, and that they were not uncommon in the area. Many of us were able to get good views through telescopes from the ship as we approached on the calm seas. Unfortunately, however, these bears were not very cooperative and rather quickly slunk away and out of sight. Frustratingly, they had an uncanny ability to use the topography of the land to hide from us.

After dropping anchor we embarked on another zodiac cruise under beautiful blue skies, firstly to a nearby bay where several thousand Northern Fulmars and Kittiwakes had gathered to feed on what were probably shoals of Arctic Cod. Most of the time they rested in rafts, but every so often a shoal of cod would be forced up to the surface by Harp Seals below, at which point the birds would suddenly join in, in a feeding frenzy. The Fulmars would mostly sit and pick from the surface whilst the Kittiwakes dived in from above. When feeding the birds were totally oblivious to our presence and we were able to get right in amongst the flock, with birds just a few feet away. It was an amazing sight – reminiscent of film from the BBC’s Blue Planet, and a highlight of the trip for many.

After this we headed up the bay (fjord) towards a point where Walrus traditionally congregate. This point did not appear to be much different from others in the area, but sure enough 5 were there hauled out and asleep (probably four female / younger animals and 1 big male). Before getting too close we tied the zodiacs together so that we could approach very slowly with just one engine on and the minimum of noise. This worked well and all of us were able to get excellent and close views before they decided to slip of slowly into the water. But this was not to be the last we saw of them. To our surprise they suddenly returned and surfaced with much bellowing close to our boats – in what appeared to be a brief show of defiance, before disappearing for good. Amazing animals and another undoubted highlight of the trip.

We returned to the boat elated on stunning mirror calm seas, pausing to look at another distant Polar Bear, Arctic Skuas and a colony of Glaucous Gulls.

After dinner the ship headed back out of the fjord and out to sea, two more Polar Bears being seen on our way.

27^th August

We awoke to another beautiful sunny calm day as we slowly cruised along the south coast of Devon island towards Dundas Harbour. There were few birds about but we did see another Sabine’s Gull and an Ivory Gull. And on the shore we spotted, though distantly, the only Caribou of the trip.

We arrived at Dundas harbour (a natural enclosed bay surrounded by bare rocky hills) shortly after breakfast and headed out for what was supposed to be a short zodiac cruise and then a longish walk. But we ended up with a long cruise, as there was so much to see, and then a short walk. The bay contained several spectacular icebergs, which we firstly went to examine and photograph. These were from glacier ice and had a characteristic eerie blue glow. They had probably drifted from Greenland before grounding in the bay, and being at sea for a long time had been rolled and sculpted by waves and air-bubbles into the most weird and beautiful shapes. We spent some time marvelling at these before eventually heading off to look for some wildlife.

It was not long before we found our first Polar Bear; a mother with a two to three year old cub, on the shoreline. They quickly sloped off but we got good views. Then as we were watching them move away, we suddenly noticed a group of about 10 Musk Ox higher up the hill. We had been so absorbed with the bears we had completely overlooked them. Despite being in the zodiacs we managed to get good telescope views of the oxen and spotted an Arctic Hare whilst doing so. Further scans around the bay then revealed anther two groups of oxen.

We then came across a flock of about 60 Long-tailed Ducks, and then a flock of about a dozen Thayer’s Gulls kept the photographers busy for a while. Eventually we got to our intended landing area. By then it had been well checked for Polar Bears by the expedition staff; this being a notorious area for them.

The lower areas of our landing site consisted of boggy tundra dominated by bog mosses, sedges and grasses, and with occasional Arctic Willow, Artic Lousewort and Arctic Poppy. There was also a fairly large pool, on which we were delighted to find a Red-throated Diver and its well-grown chick. A very confiding White-rumped Sandpiper was also feeding along the edge of the pool.

After returning to the ship and lunch we headed round the headland and up a huge fjord to Croker harbour, where a very impressive glacier comes down to the sea from the Devon Island icesheet. This was a most spectacular place, with numerous huge grounded icebergs dotted around the fjord surrounded by sparkling brash ice and a huge wall of jumbled ice at the glacier’s snout. Behind all this was the towering presence of the ice cap, which looked at first like a large bank of cloud hovering over the island.

We took to the zodiacs again and had another stunning cruise amongst the ice – once again under beautiful blue skies. Our group was split between two zodiacs and we all managed to get good views of a couple Polar Bears, one on a nearby hill and one on an iceberg, which Dick’s group initially came across at very close quarters before it took to the water and was seen by everyone. It was amazing to see it power through the water with such ease, and made us realise why it is often regarded as a sea mammal.

We reluctantly returned to the ship and as evening fell headed out for the last time across Lancaster Sound to Baffin Island. It was a glorious evening with a glass like sea and two sundogs (parhelia) shining down on us. Several large groups of Harp Seals (probably over 60 animals in each) also entertained us, spy-hoping and swimming on their backs as they first encountered us, before disappearing in one sudden coordinated splash.

28^th August

The early watchers were up on deck at 05.15 as we cruised slowly down Navy Board Inlet on the north-west of Baffin Island. There were relatively few birds to watch but we did see seven distant Polar Bears along the shoreline. By breakfast time we had arrived at Lowe Point and most of our group went ashore for a walk up the nearby hill to see the spectacular view of the inlet and mountains from an Inuit Inukshuuk. However, a few of us stayed behind to scan the surrounding seas for Narwhal, as the inlet is one of the best areas for them. They are renowned for being shy and avoiding ships, so we hoped that if stopped we might have a better chance of seeing some. The sea was also mirror calm so we could see many miles around us. Unfortunately we had no luck with the Narwhals, but did have wonderful views of two white phase Gyr Falcons, both of which individually flew over from the nearby land and circled the ship at close range. We had stunning views of the birds as they ‘checked us out’ before returning to land. We also managed to see a couple of Ravens, a Peregrine Falcon and a Lapland Bunting from the ship.

We spent most of the rest of the day cruising slowly down Navy Board Inlet to the Inuit town of Pond Inlet. On the way we continued to scan the sea intensely, but despite absolutely fantastic calm conditions we didn’t see any signs of Narwhal. From later discussions with the Inuit at Pond Inlet we found out that a few had been seen the day before; they had either moved on or were keeping well out of sight of our ship. Despite this it was a wonderful day with the stunning scenery of Baffin Island’s mountains and the occasional iceberg to look at. There were also good numbers of birds, including over 100 Sabines’ Gulls, several Arctic and Pomarine Skuas and hundreds of Snow Geese grazing the grassy slopes of the nearby hills. Harp Seals were also common.

We arrived at Pond Inlet at about 4pm and went ashore by zodiac where we were greeted and made very welcome by the local Inuit community. They had arranged for us to visit their community centre to see a performance of traditional singing, dancing and acrobatic games. The games were particularly captivating, some of which involved kicking a target at over head-height with apparently gravity defying leaps and amazing displays of coordination.

After this some of our group stayed behind to explore the town further, whilst the rest of us took the Zodiacs several miles up along the coast towards the open sea to look for Narwhals. We found an excellent perch a hundred or so feet up the mountainside and sat down with telescopes at the ready and hot flasks of tea and coffee to watch quietly for a few hours. We had excellent views of the inlet for several miles each way and hoped that we would have more success now we were away from the noise of the ship’s engines. Unfortunately our cunning plan was undermined somewhat by a change in the weather, as a misty drizzle set in. The inlet was also disturbed on several occasions as local hunters passed by in their speedboats on their way back to Pond Inlet. As darkness fell the ship arrived to rendezvous with us and as we approached in the zodiacs it was a magical sight – its lights glowing invitingly in the cold misty evening air.

29^th August

Overnight we had travelled southwest along the north coast of Baffin Island and arrived at Gibbs Fjord at breakfast time. We slowly worked our way up into the complex of fjords amongst the most stunning scenery of the trip so far. We were in classic ‘u’-shaped glaciated valleys surrounded by huge shear 300m high cliffs with numerous hanging valleys, glaciers and waterfalls. The rocks were extremely old pre-Cambrian limestones and sandstones of the Canadian Massif and had been shaped into some amazing forms by the ice and weather. Some mountains had been sliced in half by the glacier and formed towering Yosemite-like half-domes, whilst some others peaks had been eroded into unfeasibly sharp and bizarre shapes.

Although it was again a dry day and calm out at sea, we experienced choppy water as we entered the fjord as a result of some strong katabatic winds that were coming of the ice fields. This made birding difficult and cetacean spotting all but impossible. But we got the impression that these cold, sheltered and deep waters were fairly unproductive and didn’t support much in the way of wildlife.

Eventually we managed to find an area that was sheltered enough from the winds to launch the zodiacs. This enabled us to take a closer look at some glaciers with Stephen’s guidance. All were showing alarming signs of retreat – evidence before us of the global warming we had all heard about.

After lunch we moved to another part of the fjord complex and again stopped in a sheltered site, this time so we could go ashore. Here there were a few birds around, including small groups of King Eider, Long-tailed Ducks and several white-winged gulls of the Thayer’s, Kumlins (Larus galaucoides kumlieni) and Iceland (L. g. glaucoides) complex, the identification of which caused some consternation and discussion.

On landing we formed various groups depending on interests with some staying by the shoreline, some walking up onto the hillsides, and some ‘chargers’ heading for a nearby small peak. Unfortunately, by this time the wind had picked up but we managed to get excellent views of several Arctic Hares, as well seeing several Snow Buntings and a Ptarmigan. The rocky tundra flora here was also particularly rich and interesting and included Arctic Heather, Three-toothed Saxifrage, Mountain Avens, Diapensia and a variety of willows.

By late afternoon we returned to the ship and then headed back out through the fjords and turned south-west again to follow the coast down to Canyon River – hopefully to see Bowhead Whales!

30^th August

We arrived just north of the Canyon River mouth at about 4 am and the Captain shut down all but the auxiliary engines so that we could drift slowly and near silently across the bay where Bowhead Whales regularly congregate to feed. Bowheads are renowned for being sensitive to noise so we thought that this might be our best way of seeing them, though it would take some patience as our rate of drifting seemed painfully slow. Indeed several hours went by, and despite superb calm seas and clear visibility we saw no sign of any whales. But we were rewarded by a super white phase Gyr Falcon. Like the birds a few days before, it flew up to and around the ship several times. This one though even tried to land a couple of times on the ship’s antennae and we all got amazing views before it finally thought better of it and headed off back towards shore.

We were just considering restarting the engines and moving down to Isabella Bay (a prime site for Bowheads) when Dick thought he saw a whale raise its flukes many miles away. So we carried on waiting, now scanning the horizon expectantly. But we saw nothing and eventually all drifted off to breakfast. It was only after returning from breakfast that several of us were lucky enough to see the distant flukes of a whale. It was over 10 miles away and inshore of us, so restarted the engines and made our way slowly towards the whale. It took over an hour to get close enough to start seeing blows, and eventually we found realised that there was in fact a couple of groups of animals – probably totalling seven animals.

As we got closer we were briefly distracted by another Gyr Falcon, this time sat on a splendid iceberg, which we circled once to watch and photograph.

We homed in on a group of about three or four whales and slowly got closer and closer, eventually getting good views as they surfaced and blew at fairly frequent intervals. Frustratingly they were always facing away from us and we couldn’t see their arched jawline, but we could see their characteristically double-humped appearance, rotund barrel-shaped bodies and absence of a dorsal fin – so they were definitely Bowheads! We watched a few of them for at least an hour down to a few hundred metres on occasion, before we decided to move on and leave them. Strangely enough they had not raised their flukes since our first distant sightings. This might have been because we were surprisingly close to shore and they were probably feeding over relatively shallow water.

It was a truly memorable and pretty unique experience to see such rare whales so well for so long. Indeed it was a life’s ambition fulfilled for several of us, including Hadoram Shirihai who was one the boat with us to specially see this whale – it being the only baleen whale in the world that he hadn’t seen. So as only befits such an occasion the expedition staff cracked open a couple of bottles of champagne, which we drank out on deck, it being such a fine, still and mild morning. The magnificent mountains and snow fields of Baffin Island formed a spectacular back drop, and as we headed slowly around the bay we found a distant Polar Bear to further entertain us.

But sadly this was to be our last Polar Bear sighting as the Captain now turned the ship and we headed out to sea and southwest to cross the Davis Straits to Greenland. This stretch of sea is often rough so we were very relieved to be once again enjoying beautifully smooth conditions. Bird numbers at sea were relatively low, except for Little Auks which were thinly scattered as far as the eye could see. Many of us managed to get superb views of them from the lower bow decks as they would often stay on the water as we approached – only diving seconds before we reached them. Two beautiful Long-tailed Skuas also obliged us with a close flypast.

To round of the day we were treated to a superb sunset over the distant craggy mountains of Baffin Island. We looked forward to another day at sea crossing the Davis Straights – hopefully with some more cetaceans if the smooth seas remained.

31^st August

We were once again spoilt with another beautiful day at sea, with virtually no wind, glassy surface conditions and only a slight swell. Birding and whale watching was slow at first but around mid-morning we suddenly found ourselves almost surrounded by cetacean blows. It took a while to work out what everything was, but eventually we concluded that we had 3 Minke Whales and a Fin Whale around. Unfortunately the Fin Whale kept its distance and disappeared, but we managed to obtain superb views of one Minke. The Captain did an amazing job of manoeuvring the ship in response to our directions so that we could get a good look at it. It was feeding avidly and seemed completely unconcerned by our presence – often choosing to turn and swim towards us and then diving just underneath the ship. We had excellent views of its head and rostrum as it often partially lunged out of the water, and in the clear sea we could see the white bands on its pectoral fins.

By the afternoon we could see Greenland and found ourselves in the early evening just off the coast of Disco Bay. Here we came across a group of 3 Fin Whales and 2-4 Humpback Whales feeding close inshore and amongst a spectacular collection of icebergs. We couldn’t get much closer as we were alongside shallow uncharted waters. The Humpbacks mysteriously disappeared, but we got good views through the telescopes of the feeding Fin Whales. We watched them repeatedly surfacing and lunge feeding for well over half and hour - a great way to end a splendid day at sea.

1^st September

The good weather finally broke and we had a very wet and windy day.

Overnight we had crossed Disco Bay and we awoke to find ourselves anchored just off the fishing town of Illussisat. After breakfast we took the short zodiac ride ashore to explore the town and walk to a viewpoint to overlook the nearby Jackobshavn Ice Fjord. The town is quite large and would have been worth more exploration if it had not been for the incessant rain. It was certainly unlike anything most of us had seen before, comprising brightly coloured buildings scattered across the rocky tundra. But it was the dogs that were most memorable. The town’s 4,000 inhabitants are reputed to have around 6,000 sled dogs, and most are kept outside and chained up. They watched us as we trudged past, but despite the dismal conditions looked content with their outdoor existence.

We walked out to the nearby hillside to overlook the glaciers and ice fjord. The walk crossed some interesting boggy tundra and we saw good numbers of Ravens, Northern Wheatears and Snow Buntings, together with a few Common Redpolls (Greenland form) and Lapland Buntings.

Despite the wind and rain the view of the Jackobshavn Ice Fjord was staggering. It is truly immense, and gives rise to one percent of the world’s icebergs! The icebergs originate from Greenland's second-fastest producing glacier, which is located at the head of the fjord and produces 20 million tons of ice every 24 hours. Some of the icebergs produced are the size of football stadiums! The larger icebergs then run aground, trapped by the old terminal moraine that rises to just 200 metres below the surface of the water. Eventually they break up, free themselves and float off, drifting out into the West Greenland Current that will carry them north, then west across the top of the Davis Strait and back south down the east side of Baffin island and into the Labrador Current. Eventually the longest surviving of them will melt into the Gulf Stream.

On the way back many of us visited the museum where there were displays of local culture, costumes and wildlife including a number of specimens of Arctic birds and skins of several species of seal. We then thankfully returned to the warm ship to dry and out and warm up with a hearty lunch before once again venturing out – this time to see the Ice Fjord from the zodiacs. Although it was still raining we had a wonderful cruise amongst the ice flows. Even in the dull conditions many had that wonderful blue glow about them. Their weird shapes were also astonishing to behold – many formed natural arches or had huge splintered teetering turrets of ice that appeared ready to fall at any moment. Despite being thoroughly cold and wet it was with great reluctance that we headed back to the ship. The hot coffee and cakes on our return was, however, some compensation.

The ship headed out of Disco Bay and south along the Greenland coast passing by a multitude of islands, bays and fjords. Unfortunately it continued to rain for the rest of the day but despite this and choppy seas we did manage to spot a couple Humpbacks Whales. Again the Captain managed get us good views of them for a half and hour or so, despite the wind and choppy seas.

Overnight we sailed south into less sheltered waters and encountered our only really rough seas of the trip, with 30-40 knot winds from abeam and a heavy swell.

2^nd September

As morning arrived we were relieved to find that the rain had stopped and the wind and seas were abating. We took advantage of this to carry on looking for seabirds and cetaceans on our last day at sea. Although we saw particularly large numbers of Kittiwakes and Northern Fulmars we saw little else, except for a juvenile Lapland Bunting which appeared on board and initially caused some excitement as it only gave brief and tantalising views at first.

At about 12.30 we arrived at the small fishing village of Itilleq, some 49 km south of Sisimiut on a small island at the mouth of the Itilleq Fjord. In the sunny weather and with its colourful buildings set amongst some wonderful alpine looking mountains it was a wholly different experience to our landing at Ilulissat the previous day. Indeed, it was so warm it was hard to believe that we were still in the Arctic (though only just).

We firstly had a pleasant walk around town and had good views of some tame Greenland race Common Redpolls, as well as Snow Buntings and Northern Wheatear. Ravens were common and there were several Glaucous and Iceland Gulls around the harbour. Later on we took a very pleasant and relaxed zodiac cruise out to the nearby fjord, and although wildlife was fairly sparse the scenery and beautiful weather made it into a wonderful experience.

Late in the afternoon we returned to ship and then headed back out to sea before turning south again. Once away from the shelter of land we found that the seas were still quite rough from the previous night’s gale so it was difficult conditions for watching for cetaceans. There were also few birds about, but a very close adult Pomarine Skua was a welcome sight and a good way to finish off our sea watching for the trip.

As it was out last night we were all treated to an extra hearty Captain’s dinner. Then we were lucky enough to have the best way of all to finish such a trip – a wonderful showing of the northern lights. At first some eerie greenish patches of light appeared in the south sky, which then joined up to form vast twisting and dancing spirals of luminescence that arched from horizon to horizon. The lights constantly changed into a myriad of patterns, occasionally forming strange hanging curtains of red and violet, or vast hands of light that appeared to shine up into the heavens like search lights. And in gaps between these shimmering curtains and trails of light the stars burned like ice jewels in a pitch black sky.

By now though we were in the fjord on our way up to Kangerlussuaq and a bitterly cold wind was sweeping down it from the surrounding ice sheets. So despite this awesome light show we were eventually forced back to warmth of the bar for some final farewell drinks, including some of Dick’s wonderful single malt.

3^rd September

After a short night for many we awoke to find ourselves at anchor off Kangerlussaq. It was yet another beautiful morning with a cloudless sky (apparently not unusual for this part of Greenland) and virtually no wind. We were surrounded by what appeared to be low hills and moorland, so it looked for all the world like we were in the Western Isles of Scotland.

After breakfast we sadly disembarked the ship for the last time and said farewell to the crew and expedition staff who had looked after us all so superbly during our voyage.

But we still had some time before our flight so we were taken for a short excursion by bus into the surrounding hills. We were able to have a brief walk and enjoy the beautiful scenery of rolling hills, lakes, fjords and the distant Greenland ice gap. And from one of the hill tops we looked down onto a distant plain where through the telescope we were able to see a group of five Musk Ox. But soon it was time to head back to the airport, where after checking in we sat outside and managed to get some sunbathing in whilst we waited for the plane – yes sunbathing in Greenland!

Our plane arrived on time and we had a very pleasant flight back with marvellous views of the west Greenland coast shortly after takeoff. By early evening we were back in the hustle and bustle of a major city and checking back into the plush surroundings of the Lord Elgin Hotel. Some took an early night, but most of us took the opportunity to explore Ottawa a little and mull over some of the highlights of our trip over a beer or two. We said goodbye to James and Heather who were heading off early to the Bay of Fundy to look for Northern Right Whales.

4^th September

Some of our WildWings party decided to spend the day looking around Ottawa more thoroughly, while the rest of us headed off to Gatineau National park, just to the north of the city.

Again we were blessed with fine weather, despite a cool start to the day. Our day in the park also turned out to be extremely rewarding. It consists of a mixture of forests, rocky escarpments, wetlands, lakes, fields and streams and holds a wide variety of wildlife. We were able to see a good range birds including the diminutive Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the secretive Ovenbird and a selection of American wood warbles, some of which were in fall plumage and were a bit of an id challenge for some of us. But perhaps most memorable of all was our amazing views of a Beaver which swam close by us, oblivious to our presence at first, before suddenly disappearing with a thwack of is tail when it eventually spotted us.

After such an amazing trip to the Arctic, one might have thought that a day in the national park would have been an anti-climax. But we all enjoyed it enormously, and were sad to leave for our flight back.

It had been a wonderful trip, and one which we shall all remember with very fond memories for a variety of reasons.

Dick Filby & Graham Tucker

October 2005