Two days at sea, en route from Greenland to Canada

The Davis Strait from above

Sea days on the Explorer are filled with lectures and of course long meals. During the two days at sea we rotated between the dining room and the theater. Throughout the trip, via lectures and the daily recap & briefings, the expedition staff filled us with knowledge about their specialties. They were all quite entertaining as well as being informative. The funniest was the executive chef who gave two demonstrations during our trip, including one today on how to make German pancakes.

The food has been uniformly terrific with lots of variety and some theme dinners such as Icelandic, Danish, etc. Service is great with many of the staff greeting us by name since the second or third day. The passengers are mixing well.

A big highlight over the past two nights was the appearance of the northern lights/Aurora Borealis. The staff announced their appearance in the night over the PA, so you get up out of bed, throw on your parkas and go up on deck. Although we got some tips from Richard Sidey about how to photograph them, I have been leaving that to him and his mega equipment. At the briefing the day after their first appearance he told us that he took 2,500 plus shots the night before, 32 gig worth, and showed us a montage of them plus a preview of the voyage video he is making, which of course is fabulous and made me wonder why we are bothering to take photos at all.

From the ship's expedition log:

Day 8 - August 14, 2013 - At sea, en route to Canada

By Juan Carlos Restrepo, Geologist

 

Co-ordinates: N 60º55.5', W 052º18'
Weather: Cloudy to sunny

Air Temperature: 5ºC 

Pressure: 1002 hPa 

Wind: 18 knots

Today we spent the day the sailing west across the Davis Strait as we crossed north of the Labrador Sea from Greenland to Canada. By the end of the day, at approximately midnight, we will be sailing into Canadian waters, leaving Greenland behind.

The day started with a nice relaxing breakfast, followed by a lecture by Christian Walter entitled “August Petermann and the Second German North-Polar Expedition”. In the mid-19th century this german cartographer became very prominent in Great Britain, proposing several ways to find the lost Franklin Expedition and to reach the North Pole. He was able to organize several expeditions and today Christian spoke about the second one, as we have travelled along part of their route.

This informative lecture was followed by a very funny cooking demonstration hosted by our executive chef Christian Armster.  Christian taught our guests how to prepare some special german pancakes. People were in stitches with his witty and dry german humour.

After lunch Kara Weller presented her “Life in the Cold” lecture. Cold climates require many strategies to enable survival. Kara introduced us to many different animal species and the ways in which they manage to live when the temperature drops.

And then in the late afternoon, continuing with the life in cold places theme, Uli Kunz gave a lecture entitled “Cold Water Worlds - into the depths of the North Atlantic”. Uli, a marine biologist, scientific diver and underwater photographer, goes each year on scuba diving expeditions to remote corners of the world, from submerged cave systems in Mexico to Coral Reefs in Norway. Yes, I did say that, Norway. Uli recently took part in an expedition that discovered some amazing coral reef systems in the Norwegian fjords. He told us about it and showed us some amazing photographs of this expedition and his diving trips to Svalbard and other places in the North Atlantic.

As the day progressed the conditions continued to improve. The wind subsided as did the swell, and by the mid afternoon the sky had cleared up to a cloudless blue by dusk. The sunset today was magnificent and I saw the best and clearest green flash I have ever seen. Sometimes you doubt as to whether you really saw the green flash or not. Today there was no doubt.  It was visible for about 2 seconds before the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

But that was not the end of it... By about 10 pm it was getting dark, and given the clear skies we were on the lookout for northern lights. I am not kidding when I say that I have never seen such an active and colourful display of aurora borealis. Robin made an announcement and just as all our guests were on the aft deck, the lights shone really bright and dance 

Frobisher Bay

Day 9 - August 15, 2013 - At sea, en route to Canada

By Travis Wadeley, Staff Assistant

 

Co-ordinates: 62˚16’06”N 65˚30’08”W
Weather: Misty to sunny
Air Temperature: 5ºC
Pressure: 1001 hPa 
Wind: 35.2 km/hr


Today we finished crossing the Davis Strait, sailing into Frobisher Bay, on our way to Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut, where at approximately 9 AM we will be collecting the Canadian officials from Iqualuit to officially start the Canadian portion of this voyage. 

Nunavut

The start of the day was slower than normal as a few guests decided to take a longer time in to lie and relax from a late night. Last night, the Aurora Borealis was spotted off the stern of Silver Explorer and many guests and crew spent a couple of hours staring into the clear night sky to witness one of nature’s most awesome spectacles. Luckily, after a good hearty breakfast, everyone on board was ready to tackle the day.

The day was misty however, so many guests decided to enjoy the intellectual offerings on board, starting with a performance from our very own rock star, Juan Carlos Restrepo, a geologist by trade. Juan’s lecture, aptly named “Geology Rocks,” was setup as an introduction to the basic terminology and concepts needed to understand the geological features of the places we were exploring this voyage. I’m sure the information learned will be a great conversation filler at any future cocktail party. 

We then moved onto “The Weird & Wonderful,” a lecture from our marine biologist, Robin Aiello. This lecture moved away from the normal creatures that one would associate with the Arctic region and focused on the interesting lifestyles of some of the Arctic’s oddest sea creatures; Pteropods, Ctenofores, and Giant Squid. At the conclusion of this brilliant trip inside “The Weird & Wonderful,” it was time for a well-deserved lunch.

During lunch we managed to sail out of the mist and into clear sunny skies. Many guests took to the outer decks to enjoy the day, realizing afterwards that it was a good idea to bundle up. It was not too long before the coast of Canada was spotted and an end to our time at sea was nearing, but there was no more time for sightseeing as many guests were filling the theatre for the final lecture of the day, “Franklin expedition: The Face that Launched a 100 Ships.”

Relics of Franklin's 1845 expedition,
 from the Illustrated London News, 1854

The lecture, by historian Peter Damisch, follows the disappearance of the Franklin Expedition, which was the highest technological voyage of its time, sent out to achieve the first Northwest Passage across the Arctic. The mystery around this disappearance led to more than 40 search expeditions, enabling much more exploration of the frozen north than previously imagined. In true mystical fashion, Peter left us hanging for the sequel, “Frozen in Time,” which will conclude what was determined to have led to the disappearance and downfall of the Franklin Expedition.

To finish off the evening, a recap was done of some of the exciting things experienced thus far on the voyage, such as the explanation behind the origin of the Aurora Borealis. Guests were then treated to an excerpt of the voyage DVD, compiled by our amazing videographer and photographer, Richard Sidey. Afterwards, our Venetian Society members were welcomed to a cocktail party in their honour, followed by a Venetian Society dinner for everyone; all while sailing along to our next adventure.