Our clocks moved ahead another hour last night, but I somehow woke up early enough to catch the sun creeping above the sea, with ice floes to the left.
An announcement from the bridge sent me outside in my pajamas and expedition jacket to the opposite side to catch a glimpse of Prince Leopold Island through snow flurries.
The spectacular 300 meter (1,000 ft) cliffs are home to a bird sanctuary. Over 150,000 pairs of seabirds nest here in the summer, then migrate south (some, extraordinarily far south) in the Arctic winter.
Two breeds of birds self-segregate on ice floes. A few outliers can’t quite choose.
We are in a different environment here. It is more rugged, colder. The geology is different, too, as since yesterday we are seeing high cliffs and sea ice. Sea birds seek out the cliffs for nesting high above predators; the flat islands we saw on the first half of our trip wouldn’t work for them.
It suddenly felt and looked like the Arctic.
This morning our ship was south of Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island in the world. We’ll visit the eastern end with its glaciers and icecap tomorrow.
South coast, Devon Island
Tucked off the southwest corner of Devon Island by Barrow Strait, little Beechey Island is an important site to those interested in polar exploration history.
Franklin’s ships HMS Erebus and Terror wintered here in 1845-46. Three members of the Franklin expedition are buried here and Amundsen stopped here as a sign of respect to Franklin on his historic transit of the Northwest Passage.
Beechey Island
Expedition team preparing the striated site for our landing. Furthest north landing for our expedition, 74 degrees, 43 minutes.
Our expedition archaeologist was involved with the 1980s excavations of the Franklin Expedition graves for study by a forensic anthropologist, so Chuck was very familiar with the site.
The original headstones were removed in the 1970s for preservation. They’ve been replaced by oak headstones with bronze plaques.
Amazingly, rings of rocks remain (middle foreground), marking the spots where Franklin’s crew had erected and weighted down their tents.
We left Beechey Island late afternoon, and headed west along the southern edge of Devon island to Radstock Bay. The bay is rich in wildlife. Fledglings from bird colonies are fodder for hungry polar bears. Belugas and narwhals are often sighted.
A post-dinner zodiac cruise was scheduled, but as winds had kicked up, that was canceled. We were compensated by a muskox ambling along a low slope. And our highest point north by ship: 74 degrees 51 minutes.
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