September 4 - Wednesday
We cruised across the south coast of Devon Island during the night. Around 4 am, we met Hurtigruten’s MS Fram on its way to Cambridge Bay Our captain disembarked from our shop and boarded the Fram. Not to worry - a new captain had joined our ship in Cambridge Bay and we will see us safely on to Halifax.
Yesterday we visited Beechey Island and Radstock Bay (red dots on the southwest corner) and today we explored Croker Bay and Dundas Harbour in the southeast.
We cruised deep into icy Croker Bay to view glaciers flowing from the Devon Icefield.
We continued along the coast to Dundas Harbor, a ghost town in the high Arctic. Its Inuit name is Talluruti, as snow which collects in narrow gaps between the mountains resemble talluruti, the tattoos on a woman’s face.
The huts hugging the right shoreline are the remains of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police post that was established in 1924. Amazingly, the compound was assembled in a week.
Shortly after, an extended Inuit family was relocated here. They were basically sent to serve as human flagpoles, used as a claim to Canadian sovereignty in this arctic desert.
The RCMP abandoned the post in 1933 at the height of the depression. The Hudson Bay Company moved in four years later, staying until they too abandoned it (1948).
A big wind came through several years ago and blew some buildings off their foundations. Others were entirely destroyed.
One of the most northern cemeteries in Canada sits on a ridge above town. Two Mounties are buried in a fenced enclosure. A 15 year old Inuit girl is interred nearby.
Heidi (one of our cultural ambassadors) spotted a beluga whale swimming along the shore of the bay below. We walked back down to the beach and watched it swimming back and forth between us and a polar bear guard.
Belugas are more curious and friendlier than most whales, and probably was just checking out the strange intruders. Adults are between a dolphin and a small whale in size, between 10-18 feet long and up to 3500 lbs.
We also had small boat cruising in the area.
This rocky coast is a walrus hangout, but unfortunately they had all gone fishing this afternoon.
Icebergs from Croker Bay dotted the sea near Dundes Harbour. Since there were no walruses, these had to do.
In case anyone is interested as to how we get onto our zodiacs:
The lonely but lovely watch of a polar bear guard
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