Foxe Basin: Back to the Ice
The northern lights brightened the sky last night/early morning as we left Hall Beach on the Melville Peninsula, and brought us into Wednesday in style. A pale ribbon of light intensified as we watched, with green swirls and columns filling the skies above the bow, rewarding those who had stayed up on deck shivering.
We woke to another brilliant morning as we cruised back through Foxe Basin towards the ice. With Kisa’s sharp eyes we soon had some walruses in our sights, hauled out on the multi-year ice, basking in the sun; and we headed slowly towards them. Young walruses, identifiable by their smaller size and emerging tusks, nestled between adults and in another group one youngster was seen nursing. A presentation on the Hudson’s Bay Company brought people briefly indoors, but more walruses lured them back on deck after lunch when Kisa again sighted a group of six or seven on the ice. A solitary Canada goose stood sentinel on the same floe beside them but others were seen in flight together with glaucous gulls and Arctic jaegers.
A look back at the early days of National Geographic Magazine was presented by Gil Grosvenor and was followed by a lively discussion with guests about its future direction. Once again the galley staff produced a treat in the form of glögg and cardamom buns during teatime on the sundeck.
Recap became hilarious with naturalists vs. guests in a round of Liar’s Club where unlikely definitions vied with true definitions of obscure words – it was, of course, a draw. Meanwhile the ship continued on its way to the next stop at Cape Dorset.
