Beechey Island, Canada

After sailing overnight, we arrived at Beechey Island. It is the final place that the Franklin Expedition of 1845 ended when their ships were frozen in the ice and everyone died in the extreme cold of the arctic winters. They were looking for the elusive northwest passage from the east to the west as a trade route. There are graves on the island marking some of the men buried there and monuments to their memory.
We took zodiacs to land on the rocky beach there and walked on clearly marked trails over the beach to the graves. Our guides described their journey and final burial spots. Before we were allowed on the island, expedition team members were sent with rifles to scout the area to make sure it was safe for us and there were no polar bears, musk oxes or seals around. They watched over the area while we were on land just in case any wildlife showed up for us as a quick meal.
We also took a high speed boat around the island to get a better look of the mountains made of millennia of silt deposits by glaciers melting into the bay and ocean.
On our way out of the bay the captain took the ship into the ocean ice field. The ship is special since it has a reinforced hull to protect it from the sea ice and small icebergs. We could see the ice crack and move away from the ship as we pushed through the sea ice. There were some seals in the distance laying on the sea ice. Probably just resting. Since they were far out from land they did not have to worry about being hunted by the polar bear.Read more