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In the Footsteps of Franklin

July - August 2022
After eight years of being away from the polar regions, we will be scratching our "Ice Itch" with a Quark Expeditions voyage that will take us into the Canadian High Arctic. Read more
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  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    To the Canadian High Arctic We Shall Go

    January 13, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    Cold! Yes, it will be cold in the High Arctic. But we don't mind. A chance to scratch the "Ice Itch" that has been plaguing us since our first polar voyage in 2007 is worth it!

    The specific itinerary we booked with Quark Expeditions, our go-to operator for polar adventures, is called “In the Footsteps of Franklin” — a reference to the fateful and fatal British expedition that set off to explore the Northwest Passage in 1845. A little more than two months into the voyage, after being spotted in Baffin Bay one last time, the two ships simply disappeared. Until, that is, the wreck of HMS Erebus was found in 2014 and that of HMS Terror was found in 2016. Even yet, the mystery of the disappearance remains a tantalizing chapter in polar exploration history.

    No worries … we do not intend to disappear as that expedition did.

    For one thing, we have modern technology to guide us. More importantly, though, we don't have our egos invested … nothing to prove to anyone. We’re not motivated by glory-seeking. We only want a “ light adventure” in one of our favorite places in the world … the icy Arctic. We know when it’s time to bow out. And even if we don’t, Quark knows when to draw the line between adventure and safety. They will not push the boundaries as I’m sure Sir John Franklin did in his quest to be the first to make it through the famed Northwest Passage. When Arctic conditions say it is time to stop, we will heed the warnings and call a halt … reverse course if necessary. Bottom line, we will respect the “unconquerable Arctic." Respect … the ultimate essence of exploration.

    The voyage is roundtrip out of Toronto, with pre- and post-hotel stays included. We’ll be flown up to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland by charter flight and transferred to our ship via zodiac. We’re pretty familiar with this routine as the process was similar for the Greenland expedition we did in 2013 … although our base of operations then was Ottawa instead of Toronto.

    Once we sail from Kangerlussuaq, the itinerary will be flexible. After all, we’ll be at the mercy of polar weather and sea conditions … in true expedition style.

    The "hoped-for" itinerary has us heading slightly south along the Greenland coast with two stops there … one new-to-us spot and the other in Nuuk, which we stopped to explore in 2013. Nuuk is the capital of Greenland and its largest city, so I am sure we’ll find more things to see and do other than visiting the mummies of Qilakitsoq as we did the first time around.

    Next, we’ll cross the Davis Strait and begin exploring Baffin Island from south to north. Up into the Canadian High Arctic we will go. Our final stop will be Resolute. I’ve heard say — or maybe I read it somewhere — that Resolute is not the end of the world, but that you can see it from there. That says something about high up we will be. An exciting prospect even if we have already been all the way to the North Pole.

    A charter flight from Resolute will return us to Toronto where we will bid our fellow expeditioners adieu. What we will do next is TBD.    Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    Explorer Suite

    January 14, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 36 °F

    For our expedition, we opted for a cabin on deck #3 … a category that sells as an Explorer Suite. No veranda … just a picture window. The approximately 285-sq foot cabin has all the amenities we need … including heated floors in the bathroom. Now that’s a nice luxury to have up in the Arctic!Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    Reminiscing: Our Quark Polar “Chariots”

    January 15, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 37 °F

    We’ve been to the polar regions — north and south — several times since we began traveling extensively after 9/11.

    Some were land-based trips … such as the one we did in Alaska, traversing the entire state to dip our toes in the Arctic Ocean.

    Most, however, were seagoing expeditions … all but two of which were with Quark … on a variety of ships ranging from Professor Molchanov (built in 1983), which took us to the Falklands, South Georgia, and the Antarctic Peninsula; to Sea Spirit (built in 1991), which took us around coastal Greenland … west to east around the southern tip; to 50 Let Pobedy (launched in 1993), which took us all the way to the North Pole.

    None of these vessels were purpose-built for polar tourism. The Professor Molchanov began its career as a Russian research vessel … Sea Spirit as a cruise vessel … 50 Let Pobedy as a Russian nuclear ice breaker. They were chartered to take people like us to the polar regions.

    Ultramarine is different. It was purpose-built by Quark to take people like us into Arctic and Antarctic waters. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about the vessel that will take us “In the Footsteps of Franklin.” In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to just share photos of the Quark vessels that have helped us scratch our “Ice Itch.”

    (P.S. Our non-Quark expeditions were on Silversea’s Silver Explorer, which took us to Svalbard; and Oceanwide’s Ortelius, which took us from the tip of Argentina to New Zealand by way of the Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea.)    Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    Reminiscing: Where We Slept

    January 16, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F

    Quark’s Ultramarine, from what photos I’ve seen, looks to be quite different from the vessels that previously took us to the polar regions. I already reminisced about those ships. Now to take a look at our accommodations.

    Our cabins were utilitarian on Professor Molchanov and 50 Let Pobedy. Even the suite we were upgraded to on 50 Let Pobedy, which turned out to be the Chief Engineer’s cabin, cannot be described as anything but practical and functional, with the sofa serving as the second bed. These ships, after all, were designed to be “working vessels” — to conduct research in the polar regions in the case of the former, and to break a path through the thick sea ice for other vessels to follow in the case of the latter. But those cabins had everything we could possibly need on an expedition, so we were more than OK with them.

    Our cabin on Sea Spirit was more like a cruise ship cabin. Not surprising as the vessel used to be owned by Renaissance, a cruise line that went defunct in the aftermath of 9/11. Though we booked a cabin with a picture window, we were later offered an upsell to a veranda cabin, which we took since the difference in price was quite reasonable.

    What will our accommodations be like on Ultramarine? We’ll have to wait and see.    Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    DEN to YYZ … ✔️

    January 19, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 28 °F

    Booked our airfare to Toronto today. That’s the YYZ in the title of this footprint. The DEN? Well, there are no nonstop flights out of our hometown airport, so we decided to fly out of Denver.

    We had some electronic travel certificates in our United Airlines wallet from previous flight changes and cancelations. Thus we decided to use them for this flight. Our departure date is set as 29 July, which will give us a few extra days in Toronto to do some sightseeing and to reconnect with friends. We’re especially excited about the latter and hope that our schedules will mesh long enough to at least have dinner together.

    You’ll notice the title of this footprint doesn’t return us to DEN. That’s because we have subsequent plans that will take us across the Atlantic. So, we’ll actually be flying out from YYZ to … hmmm … not ready to share those plans yet 😉😀    Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    A Place to Sleep in Toronto … ✔️

    February 2, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 14 °F

    … and eat … and do laundry … and relax.

    Since we added a few days on our own in Toronto before we join our expedition group, today Mui found us a place to stay … a condo in what is known as the city’s entertainment district. The view and the balcony with comfy seating is what sold me on the place when Mui showed me the VRBO listing.

    Now we need to decide if we need to rent a car. Or if we can use Uber and public transportation to get around to the places we want to check out. That’s a decision for another day.    Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    Reminiscing: The Ice

    February 12, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 36 °F

    Honestly, there is such a thing as an ice virus! And once you catch it, there is no treatment. You have to live with it 🤪

    In our case, we were “infected” when we did our very first glacier cruise out of Whittier, Alaska. That was in 2001. Since then, we’ve been back to Alaska several times. And to the polar regions as well. But in this footprint, I am only reminiscing about our Quark expeditions … to the Antarctic, Greenland, and North Pole.

    Saying that I have thousands of “ice” images would not be an understatement. So, picking just three images to share here was more or less like throwing a dart blindfolded and using whatever photo that was thus selected. As it turns out, they were detail shots rather than expansive ice views.

    I never tire of ice images … and hope to add a couple thousand more to my collection in August.    Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    AC Planning to Get Us to Toronto Earlier

    February 15, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 55 °F

    With plans for our EuroCrossing, the earliest of this year’s trips complete, today I turned my attention to the next international trip on the calendar — our Quark expedition to the High Arctic.

    Coincidentally, I got an email from AC [Air Canada] today. You got it. A schedule change. But nothing major. Our new ETD has us flying out of DEN just 15 minutes earlier … and arriving at YYZ earlier by the same amount of time. These kinds of changes I don’t mind. We always give ourselves plenty of time to get to the airport anyway, so no change in our planned departure from the house.

    With a Quark expedition, I don’t have a great deal of planning to do. They will take charge once we join the group. I’ll do some reading of articles on the Quark website that pertain to our itinerary … watch some video clips … read a couple of books about the Franklin Expedition. In fact, I just finished reading “Ice Ghosts,” which documents the various search efforts for the lost expedition … over a period of some 160+ years … concluding with the ones that found HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

    Most of my research and planning will center on our pre-expedition days in Toronto. We already have a place to stay. So, my focus will be on figuring out places that are of interest to us and coming up with a loose plan of what to see and do. Unless advance-purchase admission is required, we’ll play it all by ear in Toronto. I will also check out local transportation options since we have pretty much decided against renting a car … unless, that is, I can find better rental rates. At the moment, $100+ per day seems a bit excessive to me.

    On the COVID-19 front. Entry requirements for Canada have eased a bit. An antigen test taken the day before will now suffice. The requirements might ease again by July to remove the testing entirely 🤞🏻. I’ll look into all that in the weeks leading up to our departure.    Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    Reminiscing: The Wildlife

    February 21, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 52 °F

    One of the things we most enjoy about our polar expeditions is the wildlife encounters.

    It's amazing really to see how comfortable the wildlife can be with the presence of a ship or human beings in their domain. Of course, there are strict rules by which we abide to make sure the animals are not stressed by our presence.

    Today's reminiscence, probably the last one for this trip, focuses on some of the wildlife we've encountered on our Quark expeditions.

    P.S. Let me remind everyone ... there are NO penguins in the Arctic. The one image I included here was taken on South Georgia Island, which was on the Antarctic itinerary of our first Quark expedition in 2007. Were there other wildlife encounters on that trip. Plenty, but since this year's expedition is going to take us north, I decided to only share the one (actually two) photo.    Read more

  • Two to TravelIn the Footsteps of Franklin

    Cha-Ching ... Quark Paid Off

    March 29, 2022, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    Any other time, I'd play around on the computer and come up with an image to include with this post. At the moment, however, we are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, sailing towards Funchal, Madeira ... the next port of call on our European Crossing. The internet signal is not the greatest. So, I'm going to skip browsing the internet.

    Besides, photo or not, the end result is that our Quark expedition to the Canadian High Arctic is now paid off. I managed to do so by calling the Quark agent I've been working with when there was a decent wi-fi signal earlier today.

    Thus ... another checkmark on the items to do for this adventure has been "virtually" placed. Next ... well, who knows? I think everything else can wait until we get home in early May.    Read more

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