Ulukhaktok Victoria Island

We are finally free of the ice packs and can sail at the appropriate speeds. There are a lot of areas where there is a 10 knot speed limit on shipping to try to avoid impacts with marine life. After a leisurely morning where I attended a lecture on Roald Amundsen’s life, we arrived at Ulukhaktok for our now first shore landing starting just after 2pm. As you can see by my pictures it’s quite small with a population of around 400 Inuit people. I didn’t go ashore as it was a beach landing in full gear and there were some places where they requested that the muck boots be removed before entry. Not an easy task at the best of times. I spent about an hour outside on deck 10 taking photos and watching the transfer of guests in the zodiacs. There was a hill climb for those more energetic people (with the boots on), demonstrations of dancing, local crafts and a guided walking tour which was meant to take 90 minutes. People could return to the ship whenever they wished and there was a steady stream back of zodiacs from quite soon after all guest who were landing had been taken over. While the temperature was around 14 Celsius, the wind chill brought that down and I eventually retreated inside to the lounge. I was joined by Joyce (from Edinburgh) as she is not well and is taking it quietly. All were back on board early and we were sailing by 6.30pm.
After dinner, the crew band set up in the lounge and treated us to a rather fun filled evening of songs, dancing and general entertainment. There was a short pause about half way through as there were beluga whales along side (small white dots and spouts). It’s always nice to see the crew in different situations. Guilia, our Italian polar bear expert, belts out a fairly good tune. Not too sure about the boys but they were certainly enthusiastic and a lot of fun. I tried to attach some videos but they didn’t work - sorry.Read more