Crocker Bay & Dundas Harbour

Plan A was to sail overnight from Prince Leopold Island and arrive at Crocker Bay at 8 am and do a sail by of the glacier in the bay at 10am. Then we would sail around the ‘corner’ to Dundas Harbour to do some afternoon landings to see the abandoned RCMP station/buildings. Well, the weather intervened again. When we entered Crocker Bay there was a lot of glacial ice plus strong winds (40-50 knots) so the captain deemed it too risky for the ship and turned around. Dundas Harbour was much more sheltered from the winds so we went straight there. It was cold, raining (sleet), choppy and eventually snowed. A lot of guests decided to forego the landing and stayed on board. Those that did decide to venture out came back cold and wet. Some guests were so wet when they reached the shore that they got in the next zodiac and came back. The rest of us are waiting for the official photos to see the RCMP Station.
We left Dundas Harbour about 6pm and headed across Lancaster Sound to Pond Inlet. As we left the shelter of the harbour and hit open seas (for the first time since Alaska) we were met by gale force winds, very lumpy seas and the ship did this significant roll to the starboard side. Luckily I was sitting down at the time - in the lounge - but there was this enormous crash from the bar as glasses, cups and bottles went flying. The staff cleared everything up in a very short period of time and resumed serving drinks. It always amazes me how easily they can continue moving around, carrying trays of drinks and not spill anything. There was snow for a while and icebergs nearby. We had a very ‘bouncy’ evening but still managed the evenings entertainment of marine Poetry by crew initially and guests who had googled their favourite maritime poems. There was also the odd Spike Milligan thrown in for good measure.
The photos are very grey but this is how the day was. The murcky water is due to glacial runoff apparently.Read more