Baffin Bay

Seeing a lone iceberg glistening under the sun soon this morning was a good start to the day. That was at 9:17a. A little more than an hour later, the seascape grew misty … but the light was bright … the sun looked like it was trying to breakthrough. By 1:00p, the mist was gone … but the skies had grown overcast and dull. We even had some rain. At least the motion of the ocean, which was better than yesterday but still noticeable, calmed down further as the day progressed.

This being a day at sea — and with not much more than expansive views of the blue waters of Baffin Bay stretching in every direction — there were a number of lectures on the schedule.

Fabrice kicked things off with “Life in the Freezer: Birds and Mammals’ Adaptation to the Cold” … morphological, physiological, and behavioral. Ken followed with “Mounties, Mushing & Muktuk” … what was the RCMP doing up here? … how did they survive and what did they learn? … these were the questions he pondered. Finally, Dave presented “Editing the Arctic” … covering basic editing tasks he undertakes on pretty much every photo he snap … good tips, and especially useful since he uses the same software I use.

But this isn’t the big story of the day that led to the title of this footprint. Nope, it surely isn’t.

Having Christian invite us to the daily recap and briefing is something we’re used to. That he said he had important news to share about the charter flights didn’t sound bad. Something in the tone of his voice after he said “we have a charter flight,” however, suggested there was a “but” that he wasn’t sharing. I could hear the “virtual groan” reverberate around the ship!

Here’s the short story … in bullets …

* We have a flight on the 16th
* Charter company cannot fly from Greenland to anywhere in Canada
* Flight will depart Kangerlussuaq around 5:45p
* Arrival Airport will be Niagara Falls International
* Buses will take us to the Sheraton at Toronto Pearson
* Arrival at hotel expected around midnight
* Everyone must complete ArriveCAN again
* Alternate arrangements for those who don’t have visas to enter the USA
* Work session scheduled for those requiring ETAS to enter the USA

There you have it. Another jiggle in the travel plan.

For a minute, Mui and I thought about flying from Niagara Falls to Denver and skipping the bus ride. We quickly scratched that idea. Not only do we have a bag at the Sheraton, but our flight home on the 17th is already set. No need to further complicate things.

We have two more days before we arrive in Kangerlussuaq. Could anything else possibly go wrong? Fingers crosssed that it won’t. Enough jiggles already.Read more