In search of a walrus.

[drron29]

We were then taken to the information centre,a gift shop and community centre.So more of Arviat-

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[drron29]

So pictures in the community centre and the last of Arviat-

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Again I'll end this one with another of the crew,Alfred.Again from Manilla.Married with 2 children-5 and 12.On his 4th contract with SS.Previously worked for Princess.

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[WesW]

DrRon, truly wonderful locale &people (native & SS crew member) pix with poignant captions--thank you.

[duct tape]

Wow! I have waited weeks to give myself the present of reading this thread. Just home from the Cloud and snuggled in (jet lag). Started at pg 1 and just got to this point. You are doing your regular,terrific job of taking me along on your ( and Rojan's) journey. Thank you a hundred times for the visual commentary as well as the actual visuals. We sissies may never get there but I will always count on you to take me where I have not been. Keep up the good work. Where will you take us next? Thanx again.

[duct tape]

Glad you enjoyed some of my favorite people, Ricky and Jack and Ann from TX.

[spinnaker2]

great to see the picture of alfred...he is very funny! enjoyed your photos and succinct commentary...i told rachel i was going to get out my parka and read these posts.

[Herman The Cat]

Wow! I have waited weeks to give myself the present of reading this thread. Just home from the Cloud and snuggled in (jet lag). Started at pg 1 and just got to this point. You are doing your regular,terrific job of taking me along on your ( and Rojan's) journey. Thank you a hundred times for the visual commentary as well as the actual visuals. We sissies may never get there but I will always count on you to take me where I have not been. Keep up the good work. Where will you take us next? Thanx again.

 

Ditto! We are just home from the Cloud as well but I am snuggled in back at work instead this morning.

Your commentary is wonderful as are the visuals. And ditto, as we sissies may never get there either, so we thank you for allowing us to travel vicariously!

[RachelG]

Enjoying you pics, drron. Albert is my favorite. It is our second cruise with him, and he is amazing, seems to be everywhere.

[jpalbny]

Ron, great trip and thanks for sharing. Hope you enjoyed Banff and the surrounding area as much as we just enjoyed Glacier NP in Montana! If you're posting a review of the rest of your (land-based) trip elsewhere, let us know.

 

Only 6 weeks now until we're sailing on Silver Explorer - and your review has us quite excited to be back on board. Can't wait!

[drron29]

When I got back to the landing site it was oibvious that the wind and swell had increased considerably.We were told initially it would be a 40 minute wait for the zodiacs.About 20 minutes later told that the second group's tour had been abandoned and we now had to wait as the Explorer repositioned to enable it to drift when we returned.I wasn't reassured when our young guide told me it was 8 years ago to the day that her grandfather had drowned a mile out and the weather was the same as now.

So now a 4.5 mile ride back.As the wind and swell were coming from behind the ride was pretty good.However when we got close we had to stop and wait our turn.Then the waves were breaking over the zodiac.

 

We finally got tied up at the side gate.The first 2 got off and I was next.I had stepped onto the side of the zodiac,was hanging on to the crew at the gate when I heard a shout-Stop.So for at least 30 seconds I was hanging on whilst the zodiac rose and fell about 6 foot at a time.Every time it started to come up I got a load of water in to my groin.I was getting pretty wet.I was glad when told to jump.

 

So a good long soak in a warm tub before lunch and a post prandial snooze.The second singing demonstration was cancelled and we steamed off towards Churchill.Once again the team dined together and another great night.

 

Then the Northern lights decided to put on a final performance even though the sunset colours were still present.Fantastic.So finish the day with some pictures-

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[drron29]

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So only Churchill to go.

[patnlcc]

It is my life's ambition to see the Northern Lights, Ron, your photos are simply stunning.

[drron29]

JP I will be doing a report on the rest of my trip.Haven't started yet though.Did see a grizzly near Jasper.Good to be in a car and not hiking!

 

Pat you definitely will have to make the effort.Northern Canada turns out to be apretty good place to see them and in August/September so not so cold.I did see them again in Jasper but not a great sighting.

 

Saturday and we woke up in Churchill.Fortnately we were on the right side for the whales-actually Port side ie the side away from the wharf-see these nautical terms can end up being down right confusing.

So here is what we saw from our verandah-

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And then it was into the zodiacs.We went with the son of the owner of the agency SS was using here.A beautiful day and we were in for a bonus-

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[drron29]

There were 4 different bears close to the shoreline.As you can see some of the zodiacs got close to the shore.These were the Explorer's zodiacs.We had a Russian couple in our zodiac.The fellow kept telling our guide to go in closer.He explained that the others were closer to the bears than allowed and also were in danger of collecting a rock.Our fellow kept insisting and when he couldn't get his way started telling the other passengers to move or sit down.All but 1 in our zodiac were a little annoyed.

But some more bears-

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This last fellow was looking towards the old English fort probably hoping a tourist would wander a little far from the group.

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We then went up river.Just an amazing experience.Beluga whales everywhere.Many would come towards the zodiacs looking us over.

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[drron29]

The young whales are grey-

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These gulls were about to get a surprise-

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[drron29]

The last of the whales-

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This fellow came when our guide put a microphone in the water and played the sounds to us.It came past a couple of times and I thought it was looking straight at me.

 

It was now time to head back to the Explorer.As one several of us sat on the side the Russian fellow had originally been on.He protested that now he would have to stand up on the way back.No one understood a word he said.

[patnlcc]

Laugh out loud!

[drron29]

I will try to finish this off today.

On Saturday afternoon we took a bus tour of Churchill's"sights".First stop was Snares "beach"-

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Called Snares beach because of these-

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These were to catch polar bears.They are now allowed to stroll the beach-we did have 2 bear guards.

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Evidence of a recent polar bear rest site.They now prefer to rest under rocks so the wont be seen by the helicopters.

We saw lots of geese-

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And a ship wreck.Said to have lost steering in a storm.The locals have a different explanation related to the fact the mine it served closed 3 weeks after the beaching and it's high insurance value-

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[drron29]

We saw the old rocket range-

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And the Polar bear correctional facility-

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There we saw the modern method of trapping a polar bear.All that was missing was the dead seal to attract the bear-

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The airport was next to here and I was lucky enough to get a shot of the next flight awaiting permission from the tower to take off-

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[drron29]

We were then shown the old gun battery at the mouth of the river-

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This overlooked the fort on the opposite bank-

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Then it was back to the ship for our final dinner ,amarula and then the sad packing of luggage.

Sunday and the time had come the walrus said to leave the ship at 0930.We were bussed to town for a 90 minute walk around.A few gift stores open.Rojaan got a few knickknacks.

One store had an unigue Inuit Ivory piece-

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And next to it another unique piece-

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But the stars of the morning were the sled dog puppies-

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They followed me up a side street but I had to explain Australian Customs wouldn't let me keep them so they returned to mother.

[drron29]

There was an interesting T-shirt-

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And we had our last polar bear encounters-

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We then had a light early lunch at the seaport hotel.However a thick fog rolled in so our departure for the airport was delayed.So we had time to smell the flowers-

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Fortunately the fog lifted and when we arrived at the airport our Enerjet 737 had just arrived-

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We had a quick meeting with Rachel and George,Chef Grant and Stefan.

Seating allocation was by deck so Deck 7 passengers were in the front seats so as deck 5 we were in row 4.I had the lucky middle seat.In front of us were our friends the Russians who as soon as the plane started rolling down the runway reclined their seats.Fortunately the recline is no more than a couple of inches so no real problem.

Served a beverage.Uneventful flight.

But a word of warning-the charter flights went to the General Aviation terminal.it was nearly an hour until all bags were unloaded from the plane and then onto th bus for the main terminal.It is a reasonable distance by road.So in the future if taking a charter from Churchill allow plenty of time for an onward flight.

 

So an enjoyable cruise.Greenland was spectacular.Seeing the walrus and he Northern lights satisfied my aims for the cruise.

Churchill with the belugas and polar bears was also worthwhile.

 

I will later post a link to my report of the rest of our trip.

The next cruise report wont be until September 2014 and once again on the Explorer-Otaru(Japan) to Guam and on to Fiji via PNG,the Solomons and Vanuatu.

[duct tape]

But, Ron, that is a year from now!!!

[lkbside]

Ha, ha - those Russians! When they started the check in/boarding pass distribution they did it alphabetically, first calling people whose last names began with A - D. Who jumps into line but Mme. Russian, whose last name probably starts with a Z. She was turned away - I smiled at her and said " nice try".

[Threechicks]

Ron, love your photos and commentary, especially the Canada Goose waiting for permission to take off.

[CruisinPashmina]

What wonderful pictures, what interesting commentaries! I felt right there with you and Mrs.Ron. Your posts are CC at its very best. Thank you so much!