Canadidan Arctic - Croker Bay and Dundas Harbour

Our last two stops on Devon Island are Croker Bay and Dundas Harbour.  Croker Bay is an Arctic waterway off the coast of Devon Island just a short distance from Powell Inlet.  We visited after our hike on Powell Inlet.  It was late in the day and the light was poor, as you can see from the photos.   The weather did not permit an originally planned zodiac cruise so the captain steered the Ocean Endeavour through the ice to let us see the glacier from the ship.  It was a spectacular show that brought us close enough to the glacier to see some calving activity then took us through the sea ice and icebergs.  

This iceberg on the way to Croker Bay reminded me of a Henry Moore sculpture

The glacier in Croker Bay - I had thought this is the width of the glacier, but as we rounded  the corner, there was twice the width on the other side!

One end of the glacier

The main face of the glacier

A fulmar flying in front of the glacier

As we moved further into the bay, there were a lot of ice and icebergs

This is not the end of the glacier.  It seemed to stretch on and on...

...one tongue stuck out after another.  Would have loved to see a drone view of the glacier.

The visit to Croker Bay was the end of an exciting day on Devon Island.  The last stop at Dundas Harbour the following day was an anti-climax, not to mention it was wet with sleet and rain - an altogether forgettable experience.  The swells prevented us from landing close to the Thule settlement that we were supposed to visit so we did a long hike to the settlement and back through wet bogland.  At the end of the excursion, everyone was wet and exhausted.  There was an RCMP outpost on the island but I did not have the energy to hike down and back so I gave it a pass.  It was a relief the following day was a sea day!

Dundas Harbour - the kayakers (you can vaguely see them in the bay) were able to have some fun in spite of the wet weather - afterall they were dressed for it!

Storage houses at the Thule settlement

The one and only hill in the area - as usual a bear guard on duty at the top - it must have been hard standing up here for hours in the wet weather.  And we were complaining down on the ground...

Our Inuit guide Suzie explaining the Thule settlement

This was the entrance to the house

View of the harbour

Odd outcrops on the ground

This is a view of Dundas Harbour from the top of the ridge.  The beach where we landed is on the left.  The RCMP outpost is on the right.  After the hike to the Thule settlement and back, I was soaked so decided a distant shot of the outpost will do - surely you can see the speck that's the hut on the right?!  ;-)  This was our last hike in the Canadian Arctic.