Nfld & Labrador - Iqaluit

 This trip description would not be complete without some photos of Iqaluit where we disembarked.  Iqaluit, on Baffin Island, is the capital of Nunavut at the head of Frobisher Bay and reachable only by air or sea.  We were there for a few hours and had a bus tour of the town before going to the airport.  Many of us went into the visitor centre to get our Arctic Circle Adventurer certificate.  

The most striking building we saw in town is the Anglican church St. Jude's and beside it the elementary school   Office buildings were not tall but some were quite colourful.  We were taken up to view point to get a view of Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park and the city.  This is just a quick snapshot of the city to wrap up the trip.  

Iqaluit from the ship

The Visitor Centre

St. Jude's Anglican Cathedral

The elementary school

One building that caught my eye

Viewpoint at Sylvia Grinnell Park - tidal flats and waterfalls

White campion

A trail in the park

Iqaluit Airport

A final concert as we waited for the plane to Ottawa

This is the end of the trip - our "pilgrimage" to the Torngat Mountains.  We were privileged to be able to see the stunning landscape in the Torngats and immerse ourselves in the unique area at least for a few days through the many landings and zodiac cruises.  It was an enriching experience that I will not soon forget.

Next destination:  The Silk Road 

Nfld & Labrador - Resolution Island

Our last day on the expedition was spent on Resolution Island, off the coast of Baffin Island in the Davis Strait - we are almost at Iqaluit, our final disembarkation point.  Resolution Island reminded me of a medieval fortress with its rugged seawalls, rocky ramps and narrow passages between the rock walls.  Its many stunning rockscapes made for a suitable end to our journey along this rocky part of Canada with so much geological history.  My only regret was that geologist Dr. Marc St. Onge who was on our Northwest Passage trip was not with us  - he would have explained all the 400 billion years of geological history and related it to all the rocks we saw on this trip.  I also only brought a birding lens on shore with me so had to rely on my faithful phone for most of the photos, even though it seemed to have done a good job regardless.  

Our landing site on the island

On the castle watch

Passage through the fortress

See the pattern?  Isolated boulders everywhere - my guess is glaciation

A closeup look at the beautiful coloured rocks on this island...and what caused this striated pattern below?  Dr. Marc, where are you?

Believe it or not, that white patch near the top of this island is actually a polar bear sleeping - the only time I found the long lens useful on this hike!  And to capture this group of Northern Eiders offshore.

Before we went back on board, we were taken on a cruise to see the huge iceberg off the shore.  It is amazing how different the same iceberg could look from different sides.  We got very close to the iceberg in our zodiac, maybe too close.  We would have been in the water if it had flipped.

We set sail from the island and I was lingering on deck treasuring the last moments.  Was happy to catch many Northern Fulmars looking for their evening meal

And more icebergs as we were quite far north by then...

By Kelisi at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4358979

And rewarded with another gorgeous sunset - and a remarkable range of mountains that no one seemed to be able to tell me the name of...

Nfld & Labrador - Eclipse, Martin's Bay and Killiniq

 We had our first polar bear sighting the day we were at Nachvach Fjord.  I forgot to post the photos in the last post so here they are - two bears in one day on top of seeing the Nachvach.  It was an overwhelming experience.  The bears were quite far away and it took a lot of pointing and describing for my lens to find it.  The first sighting was on a black rocky shore.  The second bear looked a little mangy and it decided to go to sleep after it got tired of staring at us.

Our next stop is Eclipse Sound - a rugged, rocky canyon with a stepped waterfall at the end.  We hiked on the rocky top of the canyon to see the beautiful waterfall at the end.  When we returned from the hike, the zodiacs took us right into the canyon  to get a closer view of the lower falls.  Some of the hollow caverns along the side of the canyon made for excellent acoustics and the ship musicians gave us another concert in nature's theatre.  

View of Eclipse Canyon from the top

and from below

The lower falls

The upper falls with its beautiful S curve

Purple mountain heather

Velvet bells

The rocky top

Looking seaward from the canyon

Amazing rock formation on the canyon walls

Natural caves on the canyon walls make for great acoustics

Concert by the canyon caves

The following day was the first time we were unable to do anything because of weather, in this case, fog.  We could not land at Martin's Bay and so some brave souls on board did their polar dip.  Quite a spectacle for the audience but it was cold and windy - it was tough even watching, never mind dipping.  

We did ended up going out on a zodiac cruise after dinner to get a taste of the mist and get some misty shots.  We were once again treated to another concert by Adam Ruzzo whose nice tenor voice warmed us in the cold night.  The expedition team tried so hard to make it up, that in itself is heartwarming.

We were lucky the fog only lasted one day and we were able to land on Killiniq, the second last stop on our cruise.  Killiniq island, at the northernmost tip of Labrador at the entrance of the Hudson Strait, has the unique status of being the only land border between Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador.  The provincial boundary crosses the island, with the eastern section in Newfoundland and Labrador and the western section part of Nunavut.  

While we were on a cruise around the island before the hike, I saw what looked like a hawk with a prey in its claws.  As usual I don't have the right lens with me and so the photo was not too sharp.  The island itself is not particularly spectacular but makes for a good hike among the rocks.  There were a lot of debris from the community that was there before evacuation by the government of the Northwest Territories.  The only thing left there was an automated remote radio transmitter for the Iqaluit coast guard.  

Hawk with what looked like a vole

Looking down at the bay from the top

Looking up from the landing

Next post:  our last stop on the cruise before disembarkation