Day 8 Icebergs, cliffs and weddings afoot

 

Day 8 Mon Sept 1


Fantasy castles in the sea

 

Large flat icebergs dot the coast of Baffin Island

Massive shear rock bluffs mark the entrance

The ship has travelled south while we've slept, and we see a field of massive ice bergs around us and the steep cliffs of Baffin Island off our starboard side.  This is no longer sea ice, but huge chunks of Greenland that have calved off tidal glaciers and been carried across Baffin Bay to the Canadian shoreline.  One berg we pass is 2 km long.  Many have been carved into fantastic shapes and the captain takes us close to a few that look like fairytale castles afloat.

 We are headed south and east towards Scott Inlet on Baffin's north shore.  We turn in, between massive rock cliffs, and spend the morning watching the rocky pinnacles go by.  Deep into the fiord we come to a low valley where 2 rivers meet the sea on gravel eskers.  Scouts head out in zodiacs to 'secure the beach', but sure enough, a bear is resting by the river waiting for his dinner of fresh Arctic Char or tourist.  We won't be going ashore here, but we pile into zodiacs and cruise the shoreline beneath the 300 meter vertical slabs of rock.  Waterfalls tumble down from the ice cap, beds of heather, arctic willow and beech cling to every ledge.  It's amazing geology, and impossible to capture through my camera lens.




The shear cliff faces are daunting at close range

The vegetation here is exuberant in summer, but there is not enough growing season to allow anything more than 6 inches tall.  The willows grow in flat spidery clumps over the rocks.  It might take 500 years to grow to the thickness of your thumb and a spread of 12 inches.  These are not giant redwoods!  Their leaves have already turned bright yellow, and the beech, also seriously bonsai'd, are deep red.  The colours are fall colours but the plants are in miniature.





Fall colours brighten the tundra

 

Willows cling to the rocks, growing at a glacial pace

Tonight we have a surprise on board.  A couple in our group are going to be married by the captain.  They apparently met 4 years ago on the ship - he was from England, she from Australia, and they have been together ever since.  We are all invited to a champagne reception out on the deck after the ceremony on the bridge.  How romantic!

The ship is underway again so we will make our way outside and watch the fiord go by as we enjoy our champagne.  Tough life!