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| Shades of grey - breathtakingly beautiful |
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| US Coast Guard & Customs officers boarding our vessel |
We entered US waters and sadly were not allowed to do any zodiac cruising (a crazy US regulation that says anyone in charge of a boat - even a zodiac - has to have a captain’s license). Always prepared our fearless leader had a packed program for us. Lectures of course but workshops of many kinds from Inuit language classes, to mitten-making, to Inuit beading; from writing and sketching workshops, to bridge groups and photoshopping in readiness for the photo comp.
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| Who knew there were so many Poles (we are going to two in September 2024 North) |
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| Some excellent talent on board |
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| My favourite place - the Citizen Science lab |
And of course where would we be without Citizen Science? That session turned out to be a great wrap-up of what we had collected and had learnt to pass on. The data collected on this expedition will eventually be used not just for scientific purposes, but to encourage policies and regulations that can impact our passage through wildernesses like this – responsible expeditions and cruises.
A most unexpected on-board auction of a number of artefacts and ‘souvenirs’ raised a considerable amount of money to support the https://polarcollective.org/. This organisation was started by three of the guides on board our ship. Their mission is to empower the Polar Tourist Industry to make valuable contributions to science research. Ships and expeditions like ours regularly go into regions that researchers find hard to afford. It is a win-win situation.
On board we had Lisa Blair the fastest person to sail solo around Antarctica. On her two circumnavigations around Antarctica she collected many samples for analysis – microplastics, nanoparticles, water and air samples. Her story is powerful. She was on board to become familiar with the part of Arctic region and learn some craft from our EL, Ashley, a pretty impressive sailor in her own right.
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| Lisa Blair - a woman on a mission |
And on our last night before heading into the Bering Strait they held a TEDx session. Six people offered short presentations including Lindsay and me. It was quite fascinating with topics ranging from walking the Camino, to the dangers of seafloor dredging, from walking the desert to Inuit dental health. The latter was rather horrifying. There is little care available to these remote communities and they suffer very poor dental health and diets. One of our passengers travels to this region with a team of surgeons and odontists a few times a year. I was fascinated and sat down to talk to him further. Turns out that he worked with a Canadian colleague of mine. Strange, small world.
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| Our voyage map to date |
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