Crossing Baffin Bay from Greenland to near the top of Baffin Island was pretty much just rolling along in a dark ocean. Our time was spent staggering about in ship passages; enjoying way too much food and; listening to presentations on "Birds of the Arctic: Adapt or Get Out"; "Humans in the Arctic: A Brief History"; "The Arctic: Nunavut's Place in the World" and: "What Happened to the Greenland Norse?" The archeologist giving the talk on the Inuit had to adapt (grab his coat and camera) and quickly get out when the announcement of "Whales!" came from the bridge.
Rare Peaked Whales never recorded at this latitude. Conor, our always gleeful, Welch, PhD whale biologist, naturalist and ecologist, was over the top excited at documenting the sighting.
Our fist significant iceberg
Sunset was at 2034.
The coast of Baffin Island at sunset.
From our daily briefing: "Today we will be at sea, crossing Baffin Bay. This body of water lies between Greenland and Baffin Island, forming a largely impenetrable waterway between the north Atlantic and Arctic oceans due to its abundance of ice.
Baffin Bay has been inhabited for at least two and a half thousand years, primarily by the Dorset people, followed later by the Thule.
In 1585 British explorer John Davis was the first known European to enter the bay, thought it is entirely likely fishermen or whalers may have arrived earlier and not made it well known. William Baffin made five voyages to the arctic and reached Baffin Bay in 1616. During these voyages it was proven to Europeans that the north-west passage was not reachable through Hudson Bay".
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