CAMBRIDGE BAY – August 24, 2014 – Internet and Hot Rocks dining.
Well after working on the internet and watching a little of the folk show (not anywhere near as good as the Pond Inlet show) there was not much time for anything else. We did visit the Arctic Church with some unique stained glass windows. The birth of Jesus in an igloo being one of them. Ken took a few pictures.

Tonight we arranged a private group dinner on the deck cooking on the “hot rocks”. Anyone who has been on Silversea has probably done this before. They use tiles heated to 450 degrees and you cook your own protein on the tile. They have steaks, lobster tails and salmon. Lovely if it is a nice night but not so great if it is cold. We did this on the Discoverer and I was not enthralled. We froze and it took forever to cook the food. However, this night was wonderful. We all wore our warm coats and they had blankets but the night was not cold, no wind and it was very nice out. The food cooked really fast (I think the tiles must have been hotter) and we had an expedition team member at each of our three tables. This was a great evening. Most of them went down to play “name that tune” but Ken and I decided bed was calling.

A DAY AT SEA AND FINALLY A TRIVIA WIN - August 25th – no internet

Lots of card playing today. Trivia is held at tea time but always to do with the things we are “supposed” to be learning about. If you read the daily program and go to the lectures your odds increase. Unfortunately as a group we are not that good at doing those things. Today it was basically Geography. Those pesky questions “which is further North or South” with very little distance between the four choices. Plus lots of questions on flags of different counties. Out of 25 he said the scores are seldom over 10 right. We managed 14 right and tied for the win.

Dinner tonight was Mongolian. Not my cup of tea. The good thing is that the room service menu is good and at any meal you can order anything that is on the 24 hour room service menu. So even if a menu is not to your liking there are a lot of good choices.

SMOKING HILLS – August 26, 2014 – no internet
Today we visited Smoking Hills by zodiac. A unique place discovered in 1826 where hydrocarbon (oil shales) have been burning for centuries. Obviously this is why the area was named Smoking Hills. The colors of all shades of yellow, red, and green coupled with the black of the coal were really quite beautiful. The mountain was smoking away and there were many areas where the smoke was rising from the mountain. Some down low and some pretty high up. This is not a volcanic issue but created by a chemical called Jaroside. All this is a perma frost area! The expedition team told us that the reaction is caused by the salt water. If you go over the top of the mountain there is no smoke. Actually more interesting than we thought it would be initially.

TUKTOYAKTUK – August 27, 2014 – no internet
We sailed into the bay for Tuk (locals just called it Tuk) and the water is very shallow. So it was a 45 minute ride to the town. The town made a big effort. This is the first ship ever to visit Tuk. They had local guides to show each group around. School buses were also out for transportation.

The two most interesting things about this island were the Pingos and the Ice Freezer. Pingos are mounds formed from ice trapped below the top soil that pushes up the land. Some are quite high and look like small hills. We were able to walk up one that had a trail and it gave a great view of the town and ocean. There is an ICE ROAD in the winter over the ocean and into the McKenzie River that connects Tuk with other areas. In about three years they will have an all-weather road. Looking out on the ocean it is hard to imagine that ice road. The Ice Freezer went down 30 ft into the perma frost via a steep ladder. At the bottom were about 13 rooms and no light at all so you needed a flashlight. Those that signed the waiver and went down really found it interesting.

Then the town put on lunch for the all the passengers. Not my cup of tea, dried seal and fish, beluga whale, and white fish. It also included a caribou soup that was luke warm. This was followed by a show with drums and dancing, a fashion show and arctic games. We decided to eat lunch on board!

HEADING TO NOME -August 28 – September 1

It was announced we will have no internet for the rest of the trip. Little information on the details but some suspect something happened in the jarring ice we came through. They refunded all internet charges for the trip, the time that was used and of course the time still remaining. Now we have three days at sea with no internet. We have been without internet for about two weeks now!

During those days…
Walrus sighting at around 8.00 am there were walrus on ice and we were able to get the ship right up the ice and the walrus it was a great sighting.

There was a game where guests wrote out funny things that had happened to them and then the other guests had to match each statement with a guest. Arlene entered a “hole in one at St. Andrews in Scotland”. The kicker was it was on the St. Andrews women’s putting green. That made everyone laugh. Ken told his “I was molested by a mountain gorillas in Rwanda story”. This was also a hit. On the trivia the next day one of the questions was, “which guest was molested by the mountain gorilla”? Our team own and got bottle of 1999 champagne and a red wine. We will drank these at our cocktail hour.

On the final Captain’s Farewell Night the crew did their first crew show after dinner. They put a lot into it but had a lot of technical difficulties with the microphones. It was not a slick show like you see on regular cruise ship. At the end the expedition team came out all dressed up and sang a song and played the music to the song I WILL SURVIVE – except it was titled WE WILL ARRIVE. The lyrics tell the whole story of the trip so I thought I would write these out as m final post.

1. At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Would we ever make it to the other side? The ice chart was so red, and distance seemed so long, but we grew strong, and we scribbled down this song.
2. And just like that, with no time to waste, the PIERRE RADISSON arrived to help us quicken our slow pace. We barreled through the ice past polar bears and bearded seals, while glaucous gull and terns ate ice breaker churned up meals.
3. Outside the hull, the ice it roars. Sometimes it scrapes so loud I can’t hear my roommate snore. Did Amundsen have an icebreaker with him too? Did he watch his helicopter fly off to tell him which way through?
4. Apple pie, eggs poached or fried. Sure the lettuce will lose its green, but at least in Nome we’ll arrive, we will arrive… True we got stuck in the ice, more than once, perhaps more than twice, But we will arrive we will arrive, Hey ..Hey
5. We saw brightly colored homes on barren tundra land, and a breaching whale we wanted to give a big hand. Musk ox and snow geese near a Devon Island Base. We often tried, but we couldn’t get online.
6. And on the bridge, no time for sleep. Luckily the scenery would make even the toughest cowboy weep. Ice pilot Mark, Captain and Staff Captain too took us to the Northwest Passage, and safely got us through.

The Silver Explorer was the ONLY passenger ship to make it through the Northwest Passage in 2014 and there was a lot of ice. It was a magical four days in the ice I will never forget the experience.