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Deja Vu All Over Again #250747 08/21/18 09:32 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
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Marc Offline OP
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Four years ago today we were on Silver Explorer with this view in front of us.

[Linked Image]

It was 21 August 2014 and we had just transited Bellot Straight and the icebreaker was waiting for us. For three days we would sail behind that icebreaker getting stuck in the ice both nights.

So, today, exactly four years later, the ice charts look pretty darn similar. First, this is the overall ice situation in the Canadian archipelago:

[Linked Image]

Ice is actually worse around Devon Island and Beechey Island than we experienced. On the far left you can see that ice is still blocking the Alaskan coast. Below is the familiar ice chart for Queen Maud. This chart covers Bellot Straight on the right, into Peel Sound, Larsen Sound, and Victoria Straight.

[Linked Image]

Peel Sound looks pretty clear compared to four years ago (that is the northern entrance) so maybe Bellot Straight won't be used; however, cutting across Larsen Sound is just as bad, maybe even worse. If you add to this that the Alaskan coast is blocked, I wonder if anyone will be making a Northwest Passage transit this year.

Marc



Re: Deja Vu All Over Again [Re: Marc] #250748 08/21/18 11:09 PM
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Ngaire Online
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Love that picture Marc I so enjoyed following that Ice Breaker. Did not realize today was the day we started in the ice.

Re: Deja Vu All Over Again [Re: Marc] #250749 08/22/18 05:34 PM
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lonestarlady Offline
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Cool photo (no pun intended!)!! wink

Would love to do the NW Passage some day...


Cindy
TravelingTexasDuo.com

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." - Abraham Lincoln
Re: Deja Vu All Over Again [Re: Marc] #250779 08/31/18 12:31 AM
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Marc Offline OP
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A sailboat was crushed in the ice just east of Bellot Straight and sank. Crew of two escaped to an ice floe to await rescue; they are fine. This was the spot where we spotted the polar bear and her cub four years ago. In another incident hunters were attacked by two polar bears; one dead. The remaining two fought off additional bears, killing as many as five.



Re: Deja Vu All Over Again [Re: Marc] #250781 08/31/18 01:46 AM
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Ngaire Online
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Oh my goodness! Glad the crew of the ship escaped. What a terrible incident with the hunters and the bears.


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