A Wonderful First Day!

9 Aug 2010

A Wonderful First Day!

By prisca.campbell

(August 5, 2010) Radstock Bay, Devon Island - Hamish Fothergill Reporting - My first full day aboard the KK started with a hearty breakfast of Canadian pancakes submerged in maply syrup. Then we had a long safety briefing about the use of the Zodiacs and Bell helicopter that will carry me and my fellow passengers to the shore.

This briefing was soon put to the test when we set out for our first excursion to Beechey Island. This is the burial site of four Arctic exploreres who were trying to discover the way through the North West Passage.

In the afternoon, we moved on to Radstock Bay in beautiful sunshine. Here we visited some amazing remains of Thule Inuit houses. These were made of stones and were about four meters across. Whale bones were used to make a frame over which a roof of walrus skin was suspended. The houses are thought to be about 600 years old.

All around on the tundra were some beautiful flowers which I photographed. These include bright lemon yellow Arctic poppies that track the sun as it circumnavigates the horizon, trapping every spare sunbeam. I also saw purple clumps of Purple Saxifrage, the most northerly flowering plant on Earth. In the waves, I was delighted to discover some pterpods - also known as sea angles - swimming beside soem bright orange ctenophores.

All together a wondeful first day!

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