At some stage of the journey, every proper expedition involves mud.
Timing being critical, preferably the muddiness doesn’t present itself first thing after breakfast, and this was duly averted by a morning Zodiac cruise past Pim Island in search of icebergs and walruses. As National Geographic Endurance cruised slowly deeper into Alexandra Fiord, the ice and walruses grew even thicker, and when we arrived at a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police post (occupied briefly for a decade in the mid-1900’s) we were excited to get onshore and see what else was waiting to be discovered. A spongy tundra covered in the last breaths of cotton-grass and hidden pools cloaked in hoarfrost greeted us, and for over two hours we wandered through the beautiful silence of an Arctic autumn.
And then, at last, came the mud. Eastern Canadian tides can be legendary, and we watched as the beach we’d landed on grew steadily larger, grounding large icebergs and draining tidepools beneath our feet. With patience and persistence, we found enough stable footing to make it back into the Zodiacs and deep enough channels to get the boats out, but at one point it looked like some of us might be walking across the tidal flat to the ship! Fortunately, good timing and careful driving got everyone off the shore and back in time for dinner. What’s an expedition without adventure?
