Before I forget - The Limerick: Summer 2006
“Ottawa, Canada – too hard to rhyme
Resolute, Nunavut – gave a hard time.
We’re here in the Arctic
To relish and partake
Of bears, whales and ice and an inclement clime.”

Written at speed in Resolute airport as the last postbox for two weeks.

Today, we sailed up Starnes Fjord, 40km east of Grise Fiord, and along a much smaller inlet. There was a hairy moment when the sonar showing 400m of water suddenly showed 40m and there was a rapid, full astern and front thrust. The Iloffe has never been here, but a suitable landing point was found and we went ashore. After I got a bollocking off the “middle” group leader, the E.L. decided that 60+ was too big and took half of us on a brisker walk over a ridge to a wonderful bay where I found a muskox skeleton in good condition. We saw shoals of Arctic char, several groups of harp seal totalling around 150 and a bearded seal. A medic and I rebuilt the bones as he explained various features. In the afternoon, we set an easterly course for an indeterminate destination in Greenland. Although we have permission to enter the country at Qaanaaq, the Canadian Ports Authority have no staff available to process our re-entry, so high level negotiations continue. The navigator marked up my map in pencil, just in case, and pointed out that Qaanaaq in any case is under the lettering of the map title. Peter Middleton gave a talk on Arctic birds, but I skipped the Rock Doc’s ice-talk because he’s rather dull and everyone fell asleep. I found an armchair and spent a couple of hours with a beer and a book. What a treat!