After Beechey Island we headed west in order to drop off our two Inuit guides at Resolute, which was their only chance of getting home. They stayed with relatives for two days before a light aircraft could take them to Arctic Bay. There they stayed with more relatives until they could finally get a flight back to Pond Inlet. Luckily all Inuit appear to be related and they enjoy their rare opportunities to catch up with one another.
We then turned north at Melville Island, sailing further north than any previous Northwest Passage.
Golden dawn and dusk
A sharp eyed naturalist spotted a polar bear snoozing on an ice flow. The patch of blood was all that was left from a meal of a seal. We sneaked towards her (insofar as an 150m 31,000 tonne ship can sneak anywhere). She woke up and strolled around, then decided it was all too boring and went back to digesting her meal. We went back to crunching through ice and sending the helicopter out to find the best route north.
