GREAT NEWS!!

The noon ice chart showed us what we’d all been keeping our fingers crossed for; in the past 12 hours the lead we’d been keeping our eyes on had opened considerably and there was no denying it was time to go! We traveled south about fifty miles and are now on the hook in False Straight. Amazing how a small hop like this can have the topography and landscape change so much. Where we were, on Pandora Island was rolling, beautiful and almost meadow-like. We’re now anchored in a stony bay that seems more like Ireland.

At midnight last night we had a stunning sunset, something we haven’t seen in quite a while, all cameras were out and mouths agape. The orange and reds of the western horizon were bouncing off the cliffs to our east, amazing. Last night’s ice charts again showed that the lead has opened up even a bit more so today we’re going try and add another fifty or so miles of southing. There is still ice in the Sound and at times we have to pick and plot our way through it, but with six sets of active eyes it’s, so far, been very manageable. During our trip down yesterday we had the extreme pleasure of being entertained by a remarkably curious polar bear on one of the ice flows. This guy was amazing in that he literally struck every pose going; he was completely oblivious to us. He stood up on his hind legs, he pawed the air, he sat on his haunches and scratched his belly, he crouched as though he was going to spring, he hopped from ice sheet to ice sheet and finally after scratching behind his ear he lay down and curled up to go to sleep. So, with one eye on the ice charts, one eye on the wildlife and another on the road ahead, the trip of a lifetime continues.

On a personal note; it’s been brought to my attention that from time to time these blogs are sounding a bit negative. Rest assured that’s the very last feeling I want to put across. The majesty and scope of this this trip has been constantly leaving me for a lack of a adequate words to express how not only stunned I am by the natural beauty of it but how blessed I feel that I’m actually doing it. Perhaps my stab at tongue-in-cheek comments have missed the mark, I’ll keep on eye on that. Rest assured though that, as I’ve written several times before, the adventure continues and all of us eagerly reach for it!