June 28th, 2009 | By Thomas Lennartz | Filed in Arctic Animals, Diving, Inuit Culture/Art, Recent Trips, TRIPS, Upcoming Trip

 Arctic Kingdom has been visiting the many floe edges of the north Baffin Island area since 2001.  As an expedition leader since 2002, no matter how many times I go to the floe edge for the spring whale migration, there is always something new or an experience to be had that I could never have expected. This years expedition was no exception! There were some amazing moments and it was a challenge to condense them into only 10..or maybe 11. Here are my top 10 moments.. (not in any particular order)

Walrus playing in ice near the Arctic Kingdom base camp

  1. Walrus appearing right in front of our base camp and hanging out for an hour.  

We had just finished an ice dive and were hanging around the dive tent about 3 meters from the ice floe edge, when a female walrus surfaced and raised her head at least half a meter over the ice edge. At first we thought it was a seal and almost turned away (since we see seals so often it becomes almost too common) but the large white tusks quickly told us it was a walrus. She would gracefully peer at us from in between pieces of pack ice by raising her head way out of the water. Then slip gently back down under water reappearing only a few minutes later in pool of water only a few meters away. She was a young female, with very white tusks.

Narwhal takes a deep breath and dives below the floe edge

 2. Hearing the exhale of the narwhals breath before you can see it

The silence of the Arctic gently envelops you and even the slightest of sounds, from the call of a bird, or in this case, the whooosh sound of a narwhal taking a deep breathe can be hear from far away. There is a moment of exhilaration when you hear that tell tale whoosh and scan the mirror smooth surface for the dark hump that is the back of narwhal. As one watches, the mirror is broken by a surfacing pod of narwhals – one tusk, then two, then another and 5 narwhals rest, breathing deep, whoooosh, only meters away.

Narwhal approaches Arctic Kingdom group in inflatable boat

 3. Sitting in a boat and having a narwhal approach within 2 meters out of curiosity

Having an animal, approach on their own volition, out of their own curiosity and inquisitiveness is the moment we all come here for. In this case, the narwhal would slowly swim towards the grey inflatable boat outfitted with an electric motor. All expedition members could do was to hold their breaths and enjoy the moment!

Kayaking in the early morning with the Narwhal

 4. Kayaking under the midnight sun on mirror smooth water between floating ice with Narwhal all around us

It was 5am and the narwhal were playing out in the open water just beyond our floe edge base camp. We launched the kayaks and quietly floated among the narwhal. With clear blue skies above us, an unrippled surface of dark blue water, and the groans of the narwhal surrounding us, it was an amazing moment.

Polar Bear stretching on pack ice just 30m from base camp at 2am

 5. Watching a polar bear stretch, lounge on the floating pack ice at 2am just outside our base camp

Polar bears are quite common on the floe edge and we came across quite a few – sometimes they would wander out from the pack ice, or along the floe edge looking for seal, or other times we would come across them while snowmobiling across the ice. One special polar bear encounter was just outside our base camp. A polar bear sentry spotted a polar bear approaching our camp from the pack ice that had been pushed against the floe edge a few days earlier. Being only 40 meters away, at 2am, with the sun low in the sky casting long shadows and a soft yellow light, we watched this polar bear lounging on a flat piece of ice. Completely oblivioius to us, he would lie on his stomache, rest his large head on his forelegs, stretch his back legs behind, sit up, sniff around, lie on his back and put his paws in the air. It was almost like he put on a show just for us before a second polar bear came to interrupt his candidness. The two them sniffed each other and continued walking through the pack ice in opposite directions.

Having breakfast under the morning sun

 6. Eating breakfast outside in t-shirts

The weather was extremely warm at the floe edge – with many days waking up almost baking in our double walled Arctic tents. The temperatures would be around 5 degrees, but without wind and having cloudless skies we would be extremely warm. On one such day we decided to enjoy our breakfast outside of the dining tent and under the big blue sky with the backdrop of Baffin Island behind us, Bylot Island infront, all the while watching the narwhal who had just started feeding again. Who knew this was the Arctic!

Diving amongst the pack ice off the floe edge

 7.  Ice diving amongst the pack ice – huge cathedrals of ice, glowing turquoise blue

Although not everyone is a diver who comes on an Arctic Kingdom Expeditions, the ice diving experience augments the ice experience. Ice diving through the pack ice was simply stunning. With almost 300′ (100m) visibility, we could see straight down to the bottom of the floating ice, at times almost 90′ deep. Going deep though isn’t required as we would spend most of the dive at 30′ while making our way between spires of glowing blue and white ice columns, ledges, caves and caverns. The myriad of shapes and rounded ice created a world unlike anything one can imagine. Here is one of my favourite pictures. I’ll be blogging more at a later date  specifically on ice diving in the arctic so stay tuned!

Seaweed covered Inuit harpoon found on the sea floor 30' below the crack

Having glacier water tea.

 9.  Making a tea from glacier water at the base of 300′ (100m) waterfall

On the way back to Pond Inlet at the end of the floe edge season, the land temperatures have risen as well and the glaciers on Bylot island are beginning to melt. The rivers begin to flow and one such river ends at a 300′ (100m) stepped waterfall and empties into the inlet. We took our teapot and filled it from the pool at the base of the waterfall. The subsequent tea we had was probably one of the best I’ve had!

Arctic Kingdom members in the mouth of the icicle laden ice cave

 10. Icicles found in a glacier ice cave

On the way to the floe edge, on the north side of Baffin Island is a glacier that calves in such a way that there is a permanent shallow ice cave at its base. The melt water freezes and has formed many icicles that make the ice cave appear to be toothed.

Jake - Senior Arctic Kingdom guide prepares caribou stew

 11. Eating delicious country food with our Inuit guides – Caribou, Seal, Goose stews and Arctic Char

…and just one more… I couldn’t narrow it down to ten as being on the floe edge with our Inuit guides makes the experience a cultural one as well. Traditional food prepared by Arctic Kingdom’s guides are always a highlight of our culinary experience. Thanks guys!

More information on Arctic Kingdom floe expeditions can be found here:

 http://arctickingdom.com/lancaster-beluga-and-narwhal