Heading North

Five days at sea separated Nome, Alaska and our first stop in Canada.  Up the Bering Sea, through the Bering Strait, and into the Chukchi Sea...though we would not have known it.

We sailed up the Bering Sea.  Here is what we should have seen…

 Here is what we saw.

We passed between Little Diomede Island (US) and Big Diomede Island (Russia).  Here is what we should have seen…

And here is what we saw.

Then we sailed a bit south to view the Smoking Hills.  Here is what we should have seen….

And here is what we saw.

I’m not complaining--this was the last of the fog and rain/snow.  Truly.  You’ll see.

Our  five days were filled with lectures-at least three lectures a day, on topics ranging from ice science, to Inuit history, to global warming theories, to global politics, to polar bear migration—and the list goes on and on and on.  Aboard were over twenty experts in various fields to help us fully appreciate our amazing trip.

There was lots of reading to do…..

And safety briefings and training on riding in a zodiac.

On my pillow one night was this wonderful carving of an Inuksuk- a reminder of where we were going, and where we will have been.

I don’t think there was a guest or crew member who was not growing more and more excited the farther north we sailed.

Whatever the view was.