August 18^th, 2026

Edinburgh Island, Nunavut, Canada

Edinburgh Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Coronation Gulf of the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada, located south of Victoria Island.

Unlike the other islands and towns we have visited in Nunavut, it has areas that are about 340 feet above sea level.

Even though no one lives on the island permanently, it has played an important role in North American defense and was once a site for the Distant Early Warning Line. This was a chain of radar stations built during the Cold War the purpose of which was to help protect Canada and the United States from potential incoming aircraft or missiles.

Today, Edinburgh Island is part of the North Warning System which provides surveillance of airspace from potential incursions or attacks from across North America’s polar region.

When we looked at the island from the ship it certainly looked very different to where we had made our previous landings.

When we stepped ashore we learned that there were recent animal tracks along the beach. We saw the caribou, muskoxen, and wolverine tracks. We looked out for wildlife but there was nothing to be seen so we started our exploration of the island.

It was very beautiful with a huge green meadow (which turned out to be very boggy) surrounded by a sandy beach and rugged cliffs. There was something magical and other worldly about the place. I just loved it. Except there were lots of nasty little flying insects that kept biting me. Edinburgh Island is well named, it was like being attacked by Scottish midges.

Even the pebbles were colorful.

There were caribou antlers scattered all around.

There were no trees or large bushes, but the plant life seemed to be thriving.

The lichens looked good.

Why on earth didn’t people settle here instead of the bleak tundra?

Then we started to see evidence of humans.

Usually when people are camping we expect them to take anything they brought with them away with them when they leave. We are horrified to see anything left behind.

But today it was so exciting to see what was left behind, an old barrel ring?

We wondered where these pieces of wood had come from?

Bits of cloth

Not sure what these were

Lid of a Union Oil drum?

Definitely a tea cup

A shotgun cartridge and general debris.

Hmmmm? What was this – it looked like it was terracotta but was stamped Eveready. Interesting.

It was such fun to search the island for evidence of those who had visited before us. Yes, even I would be OK with camping here in summer. I am sure winter would be another matter altogether.

We had a smooth Zodiac ride back to the ship and seeing as it was sunny it seemed like a good time to soak in a hot tub. We sat relaxing in the warm bubbling water. I watched the coastline very closely, were there any polar bears out there? I mean how cool is it to be polar bear spotting from a hot tub on a sunny day?

Wendy and Jim did a predinner concert of classical music. It was fantastic. Wendy’s cello playing is so wonderful to hear, and her bubbly personality makes it even more enjoyable.

After dinner there was Liars Club where 4 contestants give different definitions of an obscure word, and you have to guess who is telling the truth. The 4 contestants were Christoph the chef, David from sustainability, Charlie the guitarist, and Brent from the expedition team. Our team from trivia was there, hoping that we could at least win this one, and we did! Albeit after a tie breaker. The prize? A Seabourn bear. Maybe I can exchange it for a puffin……..