August 19^th, 2026

Northwest Passage

We woke up to sea ice outside our window.

Small chunks at first, but soon we were surrounded.

But they were small pieces and did not present a navigational challenge.

Looking at the map on the TV in Seabourn Square we could see how far we have gone since we embarked.

We have left Nunavut behind and are now sailing through Canada’s Northwest Territories. This cruise is going way too fast. I want to see a close up of a polar bear, so it will have to happen quite soon.

We watched the sea ice go by from the warmth of our cabin. One of the things I love about the Venture is that even the deck 5 cabins have glass fronted balconies. On the Seabourn Ocean ships deck 5 has a half glass/half metal balcony and you really can’t see much. We usually book deck 5, but this may have to change. I am totally loving being able to just sit on the sofa and have the perfect view of the sea ice outside.

Olivia put out arts and crafts supplies for those in an artsy crafty mood, so I rushed to see what was on offer. Anything that I could grab for our boat? No such luck, except for a glue stick. I have lost the other one I had taken previously.

It was the pinnacle of trivia today – the day when the officer’s team joins us. Historically they usually win. It is probably because they are so smart and I like to think that’s why. You need smart people to run a ship. Or maybe it’s because they have heard the questions before. Anyway, there they were when we got to the Club, ready to show us what trivia is all about. Well, it turned out we have some rather smart teams onboard. The officers were not the winners today, in fact they came in third. And who came second you may ask? You guessed it, the Two Timers, our very own team. This seems to be a pattern – we won the first day, and since then we usually do come second. At least we are consistent.

In the morning Udo, one of the expedition team gave a talk on the Franklin Expedition, and like most people discussing this expedition he was rather negative about it. Maybe his deal was that he is Norwegian, and it was the Norwegian Amundsen who got the planning right and did find his way through the Northwest Passage.

In the afternoon another of the Expedition Team members, Juliana, gave a talk on “Sewing for Survival: Fashioning Life in the Arctic”. A great topic I think.

At our daily expedition recap the invited guests were captain Simon and the ice captain Alex. Captain Alex couldn’t stay –  because we needed him to be on the bridge so he can guide us through the ice. Captain Simon gave a very interesting talk on why this is an expedition ship, and the special modifications to make it so. This is all very reassuring after all the talks we have been getting on failed Northwest Passage attempts. Tomorrow there will be more sea ice and we may get to go out in the Zodiacs to explore it. Unfortunately it was too windy today to try that.

A surprise for the late afternoon was that we learned that we would be passing by Smoking Hills. I had never heard of them before. The hills contain strata of oil shales, which have been burning continuously for centuries. There were miles and miles of smoking hills – so the place is very aptly named. The smoke contains sulphuric acid so close up encounters are discouraged. The water in the lakes nearby is very acidic. Also to be avoided. It looks amazing, but clearly is not a place to visit. However, NASA has shown an interest in it in case it mimics conditions astronauts may experience on other planets.

So it has been a day of fire and ice.

What better way to celebrate fire and ice than to have desserts?

After dinner we bundled up and headed out to the pool on deck 5 where they were serving flambeed delights. There was bananas Foster, and my all time favorite, crepes Suzette. A polar bear, looking very much like Olivia, was waving the cooking blow torch around but miraculously only the crepes caught alight. She was then relegated to serving ice cream. There were chocolate martinis to go with the dessert. All in all it was a wonderful way to end yet another interesting day!