LEG 4: Sat, Sun / 12,13 July -- BAFFIN ISLAND -- (IQALUIT - BROUGHTON ISLAND (QIKIQTARJUAQ) - CLYDE RIVER - POND INLET)

Baffin Island - Iqaluit - Sitting at the head of Frobisher Bay. First seen by Europeans in 1576 by; Martin Frobisher who mistook it for a the beginning of the NW Passage and the iron pyrites for gold.
Iqaluit - The population jumped from 1,200 to 3,000 when Iqaluit became the capital of Nunavut in 1999. Hall Peninsula and the S'ern shore of Cumberland Sound

Pangnirtung Fjord

S'ern end of Akshayuk Pass across the Cumberland Peninsula

Pangnirtung
Pangnirtung Fjord Akshayuk Pass
Akshayuk Pass

Akshayuk Pass

Mt. Thor ahead on the right.

Mt. Thor Mt. Asgard
Akshaykuk Pass Mt. Asgard
Akshaykuk Pass The Arctic Circle is at 66 deg 43 min N.
Akshaykuk Pass Penny Ice Cap
Penny Ice Cap

North Pangnirtung Fjord

N'ern end of Akshaykuk Pass

Penny Ice Cap Penny Ice Cap
Broughton Island (Really Qikiqtarjuaq but everyone we met used its old name, Broughton Island)

Broughton Island

Initially built to build the DEW Line. The main employment now is to disassemble DEW Line stations.

Broughton Island - Greenland is 240 nmi East

Broughton Island

From here until Cambridge Bay, fuel was arranged by Jeff Mahoney at Air Nunavut in Iqaluit.

Broughton Island

Broughton Island

This small boat was picking up Akshayuk Pass hikers.

Broughton Island

Fueling through a chamois is surprisingly slow. After taking 2 hrs we departed the 533 nm leg to Pond Inlet.

After relaying our position report to Arctic Radio, a FirstAir pilot said he had just left Pond Inlet. "It was clear, but the sea fog was hovering offshore."
Knowing that the forecast was for the light wind to shift to the NE we turned around to spend the night at Broughton Island. Broughton Island
Broughton Island Broughton Island

Broughton Island

Seal skins.

Broughton Island
Broughton Island Broughton Island
Broughton Island

Later a Canadian Airline helo crew, lead by Bert Barr (L), arrived with a radar technician - and soon the talk turned to polar bears.

"One day we were running bit late putting the aircraft to bed and the engineer told the copilot and me to go ahead to the hotel and save him a dinner serving.

After dinner we noticed he hadn't arrived to we took a walk back up to the aircraft. There he was on top of the rotors, yelling his head off, with two young polar bears trying to figure out how to climb up the aircraft."

 

The next day's forecast was great. Early fog lifting then light S'ly winds all day.

Just N of Broughton Island with Penny Icecap in the distance.

Narpaning Fjord

Baffin Island

Clyde River is just this to the left of that mountain. (Black Bluff)

Too much fog for us to stop.

Map of Cape Christian, Clyde River and the Swindon Mountains Ayr Lake
Glacier feeding Ayr Lake Barnes Ice Cap in the far distance
Eglington Fjord Eglington Fjord
Eglington Fjord Remote Peninsula
Sam Ford Fjord Remote Peninsula

John Lohr

(I think this is where he said, "Pat we're not in Kansas any more.)

Walker Arm

Sillern Island Sillern Island
Remote Mountains Remote Mountains
Dexterity Fjord Buchan Gulf
Cambridge Fjord Cambridge Fjord
Cambridge Fjord Buchan Gulf
Buchan Gulf North Arm

Pond Inlet

Across the inlet are the mountains of Bylot Island, a Canadian Wildlife Refuge.

Pond Inlet

Pond Inlet Pond Inlet

Pond Inlet & Bylot Island

Robert Bylot was a member of Henry Hudson's mutinous crew in 1610. He received a pardon for sailing the ship back to England and returned four more times. In 1616 his pilot was William Baffin.

Self Serve at $8.47 US /gal

(It was well worth it.)

A boat builder's project behind the hotel.

Pond Inlet

Waterfront property in the Arctic

Nanisivik

 

Brodeur Peninsula

W'ern Baffin Island between Admiralty Inlet and Prince Regent Inlet

Columbus was wrong.

Backup GPS showing we're approaching the edge.

Resolute Bay

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