Through the Cardigan Strait

After we had passed through the ice field at the entry of the Jones Sound, our journey was fairly uneventful. Hanseatic had continued its Western course and we were about to enter the Norwegian Bay.

The original plan had been to do so through the Hell Gate, a waterway between Ellesmere Island and North Kent Island. However with the exit of the Hell Gate locked by ice (as strange as it may sound), the bridge decided for the alternative routing through the Cardigan Strait – between North Kent Island and Devon Island.

Ice was our constant companion during that passage, though it did subside the further North and deeper into the Norwegian Bay we made it.

In a further lecture in the afternoon we got some background on the early exploration of this region by Norwegian explorers. The result can be seen even today, with the names of many of the islands, bays and fjords referring back Norway.

In the evening we had another pre-cap, where the captain and the expedition leader presented the plans for the next day … we were set to continue North through the Eureka Sound – with the Eureka weather station being our destination for the next morning.