The real charm of the cruise ship Lyuba Orlova was that she made you so anxious to go on the daily expeditions just to get away from the ship. Okay, I'm kidding … … just a little. We celebrated the 33rd birthday of the Lyubov Orlova while we were on board (July 19). I don't …
Continue reading Arctic Adventure 7: The Lyubov Orlova, A Home Away from Home
The Arctic Adventure cruise provided opportunities to learn about history and culture as well as wildlife. We stopped in two villages. Even though there were only 85 people on the cruise, and even though not everyone got off the boat in the two villages, a crowd of 75 people tends to overwhelm a village of …
Seeing wildlife in the wild is an inherently problematic venture. They're wild, after all, and typically wild animals don't care to be too close to humans. I therefore assumed that if I tried to take pictures I would end up with a bunch of black dots: "See that dot? It's a seal. And that smudge …
Continue reading Arctic Adventure 4: musk ox and walrus and bears, oh my!
Obscurity warning: The singer, Dion, was before my time too, but the title is quoting the last line of Dion's song, "The Wander." So if an arctic expedition isn't all about the photos, what is it about? For me it was getting off the ship and tramping around the edges of the arctic. Every day …
Continue reading Arctic Adventure 5: I roam around, around, around, around, around.
As it turns out, the first night's sunset was not a sign of better things tomorrow. The northeastern part of North America has had a cold, wet spring. The Ungava Peninsula was no exception. On the first full day of the cruise we woke up to fog, rain, and rough seas. The scheduled landing at …
Cruise North Expeditions is an Inuit-owned company that rents the Lyuba Orlova for the summer. Each cruise is about one week long. They begin in St. John, Labrador; go up the Labrador coast, and around to Kuujjuaq, the next week takes them from Kuujjuaq to Churchill. On the third week they retrace their way to …
Continue reading Arctic Adventure 3: Murres, Murres, and more Murres
We were sitting in the Forward Lounge of the Lyubov Orlova (a 33 year old, Russian made and crewed "Class D" ice breaking cruise ship) getting a briefing on the upcoming week by Jason Annahatak, our expedition leader (who was Inuit), when Dr. Susan Aiken, the expedition botanist (a New Zealander), interrupted, announcing, "We are …
Continue reading Arctic Adventure 1: Not a “Cruise,” an “Expedition-Cruise”
Just Another Jim 