Gjøa Haven
Amundsen’s best little harbour
Our last ‘wet’ landing, we found ourselves on the sand beach of a compact Inuit settlement that mirrored Pond Inlet. Compact houses evenly spaced out, with a tangle of telegraph poles and cables, huge SUV’s caked in mud and dust, smelly 4×4’s and non-defined dirt roads littered with rubbish.
Our group was taken round by a shy, quiet woman, with occasional acoustic amplification provided by George Swan. Our group were a gaggle of passengers with striders in front and dodderers behind, with George operating like a sheep dog, trying to keep the flock together.
We stopped off at a Heritage Centre, where we all struggled to remove our boots in a cramped vestibule. We spent an enjoyable 3/4 hour shuffling through the very nice exhibition of Inuit life, which includes the Ship’s Bell of HMS Erebus.
Amundsen spent two winters at Gjøa harbour in his ultimately successful quest to find a route through the Northwest Passage. It was during this time he learned from the Inuit how to survive in deep winter at unimaginably cold temperatures. This knowledge played almost certainly a central role in him later managing to conquer the South Pole.
After a short walk, our gaggle arrived at a building that famously held one of five unwanted busts of Amundsen. We were all struggling to chew and swallow some sort of dried out unsweet cake that we were offered and regretted.
On our way back to the ship we passed through the Co-op store – pretty much the same as any small western shop, but with the addition of a locked window display with a variety of rifles on offer.
Back on the ship, it felt like end of term. We collected our passports and handed back our muck boots. We enjoyed a recap of our days in Canada supplemented by a slide show of the whole voyage. Luggage was carefully packed and handed over to the crew, to be returned to us in our Edmonton hotel room.
After dinner, fellow passengers that we had socialised with gathered in the Lounge for a last drink, dispersing as the glasses emptied and the bar shutters had been drawn.
Retreating to our cabins, the staircase burst into activity with excited exclamations “…northern lights…!” Rushing out, we rushed back in shortly after, as there wasn’t much to see, but more importantly, it was freezing and we were only dressed for (indoor) lounging…
Arming ourselves with warm clothing, walking boots and a thick blanket each, we went back on deck determined to await the northern lights …if they ever would come….
…and they came! Probably at about half an hour after midnight – with only two other hopefuls stalking the decks. We were treated to a good half hour of gently and majestically developing lightscapes before we had our fill and retreated to a nice warm bed.
What a treat on our last night on the ship!
