Back On Solid Ground ...

the little ship, M/S Explorer

This ship was my home for the past two weeks. I went on board on August 6th and disembarked for the last time on Sunday, the 18th. Though I am back on land, I still occasionally feel the pitch and roll of being at sea. I was one of the fortunate ones who didn't get seasick, but did catch a cold and am still dealing with the remnants of that. The first week we had cold rain and some heavy seas ... the lecture hall and the dining room were often sparsely populated. The second week was quite mild with the sun peeking in and out between clouds, a few light showers and occasional glass smooth seas.

The Explorer holds 104 passengers and 53 officers, crew and staff. We plied the waters of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. Most of the passengers were Canadians with a handful of Americans like myself and one Aussie. A number of the passengers have traveled on this ship before and continue to return every year or so to explore the magic of the Canadian Arctic. They are victims, like myself, of a disease called "Arcticus Feverous."


Our route at through the Canadian Arctic

This particular trip was entitled Rock Odyssey, because 30 or so of the passengers were geologists on a field trip for the Geological Survey of Canada. They came with maps and words most of us couldn't understand but did give us a basic understanding of 'plate tectonics' or how the earth came to be the way she is today through the movement of large, thin, but rigid pieces of the earth's outer layer which form the continents we are familiar with. And come to find out, it isn't over ... our continents are still drifting and pushing about, causing
earthquakes, tidal waves and eruptions that fortunately most of us
have not experienced.

Once on board ship we stopped frequently, traveling by Zodiac, to visit particularly interesting geological sights or small villages where the Inuit people of Northern Canada live. It was an amazing, life changing trip for me and I hope to share my experiences over the next days through this blog and my photos.

Loading the Zodiacs

Stay Tuned for more over the next days ....