Northwest Passage Expedition – daily update 14 August 2024

Quiet day today. I fixed the dagger board with a good dozen metres of T-Rex duck tape. It had sustained some serious bruising over the previous years and with sea water entering the damaged bits the wood had started to deteriorate.

IT PROBLEM FIXED, WIFE OFF MY BACK FOR NOW

After much criticism from my lovely but rather headstrong wife for not getting the issue sorted when it arose, two days ago, I finally fixed an issue with the automatic uploading of all footage to the cloud.

ONE COURAGEOUS, CURIOUS SEAL

Our resident seal lost all its inhibitions and caution and now regularly pops up out of the water a mere 3, 4 metres (10 to 13ft) from Hermione. Sadly, it has a lot of very severe scarring around its head, including ingrown bits of trawling net. The brave fellow mammal must have gone through hell but survived. And it even kept its pleasant nature, pressing curiosity, and winning smile. This one’s got my seal of approval.

POLAR BEAR WORRIES UNFOUNDED

There was one tense moment at around 3:30pm when all the seals including ‘our’ seal had suddenly vanished, including the one or two usually sunbathing at the Northern tip of Botany Island pointing towards near-by Victoria Island. At the same time all the birds started flying wild loops across the sky and chirping manically. Then the birds were gone, too. No polar bear spotted, though. For the next 90 minutes I would keep my eyes scanning every square inch of my surrounds.

A CONTAINER SHIP, A HELI, AND A PLANE

Within a short period of time in the afternoon, we first saw a mid-sized container ship with four cranes and zero containers pass by on the horizon. Then a helicopter passed us in the distances going Westward, and minutes later a small plane going Eastward. By far the busiest day in terms of company.