DAY 18 - Cambridge Bay - The End of Days

From this point westwards, the way into the Pacific is fairly straightforward, with none of the convoluted, tortuous passages that befuddled the early explorers seeking passage from the eastern approaches.

It also marks the end of our voyage on the Fram.

Cambridge Bay from the ship

After our breakfast, we reluctantly disembarked, however we had enough time before our flight to Montreal for a local guide to show us around the town.

With a population of 1,700 this is the largest settlement on Victoria Island and a natural stopping off place for passenger and research ships traversing the Passage.

Our guides were two local lads, one of whom was very informative about Inuit culture and legends. His mate was a bit more reticent but said he was keen to represent his country at the next X-games on his snowmobile.

A competitor at X Games doing their thing

First stop was CHARS (Canadian High Arctic Research Station), a state of the art, $250m facility opened in 2019.

The place was spotless, shiny and seemingly empty. We were told that a lot of the scientists were out in the field but the place has not really swung fully into action as, shortly after opening, Covid struck.

Steam punk sculpture is a thing here.

In 2012, Google Street View used tricycles to map the town.

The General Cargo ship, was in harbour delivering a dozen new Ford pickups for the Research Station. The community relies on this ship plus the airport, to receive supplies during the summer months to see it through the harsh winters from October to April.

We caught a glimpse of a station that made up part of the Distant Early Warning Line.

Built in late 50's during the Mutually Assured Destruction days of the Cold War. Designed to spot any air strike or ICBM's that the pesky Russkies decided to lob over the North Pole, it became obsolete as that threat receded. However, with mounting world tensions, talks about repurposing the facilities are on going.

As a sign of how things have changed, from wooden sailing ships crewed by ruffty tufty men of steel who accepted the chances were high of being stuck in the ice for a year or more, through to cruise ships making the passage, this 86m long superyacht, owned by a German steel tycoon, left Halifax, Nova Scotia and is taking on supplies before completing the Northwest Passage and sailing on to Vancouver.

View from the 'plane as we leave Cambridge Bay