C-day12 Beechey Island

 Today we set off for Beechey Island, in the footsteps of the doomed Franklin expedition which was lost when searching for the NW Passage in the mid 1840s

Our landing site

Soon after breakfast we headed out for our landing to view the graves of three of the Franklin expedition members and one from one of the search parties

The bodies were exhumed and autopsies carried out. Due to the conditions the bodies were perfectly preserved. 

Despite the desolate stoney environment life does go on

Heaps of used gun cartridges - unexplained

The ruins of an outpost set up when they were searching for Franklin’s expedition

Pop

As we were leaving we could see a pod of beluga whales, maybe 20 or 30 across the bay. Too far for a decent photo but obvious enough through the binoculars

It would have looked like this photo from the internet if one had a drone (we even suspect this photo could have been taken in exactly the same location, the landscape in the background is uncannily similar)

We then headed south to Prince Leopold Island to see the bird colonies on the cliffs. The girls hit the spa en route at 4 degree outside temperature

We were supposed to go out in the zodiacs but there was too much swell, so distant views only. Thousands of gulls and guillemots 

For dinner we headed up to the extra charge Lindstrom restaurant to celebrate Bruce and Lorraine’s wedding anniversary with them

Happy anniversary cake by the ship

Fancy dessert