drron29

Great. So my just finished late report on a Silver Explorer cruise from Reykjavik to Churchill marked the last time a cruise ship was in Churchill as it was 1 month short of 10 years since our visit. Sad as it was also the first time the Explorer had been to Hudson bay. I wonder with the number of Expedition ships they have now will Silversea make it a more regular occurrence. At this time of year the Beluga whales and polar bears make it an enjoyable stop.

They had to be very careful when taking planes out of storage at Alice Springs after the pandemic as snakes had delighted in the wonderful homes provided by those planes.

A lovely Australian native callistemon you have there from Corfu. Commonly known as a bottle brush. It is very common in Europe and that possibly is due to Sir Joseph Banks taking a specimen back to England in 1770 when he returned from Captain Cook's voyage of discovery to Australia.

Don't worry Lola those Americans can't even say aluminium properly. And the way they say Brisbane is the bane of my life.

Thanks for the report. just under 3 months until we board her in Yokohama. looks like you have kept everything in good order. We will also be in a superior verandah on deck 9. I did recognise a few of the crew. Funny they were the ones serving you wine! I wonder why that is?

Sorry we were much younger in those days and usually used the stairs especially when in one of the Medallion suites on deck 7. You may notice that one of the common things I post photos on more recently is food and there are absolutely none of the food onboard on this trip. That is why I posted the last photos just to remind fols that I did so when back onshore.

Our largest spider is 6.2 inches long, In the US yours is 6 inches long. our second and third largest spiders are the Huntsman and Golden orb spiders which are also in the USA. But we do have more venomou spiders. The most venomous is the Sydney funnel web spider. As a young lad I grew up in Sydney and there were lots of funnel webs in our garden. I used to catch them to take to North Sydney hospital so the could study the venom with the aim of producing an antivenom. It was finally perfected in 1981. Prior to that their were recorded just 13 deaths from these spiders venom. there have been none since 1981. So I am not afraid of spiders whereas Rojaan is. If there is a large spider in the house I will catch it and take it outside so it avoids a stomping. As for snakes, sharks and other dangerous critters you have them in North America as well.

Fortunately the fog lifted and when we arrived at the airport our Enerjet 737 had just arrived. There were some airlines I had never heard of serving Churchill. Seating allocation was by deck so Deck 7 passengers were in the front seats so as deck 5 we were in row 4. I had the lucky middle seat.Well I actually scored 4A but someone decided that was their seat. In front of us were our friends the Russians who as soon as the plane started rolling down the runway reclined their seats. Fortunately the recline is no more than a couple of inches so no real problem. EG302. YYQ-YWG. ETD-1330. Push back-1359. Take off-1402. ETA-1539. Landed-1532. At terminal-1546. The country around Churchill at take off. As we approached Winnipeg agriculture was obvious. We soon saw the Airport and Winnipeg. We landed and went to the General aviation Terminal. This upset a few who had tight connections. It took nearly an hour to unload the luggage and get it onto the busses. It was then a reasonable distance to get to the main terminal. No problem for us as we were booked into the Four Points at the airport. We weren't expecting much just a sleep before on to Calgary do do our own tour of Alberta. Ended up seeing the northern lights every night. We were quite tired so ate at the hotel.It was surprisingly good. I had a local beer,the fish soup which was very good and then the arctic char. Rojaan had a half bottle of white,the scallops and the ribs. I really enjoyed this cruise. Greenland is beautiful but i also enjoyed Hudson bay and being on the river in Churchill with all the beluga whales was definitely a highlight. So back to normal programming.

Sunday and the time had come the walrus said to leave the ship at 0930. We were bussed to town for a 90 minute walk around. A few gift stores open. Rojaan got a few knickknacks. One store had an unigue Inuit Ivory piece. And next to it another unique piece. But the stars of the morning were the sled dog puppies. They followed me up a side street but I had to explain Australian Customs wouldn't let me keep them so they returned to mother. There was an interesting T-shirt. And we had our last polar bear encounters. We then had a light early lunch at the seaport hotel. However a thick fog rolled in so our departure for the airport was delayed. So we had time to smell the flowers.

On Saturday afternoon we took a bus tour of Churchill's"sights".First stop was "Snares "beach. Called Snares beach because of these. These were to catch polar bears. They are now allowed to stroll the beach-we did have 2 bear guards. Evidence of a recent polar bear rest site. They now prefer to rest under rocks so the wont be seen by the helicopters. We saw lots of geese. And a ship wreck.Said to have lost steering in a storm. The locals have a different explanation related to the fact the mine it served closed 3 weeks after the beaching and it's high insurance value. We saw the old rocket range. And the Polar bear correctional facility. There we saw the modern method of trapping a polar bear. All that was missing was the dead seal to attract the bear. The airport was next to here and I was lucky enough to get a shot of the next flight awaiting permission from the tower to take off. We were then shown the old gun battery at the mouth of the river. This overlooked the fort on the opposite bank. Then it was back to the ship for our final dinner ,amarula and then the sad packing of luggage.

We then went up river.Just an amazing experience.Beluga whales everywhere.Many would come towards the zodiacs looking us over. The young whales are grey. These gulls were about to get a surprise. This fellow came when our guide put a microphone in the water and played the sounds to us. It came past a couple of times and I thought it was looking straight at me. It was now time to head back to the Explorer. As one several of us sat on the side the Russian fellow had originally been on. He protested that now he would have to stand up on the way back. No one understood a word he said.

Unfortunately most don't seem to have any.

Try our beautiful Sunshine Coast. middle of winter and temperatures mainly 10 - 12C (50 -54F ) minimum and 20 -22C maximum ( 68 - 72F ). Though those temps are a little below average for this time of year.

We sailed on the Dawn last August and the Moon in March. No significant difference between them.

The dress code can change during a voyage. When on the Moon for 54 days there was no dress code on the first segment. Then the Hotel director changed and from there the dress code was enforced. And some passengers do indeed try to flout the rules. Have seen a fellow told by the Maitre'D in Atlantide that he needs a tie to enter and offered one. but he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tie. The latest in wrinkled chic. Don't tell me he didn't know the dress code and always carries a tie in one pocket.

Saturday and we woke up in Churchill. Fortunately we were on the right side for the whales-actually Port side ie the side away from the wharf-see these nautical terms can end up being down right confusing. So here is what we saw from our verandah. And then it was into the zodiacs. Our zodiac was called Aiello so most of you will know who our silversea zodiac driver was. We went with the son of the owner of the agency SS was using here. A beautiful day and we were in for a bonus. There were 4 different bears close to the shoreline. As you can see some of the zodiacs got close to the shore. These were the Explorer's zodiacs. We had a Russian couple in our zodiac. The fellow kept telling our guide to go in closer. He explained that the others were closer to the bears than allowed and also were in danger of collecting a rock. Our fellow kept insisting and when he couldn't get his way started telling the other passengers to move or sit down. All but 1 in our zodiac were a little annoyed. But some more bears. This last fellow was looking towards the old English fort probably hoping a tourist would wander a little far from the group.

Once again the team dined together and another great night. Then the Northern lights decided to put on a final performance even though the sunset colours were still present. Fantastic. So finish the day with some pictures. So only Churchill to go.

We were then taken to the information centre,a gift shop and community centre. At the Community Centre there was a brochure with an ad for a local airline announcing their new HS748 service! So more of Arviat. So pictures in the community centre and the last of Arviat. When I got back to the landing site it was obvious that the wind and swell had increased considerably. We were told initially it would be a 40 minute wait for the zodiacs. About 20 minutes later told that the second group's tour had been abandoned and we now had to wait as the Explorer repositioned to enable it to drift when we returned. I wasn't reassured when our young guide told me it was 8 years ago to the day that her grandfather had drowned a mile out and the weather was the same as now. So now a 4.5 mile ride back. As the wind and swell were coming from behind the ride was pretty good. However when we got close we had to stop and wait our turn. Then the waves were breaking over the zodiac. We finally got tied up at the side gate. The first 2 got off and I was next. I had stepped onto the side of the zodiac,was hanging on to the crew at the gate when I heard a shout-Stop. seconds I was hanging on whilst the zodiac rose and fell about 6 foot at a time every 30 seconds. Every time it started to come up I got a load of water in to my groin. I was getting pretty wet. I was glad when told to jump. Basically I owe my life to those fellows at the side gate. So a good long soak in a warm tub before lunch and a post prandial snooze. The second singing demonstration was cancelled and we steamed off towards Churchill

If they were on our cruise I might find myself walking past their table holding a glass of red wine and ever so accidentally trip with the wine going over the fellow. followed up by so sorry,I don't know what it is with this particular table but I always seem to trip going past it.

How did you know they were wearing Uggs?😉

On one of ours it was the Poseidon Adventure.

Gosh we could never get in. Packed every night and certainly didn't sound quiet from the door.

More of the hamlet. The town's insignias. Our next activity was another couple demonstrating the typical dress and tent with all the uses made of caribou. Then Rapa and Richard modelled Inuit snow goggles-very becoming.

Friday and an early breakfast for me. Once again I was on the first zodiac as they needed a single for a full complement. We had anchored 4 miles of Arviat and the ride seemed to take forever. Arviat is home to the Caribou Inuit. Was set up in the 50s when the caribou migration didn't take place for several years so the Mounties moved several starving bands of Inuit here. A very nondescript hamlet of 1800 souls. The first activity for our group was visiting a local family. Obviously one of the families in Arviat as they were invited to meet the Queen on her visit to Canada. A small but obviously well lived in home.