Recent Trips: Nunavut and Newfoundland/Labrador

A bucket list trip to the far northeast of Canada. The land of polar bears, northern lights, dramatic scenery, lots of rocks billions of years old, and the Inuits, who have inhabited the area for thousands of years. An area very much off the grid. Remote and wild. A part of Canada few people know exists.

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Spent a few days in Montreal before flying to Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada.
Walked around lots of neighborhoods.
Newer Montreal.
An example of the street art found throughout the city.
Marche Jean Talon, a very impressive expansive outdoor market.
Old Montreal.
Flew to Iqaluit and overnighted by ship to the Lower Savage Islands, Nunavut. Polar bears looking for food frequent this location in late summer.
Lower Savage Islands. These uninhabited islands provide a glimpse into Arctic Canada.
Lower Savage Islands.
Lower Savage Islands. Yay, a polar bear our first day!!
Lower Savage Islands.
Lower Savage Islands. Isn't she cute?
Lady Franklin Island, Nunavut. Named for the wife of Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer who died trying to discover the Northwest Passage. The island is known for its striking vertical cliffs. Reminded me of Yosemite.
Lady Franklin Island.
Near Lady Franklin Island.
Lady Franklin Island. Look at the size of the zodiac to the left.
Lady Franklin Island. I am told there is an abundance of bears, caribou, ducks, seals and walrus on the island or nearby. We only saw birds.
Lady Franklin Island. The rocks on the island are 2.5-4 billion years old.
As we cruised we could see bears on the mountainsides and beaches. Too far away to photograph, but interesting to watch with binoculars. Further south we encountered black bears as well as polar bears.
Torngat Mountains National Park, northern Labrador. We explored for three days. This remote wilderness is visited by less than 600 people a year. It is the Inuit homeland.
The Torngats. Walked up a hill to a viewpoint. Wearing about 4 layers of clothing. And always a life jacket. If a polar bear was seen nearby, we had to be able to quickly get to a zodiac and take off. No time to put on the life jacket.
Walking the Torgats is not easy. There are no trails, and the ground can be soggy and filled with hidden holes. Usually it is uphill from the beach.
The Torngats. Walking is limited by the perimeter established by our bear monitors. The bears always determined where and if we could go ashore.
Silluak, considered to be one of the most spectacular places in the Torngats. I think our expedition leader would call the day atmospheric.
More walking in the Torngats. What a beautiful day.
3.9 billion years old. Think about it!!!
Silluak. Waterfalls abound in the landscape.
Erosion of the ancient mountains by a process called exfoliation. See how the rocks seem to peel off?
The nights were as good as the days:)
More walking in the Torngats.
One of our bear monitors. Part Inuit, part Scottish. Born and lives in a nearby Inuit community. Our monitors were all Inuit.
Silluak
Silver Wind, part of the Silversea fleet. The expedition ship that carried us on this adventure.
Approaching Hebron, in northern Labrador. The most noticeable building on the landscape is the church.
Hebron, a former missionary and Inuit community. Now a National Historic Site.
Hebron. The mission was founded in 1831 and disbanded in 1959. The original inhabitants are gone, but the church still stands. The residents were not part of the decision to close the mission and were relocated as part of the closure.
Hebron. In 2005 Newfoundland and Labrador's Premier apologized to the Inuit affected by the relocations. A monument was placed on the site with the apology.
Hopedale, northern Labrador. Hopedale is the legislative capital of Nunatsiavut, and where the Nunatsiavut Assembly meets.
Hopedale, population nearly 600. Originally the Inuit settlement of Agvituk, Inuktitut (place of the whales) it was renamed by Moravian missionaries.
Mayor of Hopedale, standing within the Hopedale Missionary Church. The church is a National Historic Site of Canada. Missionaries came in 1782 to convert the population.
Director of a Hopedale community nonprofit.
Nunatsiavut Assembly building. Nunatsiavut, "Our Beautiful Land", is the name chosen by the Labrador and North-Eastern Quebec Inuit for the lands they self-govern.
Inside the Assembly Building. The assembly handles control over Inuit social services, cultural affairs, and natural resources, as well as over Inuit lands and settlement areas.
This gentleman welcomed us to his shed and talked about things important to him and his wife, such as building a kayak and skinnng seal skins, Hopedale inhabitants practice subsistence living.
Two men who demonstrated Inuit games to us.
A shed painted with the unofficial Labrador flag in reverse. The twig represents the Black Spruce, the official provincial tree. Its three segments symbolize the unity of the Inuit, the Innu, and the European settlers.
Manager of the hotel, and a retired school teacher who was our guide. Our guide came to Hopedale to teach for one year, and stayed.
Inside a Hopedale shed. Animal skins, a kayak, tools.
Red Bay Labrador. A major Basque whaling area between 1530 and the early 17th century. Red Bay has been designated as a National Historic Site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Red Bay Labrador. We toured a couple Visitor Centers and a museum which all told the stories of the Basque whalers. Several whaling ships have sunk in the area, and artifacts are displayed in the local museum.
Red Bay Labrador. A wonderful little restaurant serving local treats. Approximately 150 people Iive in Red Bay.
I was fascinated by the Basque whalers' shoes. Look at how narrow and delicate they are. Whaling paid very well as the whale oil supplied lamp fuel, soap, and tanning oil to Europe.
Two of the women we met working at the Whalers restaurant.
Bonne Bay, Newfoundland, carved by glaciers approximately 10,000 years ago.
Woody Point, Newfoundland. If someone tells me they baked a cookie, I have to try it.
Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland. One of the few places where the Earth's mantle has been pushed on top of the Earth's crust! Formed nearly 500 million years ago during a continental plate collision.
The Tablelands dramatically lit up in the light of the rising sun through storm clouds near Woody Point, Newfoundland. The tablelands are a rare, rust-colored landscape formed by exposed rock from the Earth's mantle.
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