Northwest Passage Western Section

After all kinds of waiting for ice to move out of our way, we made our way from Bellot East to Cambridge Bay.  We thought until halfway through Larsen Sound that we would head to James Ross Strait and Gjoa Haven but the ice had its own ideas (which included drifting into James Ross Strait). Such is the way of thousand square kilometer blocks of pack ice.

We made Cambridge Bay at 8:15 p.m. August 27th, 2013, more than ten days behind what ended up being a much too optimistic schedule.  Five of the six Westbound boats converged at Bellot and Willis Bay in the wait for Franklin Strait to clear. They were Libellule (Switzerland), La Belle Epoque (Austria), Isatis (France), Traversay III (Canada) and our boat Acalephe (Canada).

We all pulled into Cambridge within 12 hours of each other to meet some of the Eastbound boats as well.  For a brief day, Cambridge became the center of Arctic yachting and we were tied up to three abreast on the dock.