DAY 9: DUNDAS HARBOUR AND CROKER BAY ON DEVON ISLAND


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We were now back on schedule and after cruising through the night arrived at Dundas Harbour.  Great excitement as a group of walruses were spotted on a rock close by where we were to land.  As usual we loaded into the zodiacs for the ride ashore.

Off go the kayakers

Walruses on the rocks

The party divided into three groups - the chargers, who wanted a fast pace and were prepared to climb, the medium walkers and the meanderers.  The latter group stayed close to the landing spot and then were taken by zodiac around the island to the other side to where the ship had moved.

The medium group found plenty of old bones.



The hill that the chargers climbed

Over the other side there was an old RCMP post.  It looked out to sea, as if set down there to watch over the entrance to Lancaster Sound and the Northwest Passage. It was opened in 1924 with a complement of three constables on three year terms.  

Constable Maisonneuve, still there in the spring of 1926 but due to transfer out that summer, committed suicide on June 16. Another officer, Constable W.R. Stephens, shot himself by accident while walrus-hunting the next summer. Both of the men are buried in a small graveyard, Canada’s most northerly, just up the slope behind the detachment buildings.
The RCMP shut the detachment down for good in August 1951.

Dundas Harbour RCMP post

The little graveyard

Ice in the bay made it hard for the zodiacs find a landing spot

Always lots of old bones


The cemetery is in the background


Dundas Harbour

We reboarded the ship and made our way West to Croker Bay where there are two very large glaciers moving down into the bay from a large ice cap.

Croker Bay glacier in the distance at the end of Croker Bay, some two miles wide


Part of the leading edge

Off to investigate


One of nine zodiacs

The Akademic Ioffe







On our return we found out that the evening meal was a barbeque on the rear deck.  Lots to eat in the sunshine and it wasn't too cold.  Any one you know?





It had been an excellent day

Next Post: Change of Plans - Maxwell Bay 

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