Arctic Adventure Part 3 – No. (uninhabited) Canada

We are starting the 3rd part of our 25 night cruise. This northern uninhabited territory of Nunavut would include stops at the islands of Lady Franklin (marked with LF on map), Monumental (marked with MI on map) and Akpatok (marked with A on map). The expedition team would run zodiac departures at all of these islands.

Part 4 will include a stop at Goose Bay/Happy Valley in the Labrador province. The expedition team will disembark here as it will be the termination point for the Seabourn Venture Expeditions. The ship is scheduled to take on much needed supplies as by then we’ll have been almost 2 weeks without substantial provisioning. From there we’ll continue to St. Anthony on the island of Newfoundland. 

Part 5, our final portion, will be in Quebec province with stops at Havre St. Pierre, Sept Îles, Saguenay, Quebec City and finally Montreal. This last section will be quite exhausting for us as we’ll be arriving by around 8am daily and sailing each evening for the next port.

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Frobisher Bay is on Southern Baffin Island in Northern Canada. Iqaliut at the end of Frobisher Bay with a population of 7,700 people, is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. 

We arrived in Iqaliut after 2 relaxing days at sea during which we attended lectures by the expedition staff on interesting topics in their fields (whales, birds and bird migrations), soaked in the hot tub and rested trying to beat our colds so we’d be ready for the next portion of our adventure. 

The ship anchored off the port and no passengers were allowed to disembark. This was the only port in the area, or for that matter until just prior to our disembarking in two weeks, that could clear us in to Canada. Without completing the customs and immigrations clearance procedures we would not be allowed ashore at any of our upcoming stops in Canada. Basically we lost 2 days on the itinerary one to travel up to Iqaliut to check in and get minimum urgent supplies. Then we retraced our voyage back out Frobisher Bay and headed north to the two islands of Lady Franklin and Monumental Island. 

The weather was cold but clear. Frobisher Bay is a very long wide fjord with cliffs and glaciers on either side is incredibly scenic. Once the ship was cleared in to Canada we headed back out Frobisher Bay and would take the rest of the afternoon and in to the middle of the night before exiting. 

Our ship had 5 dining venues for its 450 passengers.
The Restaurant, also known as the main dining room, in which we only ate twice during our entire 24 night itinerary.
The Patio, which was casual poolside dining at lunch and table service in the evenings. 
The Patio Grill which offered grilled buffet items as well as salads at lunch became Earth & Ocean ‘al fresco’ (literally!) in the evenings. Earth & Ocean even with the heat lamps, in the arctic itineraries was only for the brave at heart, parka clothed patrons (read: not us cold weaklings).
There’s also the Grill by Thomas Keller where we’ve already eaten and will eat in again.
We’ve already put the in-suite 24/7 dining, also known as room service, through its paces. 😋
And finally, there’s the Colonnade a more casual bistro-style venue that offered excellent buffet breakfasts and lunches as well as menu service and in the evening offered theme based sit-down table dining.
At every dining venue (including room service) there was the option to order from the Seabourn Classics menu. Finding something to eat was definitely not one of our problems on this ship!

Seabourn has a partnership with Thomas Keller of French Laundry in Napa. The Grill was his elegant exclusive venue offering his creations from starters to desserts. Thomas Keller chocolates are placed in guests suites every evening. And his chocolates are for sale in the café in Seabourn Square.

Four times during this cruise the Colonnade offered special theme dining similar to Keller’s Ad Hoc restaurant in Yountville. 

We missed out on the first one at the beginning of our cruise because we didn’t know anything about them and by the time we did and went to make reservations it was full. Luckily for us it was the BBQ night that would be repeated later on in our cruise. Once we discovered how special these TK menus were in the Colonnade we set a reminder for 2 days in advance to reserve our place at our now favorite table for dinner. Table 6 by the window (shown in these photos).

Tonights menu featured the bone-in ribeye. The menu was at your place and was served family style (kind of, but with elegance) in that the menu items were placed at your table for you to serve yourself. 

Of course the waiter/waitress always asked us if we wanted the TK menu or something else. I saw the words “Waldorf Salad” and didn’t read the description properly so asked for a caesars salad instead. BIG mistake! That was no normal Waldorf salad! The maytag cheese dressing didn’t have a hint of the traditional blech, mayonnaise in it, but rather creme fraîche and a mild blue cheese with a hint of delicate vinegar. I learned my lesson tonight. No substitutions with the future TK Colonnade meals. 

Ok, let’s move on from the Waldorf salad to the piece de resistance… the main course of Grilled “RR” Ribeye that was cooked to medium-rare perfection. The whipped red bliss potatoes were to die for. They contained just the right touch of horseradish for just the right touch of flavor. 

RR= Double R Ranch Northwest Beef… “Always tender, always juicy, Double R Ranch is our premium brand of grain-fed beef with a flavor as bold as the West. Our cattle are carefully raised by our network of family ranchers from around the Northwest. These proud men and women share our Western values and traditions—and most importantly, our mission to produce exceptional beef from ranch to table.” 
All the RR meats were prime cuts of beef and they were definitely the most flavorful we’ve ever had. 

The cheese was made remarkable by the accompanied country bread and the Marshalls farm honey. (see the purveyors blurb of Marshalls farm in the photos). To complete our culinary experience this evening we were served chocolate silk tart. The entire meal was absolutely amazing.

The capper to this dining experience was our primo view departing Frobisher bay with the sun setting directly aft. Since we were still fairly north the sun was setting late in the evening at 10:30pm. Eddie the maitre d’ came to know our dining preferences and advised us to make our reservations for later rather than at 7pm when they opened. By making our reservations at 7:45-8:00pm we pretty much had table 6 and the area around us all to ourselves. 

Some comments about the TK experiences onboard Seabourn were that it was too casual (as the wait staff is in jeans vs dress slacks) and that the family style dining was unhygienic. Give me a break. We loved every minute of it. Other comments were that the menu offerings such as the short ribs or fried chicken were not elegant. We think they’re all nuts. We loved every TK theme menu in the Colonnade.

We’ve gotten many questions of “where are all the people on your ship” a number of times because of our photos seemingly lacking people. If you do the math, here’s why. There were 430 passengers onboard, with 5 dining venues it thins out the congestion in the restaurants. Add to that our being happy to eat a little later (@ 8pm) allowed the first diners to be almost finished by the time we arrived.

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Seabourn Quest would anchor off of 3 uninhabited islands in the next 2 days. Only the ships expedition zodiacs would be launched with the passengers to travel around the islands. We would not be permitted to land on the islands. 

We would make 2 stops today. Lady Franklin and Monumental Island are Baffin Islands offshore islands located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in the territory of Nunavut. The first being Lady Franklin very early in the morning. Since these next three stops are all poorly charted islands the ship would not anchor but instead key in its position and remain in place using the thrusters for the entire time. This is actually pretty impressive a feat especially since the launching dock would be used on deck 3 for the zodiac Ventures expedition departures. 

We were up to attest to the weather conditions at 4am upon arrival to Lady Franklin but we could hardly see out our window when we awoke. We were told at breakfast that the 6am zodiac departure launched in pretty rough seas and the zodiacs quickly disappeared in to the fog. The 90 minute expedition was cut short when Iggy, the expedition team leader, radioed the expedition team to terminate the trip due to poor visibility. The expedition guides had to use their GPS guidance systems to locate the ship through the fog.
The next 2 Lady Franklin zodiac departures were cancelled. And after loading the zodiacs back on the ship we moved on to Monumental Island 10 miles away hoping for improved conditions and for the fog to lift.

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Things looked better weather-wise upon our arrival around 11:30am to Monumental Island. Due to the poorly charted waters, the ship again hovered about 2 miles from the island and used the ships thruster system to maintain the ships position. The fog had lifted to just above the flat plateau of the island. 

We were reserved on the last departure of the day at 6pm. We watched from the ship as the zodiacs departed on their 2pm and 4pm excursions. Each hour brought the fog lower over the plateau and the seas became more agitated. By the time it was our turn to “suit up” (read: put every layer of warm clothing on prior to pulling on the arctic jump suits) at 5:30pm we could hardly see the island from the ship. Bear in mind that 1 mile in rough seas in a zodiac is slow going and pretty uncomfortable. We waddled down the 2 flights of stairs to deck 3 launching dock. In reflection, it was incredibly choppy conditions for the crew and expedition team to load 12 passengers in to the madly bobbing and surging zodiacs. They did an amazing job. 

We got Joe, the ornithologist as our expedition guide (read: guide/driver of our zodiac). It was SO cold which was made even more challenging by the chop and spray as we made our way to the island. Joe (our guide) did a super job, man, the responsibility he was charged with… He had to reduce the speed to reduce the spray on the ride over to the island but that resulted in the trip to the island taking almost twice as long as it would have in better conditions. The result: 45 minutes of a bumpy, windy, wet ride to the island. Cold and wet did not describe our condition. In the backs of our minds we were thinking “we’ve got this ride to look forward to to return to the ship”. 

We had hoped to see some wildlife in particular some walrus. The expedition team had said that they saw a walrus colony here last year, but alas nothing. Joe was wonderful identifying birds and providing interesting information about arctic explorers that discovered these islands. As we headed back to the ship (man, it looked so far away), Joe thought he saw something white on shore but after looking through the binoculars he was disappointed to say that it was only a rock.

While we’re on the topic of polar bears… Chris Shipley, the polar bear guard was always present in a separate zodiac with Iggy, the expedition leader during all the zodiac departures (see photo below) .

He and the entire expedition team had incredibly long days with the zodiac departures. When we arrived in a spot where there was going to be zodiac trips, the zodiacs would be launched pretty much as soon as the ship either dropped anchor or fixed its position. The expedition team would run zodiac 90 minute departures every 2 hours during the entire time. The zodiacs would be the last things to be hoisted on to the ship prior to departure. The expedition team would return one group of passengers to the launching dock only to hover off for 15-30 minutes, to approach the launching dock again, and load another group of passengers. Fog, cold, wind, sun, whatever, they were out there all day. 

The disembarking of our zodiacs when we returned to the ship wet and cold was really hard. They brought down extra crew to help on the platform and we were all instructed to stay seated until we were told that we would be next to disembark. The surge had gotten so strong that timing the disembarkment was critical. The zodiac literally surged so roughly forward and aft that you had to time the stepping off exactly to the second. The crew literally was hauling a couple of passengers off on to the step to get them off. Really, really impressive. 

We waddled up to deck 5 and peeled off our arctic suits. The crew took them from us immediately and we exhaustedly walked back to our warm cabin and took off every bit of our soaked clothing including hats, gloves, Buffy, socks, and put it in the bath tub to wash at the ships launderette tomorrow.

Hot showers in our sumptuous bathroom felt fantastic. We didn’t have the strength to walk to the hot tub. We enjoyed cocktails in our suite as the ship departed Monumental Island. By this time it was already 8:45p and room service never sounded so good.

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Akpatok is created from two words. “Akpa” which is the local name for Brunnich’s Guillemots and “tok” which means islands. Akpatok Island is in Ungava Bay off the Hudson Strait in the Nunavut territory of Canada. The 500-800 foot sheer cliffs with their deep ridges of the island were created when the glaciers that covered the flat top of the island melted. These ridges carved high up in the cliffside are an important sanctuary fo the cliff-nesting Guillemots. Recent surveys estimate approximately 600,000 pairs of nesting Guillemots here. If you add the non-breeding immatures that are present at this time of year one can estimate a population of well over a million birds.

At first glance the steep cliffs with their linear ridges running the full length don’t look like anything. But if you look closely these ridges are packed with guillemots. Their black and white bodies lined the creases. 

Though last night the weather forecast was for gale force winds, we arrived this morning in smooth seas and bright sunshine in 4c degree windy conditions. Ironically this island was forecast to have the worst weather conditions for zodiac expeditions as the previous year the zodiac departures were cancelled due to 30 knot wins. Today we arrived to optimal expedition conditions. Again we didn’t anchor but rather hovered in place using the ships thrusters.

Iggy, the expedition leader announced to everyone that they had spotted two groups of polar bears on the shore. Zodiacs were launched and the groups departed continually during our stop here. The zodiacs could approach the shoreline and those onboard them could get a closer look at the polar bears always with Chris Shipley, the polar bear guard, and Iggy’s careful watch. The guard was armed with a rifle (live ammunition not sleep darts) in the event a polar bear should become aggressive and threaten the zodiacs. This has never happened, but it’s comforting to know that there’s an expert in polar bear habits always watching to keep us safe. 

The view from onboard was actually almost as good as the captain did an excellent job letting the ship drift along the coastline where the polar bears were spotted and keeping as close to the rocky beach as possible. This was impressive because the tide was going out and the rocky shoreline was being exposed. This was another great advantage of being on a small(ish) ship. 

The viewing from most of the open decks was really good but the best was off the stern of Deck 7 and Seabourn Square. The ship was much more steady than the bobbing zodiacs enabling one to more easily focus their binoculars. We pretty much spent the entire day with our binoculars to our eyes watching the polar bears make their way along the island. The reason we might sight polar bears on Akpatok Island is because they get “trapped” when the ice melts and they wait for the winter ice to form. They walk the scree layer of the island and along the beaches with their cubs scoring the odd fallen Guillemot from the cliffs above. If you look closely you will see a guillemot in the bears mouth and on the beach in-between her paws (top two photos). In the winter months the island is encased in snow and surrounded with sea ice which is the polar bears hunting grounds for hunting seals. We were told that the scar on the hind quarter of the mother bear (bottom right) was most probably from an encounter with a walrus.

While glued to the shoreline we missed a humpback whale who breeched 3 times on the opposite side of the ship. These sightings happen so quickly and disappear that sometimes you question whether they occurred at all. 

We observed a total of 10 polar bears today. 1 mother and her 3 cubs that wandered around the curve of the island out of sight in the morning, 1 mother and her 2 cubs on the beach and then up on the scree where they laid down to rest, 1 mother and 1 cub that disappeared around the southern point of the island out of our view, and lastly 1 solo polar bear that we can only imagine was a male on the very top of the southern limestone cliff. On departure the afternoon sun cast wonderful shadows that reminded us of Egypt.

Today marked the end of the expedition portion of our trip (zodiac and kayak excursions led by a member of the expedition team). The expeditions have been amazing but we have to admit we are ready for some warmer temperatures. 

What better to end this incredible day but to dine again at The Grill by Thomas Keller? Another amazing dining experience as we cruised away from Akpatok Island to the Labrador Sea for 2 days at sea before our next port of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland. 

The Maryland Crab cake with garlic aioli was such a hit for Joe the previous time, he chose it again. I repeated my starter of Chopped Iceberg Salad with rosettes of applewood smoked bacon and blue cheese dressing (which was to die for). We shared a portion of New England clam chowder with scrumptious Parker house rolls. OMG 😱, the rolls brought me back to my days in Boston, so buttery and delicious! The chowder was good but once you’ve had Legal Seafoods chowder (pronounced chowDAH in Boston) nothing will compare. The special attention to the presentation at The Grill made every minute of the meal absolutely delightful.

Joe chose the Lobster Thermador for something different but once again after New England seafood, it probably would have been better to have chosen something else. I chose the veal t-bone that Joe had the first time. Incredible! Sides tonight were the wilted spinach, creme fraîche whipped potatoes and the sautéed mushrooms scented with Brandy. 

Ice cream sundaes and homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert completed our meal. They even provide The Grill paper sleeves to take your cookies home with you. Even though the ships other dining venues have delicious cookies these just stand out as better.

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We have 750 kms to travel to our next destination which will take us out of the Arctic to Labrador and Newfoundland, Canada. 

Passengers excitedly spent the next morning and evening sharing their stories and photos of the polar bear with their fellow passengers.  

Our first of 2 sea days was filled with a number of interesting lectures by the expedition team members as well destination speakers. We hung out at Seabourn Square, worked out at the fitness center, took a hot tub in what now we have come to regard as our private spot on the foredeck and indulged in room service and curling up on the comfy sofa and watching a movie we brought from home.

For dinner tonight we both started with Mushroom Ravioli forest mushrooms and sabayon which was absolutely delicious. 

Followed by baby field greens and shaved fennel, candied pecans, with orange and basil dressing for me and sweet green pea soup with rosemary brioche croutons for Joe. 

I had lemon grilled calamari tubes with squash mascarpone risotto, arugula and citrus sofrito (whatever that was). Joe had delicious veal piccata Milanese. 

During our last session in the Grill by Thomas Keller we were served a lovely Latour Chardonnay and we now have it stocked in our suite fridge. Surprisingly good for a non-chardonnay drinker. I really liked it. Must be due to its provenance 🇫🇷.

We finished off the meal with warm apple strudel with créme anglaise and (melted by the time we ate it…) vanilla gelato. Oh, and of course a yummy cheese plate. 

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Day 2 at sea enroute to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador

We woke to 3m seas that had us rolling pretty good. Being on the lower deck in an ocean view cabin probably provides a more comfortable ride for those prone to sea sickness because the higher up you are the more metronome feeling you’ll have in your cabin. Since this itinerary is in colder climates we once again confirmed our decision for an ocean view cabin vs a balcony cabin. 

It’s really fun to look out our window and see the waves crashing into the side of the ship. 

We spent the day based out of the Seabourn Square but by afternoon we were quite busy. Joe did a bridge tour in the afternoon. He said it was pretty uninteresting. There wasn’t a feeling of being at the command of a ship as it was dead quiet, even the instruments didn’t make any noise, and the crew on watch just sat there like mannequins motionlessly staring out to sea. Interesting findings is that there are 3 decks lower than our passenger deck. The ship does not have stern thrusters and they have double bow thrusters.

Joe scooted on down to meet me for the 4:30pm galley tour. As previous Seabourn cruise passengers, our friends Ellen and George knew about this event. It was by reservation only and quite a large group. The chef de cuisine met us and immediately you couldn’t help but like him. He was told there would be 20 people and so wasn’t prepared for the large a group we had. We started in the galley with champagne and caviar canapes.

Eric Torralba was a charming Frenchman who moved from France to Yountville to work as chef at Moët Chandon for 7 years and then moved over to working for Ponant on Le Boreal which he described as a disaster. Stories of working Ushuaia Antarctica in rough seas that the galley cooks were strapped in to the stoves to maintain their stations, and one time even 3 of the 4 engines were inop. His final comment was if you plan on doing an Antarctica sailing from Ushuaia take National Geographic! 

Bio information about Eric Torralba: Eric originally from the South of France, but has been living in Napa Valley, North of San Francisco for 15 years. He is a dual citizen of the USA and France. After working with Paul Bocuse for 2 years he left for a long culinary journey around the world traveling to Russia, United States, and Sweden, where he received 1 Michelin star. Then he spent 7 years as Executive Chef for Savarona M/Yacht, one of the largest private yachts in the world, mixing exclusive charters and official trips. On his return to the United States, he worked at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills and Yountville California, where he was hired by the LVMH group Moet et Chandon to deliver the cuisines of Domaine Chandon. He met Thomas Keller of the 3 Michelin star restaurant, French Laundry and redesigned Californian cuisine based on new concepts. His culinary influences are Pierre Gagnaire, Michel Bras and Jean Louis Paladin, a precursor in Washington DC. Eric joined Seabourn after 5 contracts with Viking Cruises, traveling around the world. When he is not on board the Seabourn Quest, Eric lives with his 3 children in the South of France, taking care of an mini Urban Farm based on permaculture.

He said that all 5 restaurants food is prepared in this one galley. He said he just smiles when passengers tell him that the soup in the Colonnade restaurant is much better than the main restaurant. 😉 🙄

What was more appropriate after working up an appetite watching all the preparation for the evening meals than to have another Thomas Keller Buttermilk Fried Chicken special theme menu at the Colonnade. We had made our reservations immediately when they opened 2 days before. Table 6 (high table) by the window please, with Joan as our server. 

When we heard the fried chicken as the main we thought “fried chicken”?!? But ohhhhhhhhh, we were so wrong. This fried chicken was like no other fried chicken, no ANY chicken we’ve had in our lives! But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

The lettuce salad was delicious, crispy and fresh (bear in mind how long it’s been since the ship has gotten fresh vegetables…) carved cucumbers and the pickled onions yum! All with a creamy herb dressing. As we had come to expect, the bread was fresh and delicious.

Out comes the chicken. Oh the chicken! A massive portion which would serve us well for our picnic lunch we had planned tomorrow. I have got to learn how to make this chicken. It was so moist in the center but had a crunchy perfectly done crust around it. I had to restrain myself from eating it all. 

A green bean casserole with crispy onions (reminded me of Thanksgiving in the 70s and 80s) and Anson Mills (featured purveyor of the meal) cheese grits that had a little kick to them. Almost too spicy for Joe, he would have preferred a little less “kick” in them, but I thought they were delicious!

We weren’t too excited about the cheese course when we read it as Cowgirl Creamery is a local cheese producer in our area. In our book it’s just “ok” nothing nearly that exciting as we’ve had during our lunches in the Colonnade. But the focus in Thomas Keller’s menus was local producers and Cowgirl located in Pt. Reyes certainly fits that bill. The drop biscuits were good, but what saved the cheese course for us was the mouthwatering strawberry preserves to add to the cheese. It absolutely exploded with flavorful blend in your mouth. 

Now for dessert, another kind of, “eh” reaction when we read Butterscotch pudding with butterscotch sauce and whipped chantilly. We didn’t realize that we saw them making these desserts while on the galley tour earlier that afternoon. Another OMG moment when the dessert met our mouths. This wasn’t butterscotch of what I remember from my childhood, but more bordering on Caramel beurre salé flavor. If you think about it, it’s pretty much the same ingredients but usually turns out much differently when you buy the butterscotch pudding packages by Jello in your local supermarket! 

I still salivate when I think about this meal. I’ve got to learn how to make that chicken!

We’ve been watching the weather forecast for our next stop as we had booked a 3-1/2 hour hiking trip at Birchbrook Nordic ski club that was written up to be quite scenic, but when we saw the weather forecast we opted to cancel. After being in the arctic cold for the past 2 weeks, we aren’t inclined to go hiking for 2+ hours in the rain even if it’s a few degrees warmer. Our decision has been a good one so far as the forecast has been increasingly grim. Forecast started with only .33” of rain, increased to .75” and this morning it’s settled down to .6” so we shall see. But we’re still glad we are going to hang on our own. 

The small community is running a shuttle bus from the pier to the center of time. Our plan is to get some Canadian money at the cooperating bank, and short hike on the newly constructed boardwalk at the Birch Island Conservation area. After that since it will be the strongest rain period we’ll pop in to the local library where there’s supposed to be WiFi. The ships WiFi, because it’s satellite, is slow and subject to weak spots (ie: polar areas) where the satellite reception isn’t as strong. 

Arctic Adventures continues with Part 4 – Labrador and Newfoundland, Canada.