It’s time to say farewell to our sturdy ship. Our bags are collected and craned into the zodiacs for the long ride to the Iqaluit shore. Although it is the capital of Nunavut, there isn’t a pier, so we’re prepared for a beach landing. We put on our wet skins and wellies for one last wet landing. It is windy and cold and the long ride into town seems to be a message that winter is quickly descending on the Arctic.

Iqaluit has a population of about 10,000 people and it is the largest community we have encountered since leaving Edmonton two weeks ago. The airport is quite modern and features the benefit of being only a 15 minute walk to downtown (imagine how less stressful air travel would be if you could walk to the airport?). The town is filled with hotels, banks, churches, schools, government buildings and stores. Like everywhere in Nunavut, the town has some very interesting architecture. I love that all the new public buildings being built in the north are not just functional but also innovative. Of course, it was our first Tim Hortons in two weeks, so most of us made the pilgrimage for a doughnut and a double double.

Onwards to Ottawa and then to Toronto. Our last goodbyes finally at the airport baggage carousal. All I can say was that it was a total pleasure travelling with all of you and I hope you will join us for our next expeditions:

• Newfoundland, Labrador and Baffin Island in July 2012
• Antarctica in February 2013
• The Northwest Passage in August, 2013

Thank you all for your tremendous spirit of adventure!

The ride over is rewarded with four Polar Bear sightings. First a mother and her cub, then a bear climbing up against a dark rocky mountain so that is was perfectly outlined and finally another sleepy fellow who continued to climb as well. This doesn’t get old and we are pumped up as we return to the ship.

This afternoon it is time to settle accounts and pack our bags. The staff is leaving the ship as well, leaving only Eva our cracker jack hotel manager and the galley crew to finish packing up the ship on it’s journey down to Halifax. Once it arrives it will return to its roots as a research vessel. One Ocean Expeditions will rejoin the Ioffe in November down in Argentina to start the Antarctic season.

We dress up as much as can for the Captain’s Dinner and applaud all the hard work of the staff and resource lecturers and finally head down to the presentation room for our last organized event of the trip – a “best of” photo slideshow contributed to by all the passengers. It was a great way to finish off the trip and better yet everyone left with the slideshow on a thumb drive to enjoy at home.

The Arctic has found it’s way into my bones in a very personal way and reliving the moments during the slideshow made me thoughtful and emotional. It just reminds me why I enjoy working in travel so much. I truly believe it is transformative for people -  whether it was visiting the Inuit communities, listening to the impassioned words of Peter Irniq, basking in the glow of a magnificent Arctic sunset, or just being surrounded by the silence. Canada is a huge and vast country and being an explorer following in the footsteps of some pretty famous ones was a real treasure.

One last Arctic sunset for us all…

Lois must have been good luck cause this morning we awoke to cruise past this magnificent iceberg. Two in one journey, especially on our route, is quite uncommon. I first saw the ice around 6:30am and went up to the bridge to take some photos. I had just arrived when Helen saw a bear swimming in the ocean right beside the ship. What are the chances? I grabbed the camera and snapped away. It was no more than 50 feet from the ship and obviously wondering what this great big thing was that he was swimming next to. Once he passed, we spotted a second one swimming much further out. All this before breakfast even!

This morning we are going to investigate our first Arctic fjord. After being in the Norwegian fjords a couple of months ago, I am quite thrilled to see my first Arctic one. The fjord is lovely with waterfalls, sleeping polar bears, arctic hare, interesting rock formations and quiet peacefulness. I haven’t mentioned our kayakers much in the blog, but a small group of the passengers signed up to kayak and today was a perfect day to be gliding amongst the fjord walls.

A group of passengers did a landing here and climbed up the fjord to get a pretty awesome view of the island. Our group is a pretty intrepid lot who enjoy being outdoors and seeing new things. I swear everyone turns into a kid again on these expedition cruises. We are all ten years old, climbing, discovering, investigating. I absolutely love that about the excursions.

This afternoon we are cruising through an island. That’s right. There is a passage that runs through the length of the island and we are going to Zodiac cruise through the length of it. The ocean is tossing the ship and we are uncertain that we will be able to get onto the Zodiacs safely, but our captain has arranged the ship so that we are as sheltered as we can be and we take our time boarding the Zodiacs. This is when we really see the skill and experience of our staff. I certainly feel in good hands.

We rely on the experience and expertise of our Expedition Leader Graham who is happy to scout out locations for a chance to get off the Zodiacs and stretch out our legs on land today. He was looking for a spot that was romoured to have more Thule remains, but we instead we found an interesting spot to do a little amateur rock climbing. After this morning, our intrepid lot thought nothing of following Graham up a steep enbankment of rocks. Its amazing what a couple of weeks of expedition cruising will do for your confidence and sense of adventure. Who knows what we will find at the top?

After scrambling back down after enjoying the view we continue down through the island to meet the ship at the other side. What was there to greet us? Why another iceberg of course! It is incongruous and gorgeous and we are enchanted yet again. This time, however, we are in our Zodiacs and it allows us a really up close and personal tour around the iceberg. I am smitten with them and know without a doubt that I need to go to the Antarctic to see more of these majestic things!