Two Arctic Landings in One Day! | Navchak & Ramah’s Abandoned Settlements

It's an expedition day tomorrow, so Navchak Fjord is where we propose to bring you, but it's a place where you can get on shore at a spot called Navchak Beach, and it's also a place where there's a lot of vegetation, and we're getting deeper into the fjord, so there will be polar bears to be spotted all throughout the fjord, no doubt, but as we get deeper into the fjord, there's barren ground Labrador black bears as well in this area too. The area is this big beachfront. There's a lovely little river and ravine heading up towards a little waterfall that we can accommodate a maximum of 100 people at a time. So we'll split you into two different rounds. And we can only bring 30 of you on a walk at any given time. Because when we're on shore in the park, we only have four rifles, as nebulous and tenuous as it is. And if it doesn't work out, If we're not able to get ourselves off the ship or if there's too much wildlife in the area and it's unsafe to go ashore, we'll pivot to a ship's cruise through the entire fjord complex and make our way out potentially towards an alternate landing site for the afternoon called Rama. We'll land at Navchak Beach, but we could be ship cruising Navchak Fjord writ large. Should we be able to get ourselves off, we'll get started at 8am with Four, then five, then six, then seven. Then the second group would come out at or around 10 a.m. As always, listen for announcements for all these things. We'll see what the conditions are like in the morning. And if we're able to get ourselves off, great. And if we're not, that's great as well. We'll use the ship as a platform to find things. But then we would proceed to Rama Bay to go to a historic village site or former village site and former Moravian mission site. And also a National Historic Site of Canada for the Rama Church Quarries. I won't get into too much detail about Rama, because should we end up ship cruising tomorrow morning, I will convene all of you here just before lunch to talk about our plan for Rama in detail. But I did want to make people discover that tomorrow, should we go there and have a chance to chat about it. So, Expedition Afternoon, Navchak Rama. I would love to see a sunny day. It doesn't sound like tomorrow is going to be that day, though. It's not going to be that day. We are. Very few people get here, apparently. 600 people a year come to this castle park. 600? So, so few people come here. And just imagine the people who have lived here for generations. And what we have here, this green with a star, is the crowberry, and the berry is black. Oh, good. And it is. There's one of our bear guides. There used to be a settlement here. And as a matter of fact, one of our bear guides' home is just right around the corner somewhere. We're still covered in snow. But they were just having to hit for a while, but when the Europeans... Oh, is. So, for instance, all these glacial movements that occurred across here, the only evidence that we have surviving, except in very specific circumstances, Where maybe the ice slid over all sorts of things. And the glacial episode here, this is probably one of their highest. Laura and Robin, is this your first Silversea? Yes. And what do you think of it? I think it's been amazing. Like every part of it, every day, a different adventure. Every day I wake up and there's new terrain, new mountains, new waterways. It's been great. Love it. Thank you. I'm getting a little too old for this, I think, you know? Always good to get off the ship, and it's always good to be in new territory, especially here. They say maybe 600 people have ever landed here. I mean, that's pretty darn amazing, isn't it? But I'm done. When they're done, I need to go back to the ship. Still waiting for the assessment of whether or not it's safe to do another... Landing this afternoon in, it was either Rana or Rama, a Moravian once mission, or not. I have taken three or four Arctic and two Greenland with Quark. They do an excellent job. Back in the days when I did all these, they were the only one venturing up into this kind of territory. This is our afternoon landing spot, right out there. Looks easier to navigate than this morning's. Very pretty. We walked through and have a look over there. It's very distinct material that they made stone tools out of from probably the archaic onward. Thank you very much. It was extensively traded from the late archaic in particular onward. It's very similar to a flint and it's kind of like a poppy. It's made from silica. And we are not supposed to touch the quarry or go into the quarry because it... You have to look up the information on Google because the archaeologist is so boring. I'm starting to sing. So I'm wandering this way. And of course easier walking than this morning with all those branches, leaves. Oh, look at the little teeny tiny flowers. The Christians who came here, how many came, do you know? Oh, I don't know, because... They settled in 1870. 1970. To 1970? To 1908. So they settled in 1807. Right, in the 1800s. And they dismantled the mission in 1908. And so Henrietta, Nami, you see? Panami, Panamik is the Inuit name. And you have the booth. This is so interesting. Yes, and you have Edouard. Where is Edouard? Edouard? Edouard, do you have Edouard or not? I'll show you the Inuit settlement in a second. Okay. Much easier walking on this than this morning. I think I'm moving in the front. I see you. I mean, this is very wild. Great landing site. Beautiful waterfalls, truly graffiti when people put their leaves on rocks. What could you ask for? And in Chicago, this could be a long day in a region. Ooh, some sort of fishy, fishy. And seaweed on this black sand beach. These are my little footprints on the beach.