Breaking News! We are sailing the Northwest Passage. Tomorrow will be our first stop. Very exciting. Late yesterday afternoon as we were getting ready for the evening activities, when we saw some views of The Smoking Hills earlier than we expected. The Smoking Hills were discovered and named by John Franklin in 1826. They are situated on the east coast of Cape Bathurst. In this area smoke rises from the cliffs along fifty kilometers of the cliffy coastline. The smoke comes from places where brown coal, oil shales and bitumen deposits in the sedimentary strata burn continuously. They produce clouds of acrid acidic and sulfuric smoke. Before dinner, we had a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon. We then went to the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant for dinner with friend Ileen. As we mentioned last week, we met Ileen several years ago on-board Serenity. Since that time we have sailed with her several times and we were also on an overland Crystal Cruises Adventure with her when we participated in a Safari staying at the resort Phinda in South Africa. Last week we dined together at Silk Road. We had a wonderful time. Food was terrific as was the service and the ambience of the dining room. Waiter Costa took excellent care of us. Last nights entertainment was in the form of a themed mixer. It was appropriately called, Ice Breaker Mixer. The mixer took place in the Crystal Plaza from 7:45 PM to 11:30 PM with a special performance from 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM. We arrived close to 8:00 PM. The performance featured lead singers from the ensemble singers and dancers; Eric Strong and Sarah Combs. It also featured vocalists Jonathan Hawkins and Sarah Hayes who were special entertainers on World Cruises 2014, 2015 and 2016 and who are on board for this epic voyage. Dancers Curtis and Natalie also performed and live music was played by the Galaxy Orchestra. In the early morning hours Keith had seen them practicing their routine the past few days in the Crystal Plaza not realizing that it was for last evening's event. This mixer was a lot of fun and as has been the case with this voyage had a lot of participation along with lots of enthusiasm from the guests. When we arrived back to our room there was a summary booklet in our room titled Arctic Code of Conduct. It covered many items including zodiac landings, conditions ashore, helicopter flights, kayak guidelines, health information, shopping and currency, customs considerations, cultural & safety guidelines, wilderness etiquette, safety ashore, avoid disturbing wildlife and their habitats, respecting cultural and historical remains and cultural and social interaction. In Reflections (daily program) a section has been included each day called expedition notes. It included an additional writeup on things to remember during our visits. It noted that communities are port to share but offered some cautions. When taking photographs of people or homes it is polite to ask permission first. We learned about that in our mandatory meeting. It went on to say that children will often volunteer themselves as subjects, but parental consent is important. Also it noted that local groups may ask for gifts, sweets or money. It said please do not give anything directly since it encourages them to ask again and can cause conflicts among the children. The information we received also emphasized talking softly not only to be courteous but keeping in mind there could be wild dogs in the area and polar bears. We slept very well as we are sailing to our next port of call. Seas were pretty much as calm as it gets. We began our day as we always do. Keith worked out early, we had breakfast in our room and Anne Marie walked for an hour and attended Yoga and Keith took another spin class. Everyone in today's class except for one person took the class that Keith taught. Keith spoke to each person before and/or after class and the common question was "when will you teach the next class?" The consensus was that they really enjoyed the class and they thought it was professionally done. Keith will likely not teach another class, but as he's done before if others want to just get together an spin together that can be done. It's no different than a few people getting together and doing various exercises together on their own. We watched each of the lectures: Expedition Lecturer Ken Burton spoke about the Canadian Arctic including its environment and people. He spoke about the history and the natural environment of the land we will see. He also discussed the various sea and land animals and also how the local people utilize the animals. He also covered the various animals that we might see during our visit. Next up was Expedition Lecturer Flip Nicklin who spoke about some of the stories and photos he has been involved with at National Geographic Magazine. The afternoon didn’t feature lectures. This is because we arrived to Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada in the afternoon. We also met up with the ice breaker. Starting at around Noon, hot spiced win was available on the sun deck which people could enjoy as they enjoyed the scenery. A special soup and sandwich buffet was available in the Palm Court where guests could enjoy the views from the large bay windows of this venue. During Captain Birger's talk from the bridge at Noon he noted that the Ice Breaker Ernest Schakleton has been at Ulukhartok for the past two days. At around 12:45 PM while Keith was at the Fitness Center and Anne Marie was on her one hour walk we spotted the Ernest Schakleton. As we got closer we both had the same idea and headed for our room. We had a nice view of not only the Ice Breaker but many of its "toys" such as the two helicopters and zodiacs and speed boats. The Captain noted that deploying zodiacs from any Crystal Ship is a first. This afternoon they will have several dry runs so they are all set to go live tomorrow as we visit Ulukhartok. As the internet has been a bit unstable today based on where we are sailing we are going to post now. Initially, when we first saw the ice breaker it didn't seem as large as we thought it would be. As it eventually got close to the starboard of Serenity we realized it is much larger than we initially thought. Keith & Anne Marie
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