NOTE: There are about 20 or more photos that we took on our community visit of Pond Inlet today. We are having trouble uploading them. Think the problem is not the internet but the web host site. We will include them with tomorrows post. It was snowing yesterday afternoon. Took these photos of one of the zodiacs and the fast boat as they were returning to Serenity with guests. Back to the Avenue Saloon for a pre-dinner drink. While we were there Captain Birger spoke from the bridge. He said that as soon as the final zodiac was on-board that we would make our way to Pond Inlet which was one 25 miles from where we had been anchored and if no other ship was there that we would go ahead and anchor. Captain Birger also said that to his knowledge no other cruise ship nor expedition ship had been to Tay Sound as we were all-day yesterday. We had dinner in the Crystal Dining Room for the second consecutive evening. We each had caesar salad a la Head Waiter Augusto. This was followed by an entree a la Head Waiter August of penne pasta, lobster and a very tasty sauce. Augusto knows that Keith enjoys it more spicy than Anne Marie so he adds more spices to Keith's after initially preparing each item. Finished off the meal with berries. The evening entertainment included two shows performed by Sarah Hayes performed in the Stardust Club. They were appropriately titled "Swinging' in the Stardust; A Celebration of the Big Bands. Sarah first performed on Crystal Serenity as part of the big band themed cruise with one of the big bands. She so impressed Crystal that she was brought on to perform for the entire World Cruise in 2014. She was a hit and returned for World Cruise 2015 and 2016. She is wonderful both on and off the stage. We were up early to prepare for our early morning tour. Keith made one trip to the Fitness Center for a workout and we both enjoyed breakfast in our room and got ready for our visit to Pond Inlet. Pond Inlet has a population of about 1,500 people. It has the largest population of the four inlets above the 72nd parallel. Its economy is largely driven by serving the surrounding area. The government is the largest employer. This is a cold place temperature wise. Between January and March the average temperature is -25 degrees C. Summer's average is 7 to 10 degrees C with 21 hours a day of daylight. The area that surrounds Pond Inlet is prestige and very picturesque. It is home to the Sirmilik National Park with is one of Canada's newest national parks. These are photos that we took from our verandah. The landscape is absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. We signed up for a Community Visit excursion. As we previously mentioned we had originally signed up for all hikes. However, because of the need for Anne Marie to hydrate throughout the day due to the medication she takes for a blood disorder and the lack of toilet facilities on the hikes, we went with the community visits. We were assigned a time of 10:00 AM for our Zodiac Departure. We all met at the designated spot and were escorted out together as one group. The sea swells were fairly rough so guests were advised that it was more challenging to get in and out of the zodiac so they might consider going in the afternoon. In fact, they also had temporarily gone with landing further down the beach because of the sea swells but by the time we arrived they had us land closer to the town. They encouraged guest to take one of the buses up to the town area but we like to walk so we walked. The good news is that it had snowed two days ago so it made the mountains look beautiful. The only down-side is that you needed to walk carefully so as not to slip. Some of the attractions we visited included: Village within a Village & Traditional Sod House - This is a tent village which featured traditional activities and demonstrations prepared for our visit and also included the reconstruction of a sod house in the immediate areas. Nattinnak Visitor's Centre - This center was built to resemble the icebergs of Eclipse Sound. The center includes information about the natural history of the region as well as the nearby national park. Contemplation Hill - This hill provides beautiful views across Pond Inlet over to Baylot Island. This area includes a new signpost and benches that were donated to the community by Crystal Cruises. Community Hall - As was the case with our other two visits, the community hall was opened for today's visit. Various cultural activities and demonstrations were included as part of our visit and some items were available for purchase. Main Beach - This is the zodiac landing beach. We found the locals to be very friendly and the town was fun to walk. At the community hall there were two women who would right our your name in the local language as a name tag. We happened to arrive to Contemplation Hill at the precise time that Captain Birger was presenting the Mayor with a plaque. As they say, timing in life is everything. We returned to the ship via the zodiac marking our last zodiac ride of this journey. Coincidentally on our zodiac were some of the locals who came on board to entertain all of us. They sang for us on the zodiac. The process was the same. One by one we stood up and were assisted by personnel onto the zodiac platform and then after making our way inside the ship our room card was swiped by security, our inflatable life vest was removed, we stepped into four oblong buckets of water to clean our boots and dried them as we walked on a long rug and then made our way back home. Translation home equals our room. Before our first time in the zodiac we were wondering how the entire process would work of getting so many people into the zodiacs from the ship, the various zodiac landings followed by taking the zodiac back to Serenity and getting so many people back onto the ship. The process has worked like clockwork as it was organized extremely well, including assigned times to take the zodiac. As we mentioned this was the first time that Crystal Cruises ever used zodiacs from any of their vessels and it could not have been planned better. We found the process easier in some ways compared to using tenders. The experience has also been great in terms of providing that feel of being part of an expedition including those beach landings. In many ways we will miss using the zodiacs. As we leave Pond Inlet we bid farewell to Canada. We have always had an affection for our neighbors in Canada and even though we didn't think it was possible our appreciation of Canada and it's citizens is even greater today.
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