Champagne on ice

Today was probably our last chance to walk on an ice floe as we are sailing south.

Our expedition leader, Cecile, (first extra), was on polar bear watch, you can see her flare and gun. She's probably one of the world's experts on the Franklin Expedition and doesn't think we've heard the last of the story. She knows an Inuit who spends weeks every Summer searching the area around where Franklin probably died. He finds shoes and occasional bones but wants to find a grave. As a young man he heard an Inuit story about how the Inuit destroyed the cairn on top of an important grave but didn't disturb the grave and he is convinced that it was Franklin's grave which may contain documents.

The second extra is Nicholas, the assistant expedition leader, who loves having his photo taken. He has also given us stunningly good lectures on the geopolitics of the Arctic (complicated) and the oceanography of the area and the microscopic creatures that support the whole food chain (amazingly well adapted).