Days 7: North West Passage Expedition on HX’s MV Fridjtof Nansen, August/September 2025

Days 7: Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Artic Canada

From Paul Bryers, August 23, 2025

A stunning sunrise welcomed us as we completed our crossing of Baffin Bay, arriving at Pond Inlet around 7 am.

The inlet’s surrounding mountains were magnificent with many white capped ranges and glaciers ploughing their way down to their tidal termini and releasing icebergs.

The town itself, Pond Inlet, is part of Nunavut, the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the NW Territories via varies Acts in April 1999. These Acts, provided the Nunavut territory to the Inuit for self-government.

The town is small with a population of around 1550. The buildings are predominantly cabins with additional community structures.

In the afternoon, some of us embarked on the Zodiacs to land away from the town and walk along a beach to the Salmon River.

The best part of this excursion was the view towards the mountains.

The hike itself was quite disappointing as it just involved trudging along a smelly sea weed beach to the outlet of the Salmon River. To be fair to HX, these excursions are new and very difficult to organize with the locals – it takes a lot of time and patience. There is clearly an opportunity for improvement.

Nevertheless, the Salmon Creek was pretty and we were offered tea by a woman who just happened to be sitting in the Arctic Tundra – unfortunately she had only boiling water, no tea or cups; it’s the thought that counts.