At around 1:30am today, Sunday, 15 September, I got up and hopped out from the cabin onto the deck. I hadn’t been able to sleep much. Too many thoughts on my mind. Would we finally reach Paulatuk today? Or would the weather play yet another trick on us and keep us from making any progress?
WE HAD SEEN NORTHERN LIGHTS DURING PREVIOUS NIGHTS…
As soon as I had stepped outside, I couldn’t believe my eyes. During the previous nights, we had seen some Northern Lights, and they had been fun to watch, even though rather dim and subtle. I hadn’t taken any pictures.
…BUT NOTHING COMPARED TO THIS.
Last night, they were everywhere towards the South, with a few patterns also towards the other three cardinal directions. And so much brighter and more brilliant than during the previous nights. You could easily and very clearly see all the main patterns.
DISCLAIMER: WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT QUITE WHAT I SAW
For complete transparency: the Northern Lights still weren’t anywhere near as intense as the pictures make them look. My Samsung Galaxy’s automatic filtering (I didn’t actively do anything at all except press the button a few times; the pictures were shot in my phone’s default factory mode with zero editing) really worked wonders here.
LIGHTS CHANGING SHAPE QUICKLY
Not only were the lights so much brighter, they also changed shape much quicker than before, especially when it came to the finer details (the main shapes stayed broadly the same. I guess in terms of variety of colours, there was room for improvement, as apart from a little bit of orange, brown and yellow, the lights were almost exclusively in green colour.
A VERY SHORT NIGHT
If it wouldn’t have been so cold on deck, I certainly would have enjoyed the views much longer. But instead I went back to bed at around 1:45am. At 3am, my mobile phone’s alarm would wake me again. The plan was to start rowing at 4am, in order to make it to our pick-up location at Paul Steen’s Harbour by 12 noon at the very latest.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE EXPEDITION
22 July – LHR to YCB
2 August 2024 (Cambridge Bay to Starvation Bay)
4 August 2024 (Starvation Bay to Wellington Bay)
12 August 2024 (From Wellington Bay 6h further Westward)
15 August 2024 (53mi/96km from Botany Island to Richardson Islands)
18 August 2024 (from Richardson Islands past Marker Islands)
22 August 2024 (23mi/37km Westward from Miles and Nauyan Islands past Lady Franklin Point – extremely tough conditions – ‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE’)
23 August 2024 (Dreadful 10 miles – 12mi/19km – that felt like 100 miles to Douglas Island; welcome committee of two dozen seals)
25 August 2024 (An easy 19mi/31km from Douglas Island to Lambert Island; MS Fridtjoff Nansen passing)
27 August 2024 (An easy 7mi/9km along Lambert Island; yacht Night Owl passing by us)
28 August 2024 (STARTING OUR 64MI/104KM PUSH EARLY; passing Hanseatic Spirit, MS Roald Amundsen, yacht Honshu)
29 August 2024 (Arriving at Cape Hope after 64mi/104km – new team best)
30 August 2024 (EMERGENCY BEACHING at a bay next to Cape Hope)
31 August 2024 (CABIN FLOODED; LEAK FOUND)
Mike’s Poem about our Northwest Passage Expedition
3 September 2024 (REPAIRING HERMIONE)
DETAILS OF LEVEN’S MASTERPIECE: THE PRELIMINARY REPAIR and preparation of the re-launch of Hermione
4 September 2024 (A LOT OF DIGGING and another unsuccessful attempt to refloat the boat)
5 September 2024 (REFLOATING HERMIONE, MOTORING TOWARDS PAULATUK; MILITARY PLANE PASSING)
6 September 2024 (BACK TO ROWING AFTER EMERGENCY MOTOR BREAKS)
8 September 2024 (my 50th birthday; ALMOST CRASHING THE BOAT into rocks; Skynet; a pod of whales)
12 September 2024 (starting our last big push before Paulatuk; RUNNING AGROUND 3X; BIOLUMINESCENCE; Northern lights)
13 September 2024 (ALL HELL BREAKING LOOSE – ALMOST CRASHING INTO CLIFFS)
NORTHERN LIGHTS, 15 September, near Paulatuk
15 September 2024 (REACHING PAULATUK)
16 September 2024 (eating proper food; shower; the good life)
19 September 2024 (flying back home; 5 flights; Breakfast Club at Inuvik Airport)
Stefan will be rowing the Northwest Passage this summer – A little Q&A
Northwest Passage Expedition – Kit List
Trevor’s Travel Trivia IX – The Northwest Passage
My home town’s newspaper, Burghauser Anzeiger, has published an article about the Expedition
