Shuldham Island

20 July 2012 continued.
There's an archaeological site on the southeastern corner of Shuldham island where Callum Thomson (Jane's husband and Jimmy's father) did his graduate work in the 1980s. The Smithsonian Institute team found about two dozen tiny soapstone sculptures of humans, polar bears, birds, fish and even a whelk shell, about a thousand years old, among the earliest soapstone sculptures ever found in the Canadian Arctic (now in Newfoundland museum). We did not land however, the Parks Canada guards had spotted three polar bears on Shuldham Island, so we cruised around the island instead in Zodiac dinghies, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.

Shuldham island is in the mouth of Saglek Fiord.

Four Zodiacs from the ship and two Parks Canada boats,
probably discussing bears. 

The Parks Canada crews.

A common murre - must be injured as it didn't dive or fly away.

A very relaxed polar bear. Mostly he lay down and
covered his eyes with his paws, not very photogenic
but possibly to keep bugs away.
I took this with my Samsung point and shoot camera.

I took this with my Samsung point and shoot camera.

I took this with my Samsung point and shoot camera.

Still from slideshow

Still from slideshow

Still from slideshow

Continuing around the island. A bad place to be shipwrecked.

Strange clouds, lenticular?

This bear looked very stressed. Other zodiacs had seen it on
 the far side of the island and it had run away, dived in the sea
and then saw us and changed his mind about swimming
to the next island. We thought it best to leave.
Still from slideshow.

Polar bear decides to return to shore. Still from slideshow.
We didn't see the third bear.

A bergy bit (too small to be an iceberg).

Iceberg to the north of Shuldham Island.
We went round it in the Zodiacs.

Different view of the same iceberg.

Different view of the same iceberg.

This is an iceberg seen from the ship at about 9 pm, about sunset.