Between Resolute and Gjoa Haven, we headed directly south and saw the sun set for the first time in two months.
Arctic char drying in the summer sun has been a common sight along the shores between Greenland and Alaska for thousands of years. This fish equivalent of beerf jerky became a favourite staple aboard Tyhina.
In Gjoa Haven, six-year-old Inuit Alanna showed us her winter anorak, sewn by her grandmother, Martha, from the skins of caribou and Arctic foxes caught by her grandfather, Jonathan. Arctic fox fur is traditionally used to line hoods because snow and ice are easily shaken off.
In Amundsen’s time, Herschel Island, 5 km off the coast of Yukon, Canada, was a favourite harbour for whalers, with its natural protection and abundant supply of driftwood from nearby Mackenzie River. Today, the island is more likely to host scientists studying anything from lemmings to permafrost.
The cool blue gaze of an Alaskan sled dog.
Maeva Elliott: I’ve dreamed of sailing the Northwest passage since childhood. Often, as I steered Tyhina through the ice, the vows Peter and I wrote for our wedding rang in my mind: “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.”