One Island, One Blog

We departed Fort Ross, on the east side of Bellot Strait, early Tuesday morning, September 2. We’ve just passed our first official icebergs. Not floes or sheets like the ones we navigated earlier, but true icebergs. Sea ice forms when ocean water freezes into flat sheets that drift with wind and

In 1675 King Charles II commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to build an observatory in Greenwich, England to “improve marine navigation and find the so-much desired longitude at sea for perfecting the art of navigation," this according to an excellent book by Dava Sobel, Longitude, which dives deep

So far, the Arctic region has consisted primarily of flat tundra—formed several thousands of years ago by glaciers. Dave, who crewed on the 2009/10 Around the Americas expedition and has joined us for the Northwest Passage portion of this journey, often describes traveling through the Northwest

Last evening we motored into one of the only available decent anchorages offering shelter from westerly winds before the 240+ nm run to Cambridge Bay. Weather apps were showing us a low pressure system to our north with predicted wind of 30+, gusts to 45+ for the next 24-36 hours. One Ocean is now

It’s my turn at the helm. I’ve been on watch with Grace and Mark since 10 p.m., and it’s now 12:30 a.m.—an hour and a half left before a crew change. It’s 32 degrees outside, no wind, but lots of fog. We’re lucky to be able to steer from inside. Despite the intensity of the situation, the cabin is

On the days when ice allows us to move forward, time travel comes the closest to expressing what we are really feeling. The passages we are traversing have been used by hardy souls for hundreds – maybe thousands -of years. Most of what we see has spent eons under ice. As the ice slowly shifted or

Tuktoyaktuk, August 2025 This is what we’ve been planning for: motoring, waiting, weather, and the occasional “are we there yet?” August has been a full month—plenty of excitement, things to see and waiting for ice, plenty to keep us humble. While our other blogs are full of stories, people, and big

The sailing vessel One Ocean and her crew sit anchored off the Baillie Islands, NWT, watching a stubborn ice plug hold fast between Sachs Harbour, Baillie Island, and Cape Parry. We’ve got eyes on it from every angle: Canadian Ice Charts, daily satellite imagery from Harry Stern — a polar ice

Since returning to One Ocean, one thing has become impossible to ignore. At nearly every stop, we are seeing widespread coastal erosion and visible effects of permafrost melt. These are not subtle changes. They are dramatic shifts in the Arctic landscape, and they are happening fast. What is more

Navigating the Northwest Passage: Science, Stories & Stewardship One Ocean is now deep in the Northwest Passage, traversing Inuit territory in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region—a place where land, ice, and culture are intimately tied. This region of the Arctic is starkly beautiful, shaped by wind

Our plan to stay a few more days at Herschel Island in Pauline Cove changed quickly this morning. The predicted calm weather will end in less than 24 hours, about as much time as it will take One Ocean and crew to sail to Tuktoyaktuk, a very safe and secure port from wind and ice. We weighed anchor

Driving through Nome, Alaska, one of the first things that caught my eye was the vibrant magenta flower lining nearly every road— Fireweed ( Chamaenerion angustifolium). It added bold pops of color to the otherwise rugged terrain. I quickly learned that fireweed isn’t just a pretty face in the