More Unexpected Adventures, Totally Unexpected!

Graves on Beechy



We have been so far north, and in between mountains to boot, that we have been without Internet for 3 days. It would come back when we move in the evenings but barely. I was never able to upload my blog until today, finally! Now I need to do catch up. 

When I read about the Unexpected Adventures from last year, it sounded like it was done by lottery and everyone got at least one. It was the luck of the draw if you got a great one or not. After traveling amongst the ice for our first one they announced there would be more the next day. It turns out that they were trying to get anyone on the excursions who showed interest in going. We received tickets to the zodiac and fast boat. In the morning they announced that the helicopters and fast boat would be canceled due to wind. They also canceled the first 2 zodiac groups for the same reason. We were rescheduled for 10 am. 

When we opened the curtains in the morning everything was white. Beechy Island was covered with snow. It was actually coming down as we exited the ship. And it was cold. We dressed as warmly as possible. The wind was icy. It was a short ride to the island. Because it is an archeological site, one of the speakers on the ship had to get a permit to visit. They roped off an area around the graves so no one would get too close. Two of Franklin's crew were there as well as a military man who had been on the ship. At a later date another grave was added with someone from a rescue party. The original headstones were removed years ago and are in a museum somewhere. The reproductions were covered with snow so we could not really see them anyway. One of the speakers onboard had shown pictures of the bodies when they were dug up. Because they had been frozen for so many years, they were almost perfectly preserved. Just up from the graves was a memorial to Bellot who had discovered the narrow strait we passed thru the day before. And there was a pile of pipes with messages in them from various ships as recent as earlier this year. We stayed on the island for about 20 minutes then went back to the ship. It was pretty exciting being there as it is not a place where many have been. 

One evening walking out of the dining room I saw a huge dessert of meringue peaks. I asked what it was and was told that it was a special order dessert called something like Strauseburg Knockerly. It is a bit like floating island. Under the meringue is a lingonberry compote and vanilla sauce. It was delicious. We asked what else could be special ordered so we started having fun with that. The next was Milk Strudle, sort of like a dessert soufflé. We also discovered that we could order escargot, so that was another evening. Last night we had tortufo. Another passenger told us about it. The head waiter told us not to tell anyone else about it as it is difficult to make. It is a cherry surrounded by vanilla ice cream, surrounded by chocolate ice cream then with a hard chocolate coating. It was very good also. Tomorrow is cherries jubilee. The food in this ship is delicious. 

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