Don's Blog Heading South - Prince Leopold Island

After the thrill of seeing the polar bear (Ursus maritimes) and the trip to the Croker Bay glacier we headed west on Lancaster Sound to Beechey Island which has been described in previous blogs. It was time to head south to Prince Regent Inlet. 

We approached Prince Leopold Island off the northeast tip of Somerset Island. Victoria became Queen of England in 1837 eight years before Sir John Franklin and his 2 ships left on their voyage to discover the Northwest Passage in 1845. While watching the television series "Victoria" in 2017 we had been introduced

 to the German Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg who later became the first King of the Belgians (1831). Prince Leopold was Victoria's uncle and was portrayed as an unsympathetic conniving schemer. 

The island is flat-topped and surrounded by 800 foot vertical sandstone and limestone cliffs. There appears to

be no easy way to the top.

The island became a migratory bird sanctuary in 1995 supporting murres, fulmars, kittiwakes, and  guillemots.

We were fortunate to see a polar bear (not shown) at the base of the cliff.