Arctic Quest's 2006 journey aboard the Akademic Ioffe was an experience quite unlike my first trip to the Arctic - a Hiking trip across Baffin Island in 1993 - both trips however, began in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. It was apparent, almost immediately, that much had changed in the North. Iqaluit, which was a city of 3000 the last time I visited, has now grown to 9000. Only one day earlier back in the early nineties (July 21st), when I first saw Frobisher Bay, pack ice covered much of the water just off shore. This year, as satellite maps revealed, not a piece of ice was to be seen anywhere!

My painting "Old Ice" pictures the remnants of disintegrating icebergs off Monumental Island. Davis Strait, east of Baffin Island.