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For those who didn't hike to the Arctic Circle in Pangnirtung Pass, the Orlova sails across the circle this morning with everyone on the foredeck and much hooting of the ships horn and hollering on the part of the members of the expedition. Our stop today is on Padloping Island, where we walk through the remnants of an abandoned village and weather station and, again, learn about everything from plant and animal adaptations to rock formations, social history and, of course, evidence of climate change. Hidden on one north-facing slope, in shadow for much of the 24-hour arctic day, is a patch of snow where Omar Beg, from India, makes his first snow angel and throws his first snowball ... right at expedition leader Geoff Green's head! One of the reasons we're coasting up the eastern shore of Baffin Island is to find ice to explore — this being an outfit called Students on Ice. At one of the briefings, Geoff Green says, "If you're looking for evidence of climate change, we're in it right now. The absence of ice in Davis Strait is evidence of climate change."

The other reason we're heading north is to try to get to a very special place called the proposed Igaliqtuuq National Wildlife Area at Isabella Bay. This bay on the coast of eastern Baffin Island contains critical summer habitat for the eastern Arctic populations of bowhead whales. Although this national wildlife area for the protection of the bowhead whale and its habitat was proposed by the community of Clyde River and supported by many other governments and organizations, the designation has been very slow in coming, says Steven Price, the World Wildlife Fund representative on the expedition. Steven suggests that this would be a perfect issue to discuss in detail in our "action groups" later today. So that's exactly what we do, and it looks like we'll have a letter-writing campaign underway as soon as we can get our facts straight and figure out where pressure might best be applied to speed the process.

As if by plan, while out in the Zodiacs along the floe edge today, one group sights the spout of a single bowhead whale in the distance, making the discussion far more immediate. There's no substitute for the lessons of direct experience.