(Post 2 of 2)

Ice Pilot Germain Tremblay stands on the bridge of the National Geographic Explorer at 2 a.m.

We are southbound, approaching Hell Gate, and looking for a safe passage out to southern Ellesmere Island. “It’s going well,” he says. “Look to the horizon and you see how it is black? Black is the reflection from open water. That is good.” I can barely make out the horizon between darkness and fog, but I trust his long years of experience as a Canadian Coast Guard Captain in the Arctic.

“Yes, these conditions are quite good. We go like a fish in the river.” Photo by Ralph Lee Hopkins.