August 21, Dundas Harbour (Lat. 74° 31' N, Long. 82° 30' W), Croker Bay (Lat. 74° 35' N, Long. 83° 29' W)
We awoke this morning just as the Lyubov Orlova approached Dundas Harbour, on the south coast of Devon Island. A brisk easterly wind was blowing over Lancaster Sound, accompanied by strong swell, but in the shelter of Dundas Harbour, landing conditions were ideal. As a safety precaution, Brad and Simon, armed with shotguns, searched the landing area visually for polar bears prior to clearing us to land. 
The hikers among us walked 2 km across the tundra to view the ruins of several Thule-era Inuit stone and sod dwellings, and meat caches built of stone.
The short hike group headed toward the abandoned Dundas Harbour RCMP station, 
established in 1924. The derelict buildings and the artifacts 
left behind gave us an insight to how life may have been for frontier policemen. Nearby, a humble cemetery 
surrounded by a white picket fence contained the graves of two RCMP officers and a Scottish whaler. Over the years, such as in 1930, fierce gales caused buildings 
and boats to be destroyed. In 1945 the RCMP brought in some special Native constables 
and their families but by 1950 it was decided that "ice conditions were making patrolling too difficult." In 1951 the post was closed down, Our Dundas Harbour visit produced sightings of Arctic fox, bearded seal, and red-throated loons.
Our next destination was Croker Bay, to the west of Dundas Harbour. Although sheltered from the easterly winds and swell of Lancaster Sound, the wide bay was itself too windy, and the water too choppy for our planned landing. We therefore made an excursion around the bay onboard our ship, which afforded us a close look at a 2-mile wide tidewater glacier. 
As the ship made her way among icebergs of all sizes, we attained our expedition's most northerly latitude of 74° 51' N.
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