First Officer Matt Bliss summons the Zodiac landing craft from the icebreaker as the snow begins to fall at Arctic Bay. Handheld radios kept shore parties in touch with the ship's bridge so that we could signal for pickup by helicopter or Zodiac.

Arctic Bay was an inhabited settlement, so it had a rough landing area for small craft--an amenity very rare in the region. Sending the Zodiac out and back is far less expensive (and also safer) than dispatching the helicopter, so the small boat was used for transfers when the situation allowed. Wilderness situations with no reliable landing point required the helicopter.