Those of you who have been following #TheArcticMystery expedition may have noticed that @renanozturk, @rudy.le and I dropped off the radar in mid July. For a number of reasons, we’d like to hold back the bulk of the details about where we’ve been and the experience we’ve just had. But the short version is that we spent the past two weeks in the western Arctic trying to figure out what happened to Franklin and his men on their ill fated expedition to the Northwest Passage in 1845. With Polar Sun in the capable hands of @zartman_rigging, we flew from Ilulissat, Greenland to King William Island in Nunavut. There we met up with inveterate Franklin searcher Tom Gross and a small team including @irving_matthew and Gjoa Haven local Inuit guide Jacob Keanik. Over the next 12 days we covered nearly 500 miles on four wheelers, through some of the most rugged, remote and inaccessible terrain I’ve ever had the pleasure to explore. King William Island’s 5,000-square miles, no point of which rises higher than 300 feet above sea level, is dotted with a maze of lakes, streams, rivers, mud bogs—and mile upon mile of bleached ridges of razor sharp limestone shingle that ate the tires of our four wheelers for breakfast. Along the way, as we followed the sad trail of Franklin’s men on their doomed march out of the most savage wilderness on Earth, we observed musk ox, caribou, foxes and endless waterfowl as they went about their daily lives, exactly as they have for thousands of years. And we walked away deeply humbled and with our imaginations and hearts filled to overflowing after one of the richest experiences of our lives. We’re now reunited with Ben back on Polar Sun in Ilulissat, a bit worse for the wear, but excited to get back underway. Polar Sun is topped off with food, fuel and water, the rig is tuned, and the ice has broken up enough in Baffin Bay to warrant our next move, which is to begin sailing west across Baffin Bay toward the Northwest Passage. Thanks to everyone who has supported us thus far. It is nice to know that so many of you appreciate what we are trying to do. 📸 @renan_ozturk