August 18th - Day 21 - Prudhoe Bay

When we woke this morning it was still raining and pretty bleak. We had an early breakfast so we could drive to the Arctic Caribou Inn (another portacabin hotel) to get on the coach for the tour of Prudhoe Bay and a stop at the Arctic Ocean.

First, an explanation as to why we need a tour bus to see the oilfields and the ocean. The public road stops at Deadhorse Camp, where our hotel is located. The oil fields go from Deadhorse to the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean) and all this land is leased by the oil companies and access is prohibited to the public. The only way you can go into this area is if you work here or are on an official tour.

We checked in for the tour and were shown a 20 minute video, produced by Phillips Oil and BP, about Prudhoe Bay. It was informative, though too much of an oil industry promotional video for my liking. Still, it explained how the field has been developed and what is being done to prolong its life without being detrimental to the ecosystems and environment. It was interesting to learn that there are no offshore wells as there is legal case going on at the moment in an attempt to safeguard the Beaufort Sea.

We drove in pouring rain to the ocean and everyone walked the couple of hundred yards to the water's edge. Photos were taken of us all by the water

.One of the group taking a 'dip' in the ocean!

I was interested and also disconcerted to discover when I felt the water that it was nowhere near as cold as the water around the Antarctic Peninsular, that I 'swam' in last year. In fact we learnt the water here, is 45 degrees. With a temperature as warm as that, it's not surprising to read that the Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing.

The last land between us and the North Pole, some 1,200 miles away.

We walked along the pebble beach and looked for a few stones as souvenirs of our visit. We found three, coloured green, white and red.

After about half an hour we returned to the coach. On our way back the driver pointed out a snowy owl. Ed took this photo with his telephoto lens of the owl flapping its wings.

We collected our car to drive as far north as we could go, the security gates at the start of the oil fields. I stopped the car and took a photo of the Garmin showing us at 70 degrees 13.465 North.

We saw rows of heavy vehicles which are designed to work in the winter months when most of the oil field work is carried out. Ice roads are constructed by spraying water on the gravel roads, which then freezes. This ensures the permafrost is not damaged by the vehicles. They have massive tyres inflated to only 4 - 6 psi, again to ensure minimum damage to the environment.

Just before we returned to our hotel we passed the sign saying the start of the Dalton Highway. We are now 574 miles north of Fairbanks.

Finally a shot from our hotel room. Dare I say ' a room with a view'??