The Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaking buoy tender SIR WILFRID LAURIER (IMO 8320456) and research icebreaker AMUNDSEN (IMO 7510846) alongside at the Victoria Coast Guard base. It's very different to have AMUNDSEN here, as she is based out of Quebec. She is on a scientific mission, travelling from the east coast, through the Panama Canal, and up the west coast to the Beaufort Sea. They are doing this because they need the sea to be ice-free, and to wait for the Northwest Passage to open up for access from the east would leave it too late in the season.

Victoria
Jul 1, 2009