There are also fears that any drilling could lead to oil spills which would be impossible to clean up amid the Arctic's broken sea ice.

Our guide explains that the ones with rugged, spiky tops are chunks of glacier that have broken off and floated into the sea without flipping over.

Rusty, empty beer cans lay about and some broken glass bottles made me mad. I was worried to see unhealthy leftover snacks being eaten by sea gulls.