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June 18/04 - Morning flight from Ottawa to Iqaluit. Afternoon flight from Iqaluit to the Inuit community of Pond Inlet on the north shore of Baffin Island. Visit village and prepare for departure out to the Floe Edge the next day.
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JOURNAL ENTRY (Geoff and Rachel ... by phone - from Iqaluit, mid-afternoon Friday)
(Posted 4:00 pm EST)
 “After an early start - with the mist rising on the Gatineau River and the first birds waking to a new sunshine-laden day, we find ourselves landed in Iqualit where is it snowing!
Rachel Ellerbeck of Kingston reports that the students are all 'really pumped' to have arrived in the north - especially with it presenting itself as so northern - everyone is well and everyone is really excited.
We took a walking tour around Iqualit and were then wrapped in a warm welcome by Peter Irniq, the Commissioner of Nunavut who gave a really informative talk to the group. We are now off to Pond Inlet - and then, the ice floe!”
To read more about NUNAVUT please visit the Government of Nunavut website: www.gov.nu.ca/Nunavut
To read more about the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (Canada's National Inuit Organization) visit: www.itk.ca
To read more about Iqaluit: www.city.iqaluit.nu.ca
Some local news: www.nunatsiaq.com
POND INLET NEWS and WEATHER
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JOURNAL ENTRIES: June 18th
Rachell Ellerbeck
Good day! Wow, what a time we are having today we woke up at a glorious 5:30 ….am. It was a quick drive to the airport and we took off to the great white north, it's a beauty of a way. Anyway, we stopped off at Iqaluit to catch our flight to Pond Inlet it seemed everywhere we went we had a chance to talk to someone interesting and new. Even one of the educators David found his good life long friend Looty Pijamini a sculptor. (good karma eh.) In fact it seems everywhere we went David met someone he knew it was good to know that we were in the company of such a popular guy. Actually, it seems that everyone knows everyone up here. It's like the uncanny Cheers territory.
On a stop on the way to Pond' Inlet we had a surprise lecture from a fellow and, I'm sorry I'm not even going to try and spell his name, but he described how he and the group he represents are trying to create a conservation area for bowhead whales. Super cool! He also mentioned some of the environmental changes due to global warming he had noticed. They were all little things like the snow squeaks in a different way when you walk on it. It was amazing to see that these people are so aware of the environment around them that they are able to detect a difference in a squeak where as I can't tell the difference between and ash and a iron wood in the winter. ( Don't laugh at me Jacob J tee hee.) So, many amazing things have happened today and it hard to believe that it has happened all in one day I mean this morning I was standing in a warm Ottawa and now well I standing in a not so warm Pond's Inlet.
Currently, we just had a briefing of what the plans are for tomorrow. And Oh boy tis exciting. Well gotta go learn about GPS's.
Keep on smilin'
P.S- Hey everyone back home! Love you all! And grandpa, guess what?! There is a Scotsman on our expedition team and he has the best sunglasses tan I have ever seen.
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Stephanie Bested
Oh gosh where do I start? Well the past three days have been filled with so many activities and I do not know where to begin. The first day was a long drive from Keene, Ontario. We arrived at Geoff Green's house at around 5:30 for a meet and greet with the other students and staff members. We had an awesome BBQ and a nice cold refreshing dip in the Gatineau River. When we came back up from the river, Geoff showed us girls (the tougher half of the group) our cabin that we would be sleeping in for the next couple of nights. On the second day, we were awoken by two of the staff members Benna and Barb. At 7:30 the gang walked down to take a morning dip in the Gatineau River. Who would of thought that a shower in the River would be more fun then a regular shower? When we were all freshened up we walked back up to the main house where we ate a great breakfast before we headed out on our daily journey.
At around 9:00 or so, we headed out in the mini vans and were on our way to a very filled day. We went ITK for a great meeting, and then to two different museums, "Museum of Civilization" and the "Museum of Nature". There we were filled with information about the Arctic and had a great tour from Dr. David Morrison. We had a nice picnic lunch by the Ottawa River. When our bellies were full we headed back out on the road again to fill our brains with more information (But it was well worth it). Geoff being the nice guy that he is, took us to Chelsea to have some home made ice cream… HIS TREAT!!!!! Thanks Geoff. Once our bellies were full once again we headed home for dinner and a good nights sleep.
This morning was a busy day so far, and its only 8:50. We were awoken by Barb at 5:30 so we would be at the airport in time to catch our flight to head out to the ARCTIC! Everyone here is so pumped. We had lots of things to do today anywhere from packing out carry-on, eating breakfast, and just getting that "pick me up" to get out of bed at that time in the morning. We arrived at the airport at around 8:00 and got the same routine that you would get at any airport, security check, baggage drop off, etc. As of the moment, we should be boarding the plane anytime now.
I can't write down everything that we have done because we have done SO much in the passed few days and if I did write it all down, I would probably miss my flight! I went into this trip thinking that I knew quite a bit about the Arctic and the culture. But when we were taken to the Museums and were filled with the information, I know realize that I didn't know that much. These past couple of days have been amazing and we haven't even gone to the Arctic yet! This is going to be a trip of a lifetime, and I would recommend this to ANYONE!
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Geoff Green, Expedition Leader
Our plane just took off from Iqaluit (with us on it!) and it is finally sinking in that the expedition is really happening! It's been over a year of planning to get to this point and as with most expeditions it has taken a lot of hard work, team work, dreams, ups and downs and challenges along the way… But here we are with a great group of students and staff high above Baffin Island on our way to Pond Inlet and the Floe Edge!
Knock on wood, today has gone incredibly smoothly! We woke up at 5:30am, scarfed down some breakfast, did some final packing and then loaded up the vans for the trip to the Ottawa airport. Our convoy of five vehicles hit the road at 6:45am and the journey began. One of our big worries was having too much equipment to get it all on the plane, so last night we had a bit of a thinning down session of some of the students bags!! That was fun. Out with the five pairs of long underwear, and 4 fleece jackets, and 4 pairs of gloves… Everyone got down to one bag each and one carry-on for the plane. Except the film crew of course! The main concern for this is that the plane we are on now is a Hawker Siddley that only carries 36 people and minimum cargo. And tomorrow when we head out on the ice, space will be at a premium on the Komatiks! Well the "good kharma" must be with us because when we checked in with First Air at Ottawa we had exactly 2 bags per person including all of the TVO film crew's gear!! No extra baggage charges. Yee hoo!!
The last few days have been a whirlwind and we could not have done it with out a lot of help!! An enormous thank you to Linda, Benna, Mom and Dad, Sarah, Diz, Angie, Steve and Lily for everything you did to get us on our way!
I want to also extend a huge thank you to all our partner airline FIRST AIR for supporting the 2004 Students on Ice Arctic Expedition for supporting the 2004 Students on Ice Arctic Expedition and helping make this expedition a reality. Without their generous support and cooperation the expedition would not be happening. Thanks especially to Tracy and Sally!!
There were lots of sleepy heads (especially me) sleeping on the first leg of our flight to Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut. It was a smooth flight and we arrived to some light snowfall and 5 degrees Celsius. Two new student members of our team joined us at the Iqaluit airport, Jenny Lyta and Lily Maniapik!! Jenny is from Kimmirut and Lily hails is a home town Iqaluit girl! We're now only missing one more student who is meeting us in Pond Inlet, and that's Belinda Kanatsiak from Igloolik, In Pond Inlet, we'll also be rendezvousing with our expedition outfitter Dave Reid and his team at Polar Sea Adventures. Then our team will be complete!!
We had a few great surprises in Iqaluit. We met with the Commissioner of Nunavut, Mr. Peter Irniq who welcomed the students to Nunavut outside the airport and wished us all a great experience in the days ahead! He was on his way south to meet with the Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. Then as we were taking a short walk through town, we bumped into Steve Amaraulik! Steve was a student on our SOI Antarctic expedition in 2002. It was a great to see him and he told us that he has just been hired as the camp manager for NASA's camp on Devon Island where they are conducting various studies for their Mars project. Way to go Steve! We also met up with two future SOIer's Orla and Ashley who have been accepted on the 2004 Antarctic Expedition!
After our quick but eventful stop in Iqaluit we boarded our flight to Pond Inlet. Our SOI group takes up most of the plane and the excitement on board is palpable. We made a brief stop at Clyde River, a small Inuit community on the east coast of Baffin Island. As we walked off the plane across the gravel tarmac we could feel the Arctic air for the first time. Beautiful! Despite our very short stop (about 30 minutes) we had an impromptu lecture by a local community leader named Joelie Sanguya! He told the students all about the work they've been doing to protect the endangered Bowhead whales that come to Isabella Bay just down the coast. The estimated population of these gentle giants in the eastern Canadian Arctic is only 300-400. Joelie also talked to the students about Climate Change and some of the impacts they are noticing here in the Arctic. One interesting comment he made was that the snow makes a different "squeeking" sound now when you walk on it. He also said that the sea-ice is not as thick as it used to be, and that the weather is harder to predict. More good reason for our group of students to take the One-Tonne Challenge to reduce our production of greenhouse gases. There is no question that our actions in the south have direct impacts on the environment and the people here in the north.
We are presently flying low along Baffin Island's stunningly beautiful north-eastern coast! There are deep fjords and cliffs on our left and a vast frozen Arctic ocean on our right. Immense glaciers blanket the mountains. Eric our glacialogist is behaving like a kid in a candy store!! We've seen a few giant icebergs frozen into the ice. Would love to paddle this coast by kayak someday. I'm kind of getting whiplash from looking side to side. The captain seems to be giving us a special tour!!
Well, I think we're starting our decent into Pond, so I'll sign off here.
We made it! Our SOI team has safely arrived in Pond Inlet and not only that all our luggage made it too! We've had quite a first evening including a great dinner at the Co-op Hotel, an Expedition briefing about our exciting day tomorrow and our departure out to the Floe Edge, and a lecture by Eric Mattson about GPS technology and how we are going to use it during our expedition. Around 9:30 we brushed our teeth and walked a "Pond Inlet Mile" down the beach to our base camp at Salmon Creek. Sweet Arctic dreams until tomorrow...
We look forward to sharing our Floe Edge adventures and experiences with you in the days to come! Stay tuned…
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The day in pictures ...
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