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June 20-24 - The next 5 days at our base-camp will be filled with exploring the floe-edge, kayaking, hiking, wildlife sightings, education program activities, learning traditional skills, science activities, learning about Inuit culture, camping and expedition skills, and much more. There will be surprises like Polar Bears strolling into the camp or whales surfacing and blowing near the Floe Edge. We may encounter some Inuit hunters out looking for seals. Everyday will be filled with adventure and learning!
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JOURNAL ENTRY (Posted Sunday 10:30 am EST)
June 19-20th
Colleen Christensen “Well, it is so amazing to finally be out here! We made it! Unuaku.”
What a great day! It has been long and exhilarating! I guess I'll go over the highlights, since there's so much that happened - at the end of each day here it seems as if two or three have passed!
We got our last showers this morning! It was a wake-up call for the One-Tonne Challenge though, because after us girls and the camera crew had showered, all the water was gone… Oops. But in our defense, they were much shorter showers than we usually take at home!
As flexibility is key, the cultural presentation will wait until Friday when we are back in Pond. So we got to spend some time in the cultural center, which is a really amazing space. There is a plethora of information and resources there, including books, displays, artifacts, you name it. Even a nice gift store. They brought out a few of their drums for us to try. Under the instruction of Lily, we learned how to play them and try them out. There is a really great sound that comes from it, and as you move with it, it gets an almost meditative quality. I would love to see some of the drum dances by people who can really do it.
 After lunch, we got dressed, packed up and headed out to the Floe Edge. The Komatiks are something else. Pulled by snowmobiles, they glide over the ice, with the odd bumps and whacks you receive if you aren't paying attention. There weren't any big leads that we had to cross, which is good, although it would have been exciting to do. After an hour or two, the weather got a bit nastier. Earlier, from the land, we could see the low-laying clouds out on the ice, so we could tell that there were some good-sized winds hanging out there. We headed into a large patch of them, so for a good while it got very cold and there was very low visibility. Once we were out of that, you could see for miles.
It was great to just look out over the ice. It's like nothing I've ever seen. Sometimes, all you'll see is white, extending all the way towards the horizon. A flat expanse, with the low-laying clouds over them - it was very relaxing.
On our journey, we also saw a number of seals out on the ice, some birds, some great mountains, glaciers, a grave site of two whalers, and a dead polar bear.
We also got a heads-up about safety out here, and how aware we have to be - when Barb and I accidentally stood too close to leads in the ice. All at once, people called warnings, and my leg went right through the ice. I guess it's good that that happened to one of us then, with no repercussions, or else we not have had a needed warning of the awareness of your surroundings that is needed out here.
And then finally, we arrived at the Floe Edge!
We set up a nice camp here, just had a great dinner now we need to get off to bed. Before you know it, it will be 11:30 and time for bed, although as light as if it were 12 noon. This may take some getting used to, especially concerning falling asleep.
Well, it is so amazing to finally be out here! We made it! Unuaku.
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UPDATE (Posted 3:30 pm EST)
By phone ... Geoff and Colleen
 Things are going really well ... a sunny zero degrees, some wind ... just finished lunch and were ‘out on the ice’ when they called.
This morning David gave a presentation about the area, its wildlife and we worked on some Inuit vocabulary.
Base camp food - just great - with 3 chefs!
Lunch today was soup and grilled cheese sandwhiches.
The expedition group took a hike ... where they saw a diverse number of birds: murres, kittiwakes, loons, eiders and even a rare white falcon.
[“The birds prefer to use the steep cliffs of Cape Graham Moore, as well as the polynya and lead system which develop yearly off Bylot Island. These areas provide prime nesting and foraging grounds for tens of thousands of seabirds such as Murres and Kittiwakes.”] (Source gc.ca) |
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (Canada's National Inuit Organization)
“The Environment Department at ITK is dedicated to protecting and advancing the place of Canada's Inuit in the use and management of the Arctic environment and its resources. Despite the considerable changes that have occurred in our society over the past 50 years, the relationship between Inuit and the land continues to be a fundamental element of Inuit culture and identity. ITK is dedicated to ensuring that the Arctic environment and its resources are protected and managed properly.
UPDATE (Posted 5:00 pm EST)
4.28pm Geoff has just phoned - they are at the floe edge!
"We're about one metre away from the actual edge".
The wind is E by E and blowing steadily which is pushing up a lot of ice onto the floe. There is lots of open water. Some of the seabirds seen today include a black guillmot, snow buntings, lots of snow and Canada geese, and some common eider ducks.
The group has passed a bunch of polar bear tracks….. but no sighting of the bear(s) at this point.
Sarah Burns reports the GPS as N72 degrees 44.949 mins; W76 degrees 0017.44 mins. She says "it's gorgeous out here - it's a long way across the floe". She also points out that it's kind of cold, a point picked up by Zev who says "it's very cold and a little overcast. We've had a couple of snowball fights. What's amazing is the sound of the water flowing at the edge of the floe."
The group has been able to set up a hydrophone and will be putting it in the water to listen for whales - none sighted yet. If they can, the plan is also to set a net and do a plankton tally. So, there is a lot going on at the edge of the world today.
All are well and all sound happy and excited.
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