Expedition Update: August 12 - Kekerten Island

Sunshine, blue skies... warm temperatures have returned.

This morning, the SOI ventured ashore for an epic hike and to learn a little bit about whaling history. Kekerten Island houses a Territorial Historic Park, a re a minder of years past when Scottish and American whaling ships invaded Cumberland Sound to hunt bowhead whales - nearly to extinction.

The island was first used as a whaling station sometime after Scottish whaler William Penny charted it in 1840. The site reached its hey-day in the 1850s and 1860s.

A number of other artifacts remain on the island, including the foundation of three storehouses built by Scottish whalers and refurbished winter tent frames. Rusted pulleys for hauling the whale carcasses up the shore, as well as wire rings from the barrels used to store whale blubber, lie on the mossy ground next to pieces of whale and seal bone. The massive jawbone of a bowhead whale caught in 1999 still lies near the shore.

The students explored the remains of the station , learned about the many artifacts here from Park interpreters - and later hiked into Kekertan's beautiful hills and valleys for more adventure.

Participant Journals!

From: Neha Thacker

What a wonderful morning!! Soon after breakfast we visited a place called Kekerten Island. It was an old whaling station and we had the opportunity to see the boilers made of iron, the wooden hut where the whalers may have lived and also, most importantly, a lot of bones. Almost all of us took pictures with the skull of the bowhead whale. It was enormous. Olle told us that the whale must have weighed at least 60 to 70 tonnes. Isn’t that a lot?  The place was really slippery as there were these plants called plankton. You guys won’t believe me but there was an iceberg almost on the island, like just on the edge of it! Obviously, as teenagers, we could not resist breaking bits off the iceberg, sliding down the iceberg and opening our mouth waiting for the water to drip. It was so cool. I did not wear snow pants and so my butt is still wet. Well, jokes aside, it was really impressive. Now we all have been together for a while and we decided to take pictures with each other. We feel like we are a SOI family now.

Staying together 24 hours a day each day we all have gotten attached to one and another. It was a huge island and by time we had to leave the fog had started coming down to where we were. I am having a wonderful time in mother natures lap, away from our so-called REAL WORLD. I’m having a lot of Personal Quiet Time (we call it PQT). I can’t stop thanking Students on Ice for such a wonderful time.

From: Bali Symanuk

Hello to everyone living in the real world! These past few days have flown by and I have been keeping busy. Some highlights included two spectacular hikes in one day, where at the end I went swimming in the fjord just past Pangnirtung. The water felt like ice and it probably did not help that I dove in head first! I still plan on going swimming past the Arctic Circle as well. The other highlight of that day, besides what felt like the first chocolate I have had in years, was helping David dig out part of a skeleton of a bowhead whale. It took about twenty minutes and we almost lost our group. Just like I almost lost my camera but David saved the day there as well. 

We went to Kekerten Island today. It was a really emotional place to be as thousands of whales lost their lives there in the past. A good reminder of why we have a responsibility to the creatures of this planet. The fog and bad weather rolled in eventually, which put a damper on our whale watching plans. Hopefully we will see a bowhead whale because after seeing so many skeletons of them it would be nice to see one with blubber. 

So far on the trip I have eaten raw seal liver and meat, caribou, and raw beluga. I loved the beluga surprisingly. I have gained a new respect for the Inuit people and Kimmirut is my new favourite place on Earth (so far). Bottle drops are also super fun and its weird thinking about how anyone could pick up your bottle from the other side of the world.  

We caught more of the zooplankton that I absolutely love today. The water was clear enough to watch them off the boat. Luckily it has not taken me long to get my sea legs and I have not been affected by the rocking of the boat we have been feeling. Others are not so lucky. That’s a short recap as it would take me two years to write about all the spectacular experiences I have had. There is absolutely spectacular scenery here and I do not know how I will be able to leave on Wednesday. (And there is no post office here so it is not my fault you have not heard from me!)

From: Connor Jessup 

I made the prediction last night that my legs would hurt in the morning and boy was I right!! My feet to my thighs felt like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz except for the fact that there was not any oil around to get my joints moving again. After a little of the stiffness had subsided I prepared for the (now usual) Zodiac ride to Kekerton Isl. Kekerton is a small island in the Cumberland Sound (east coast of Baffin Island). We sailed from the Pangnirtung Fjord through the night and arrived early this morning.  

The interesting thing about Kekerton is that it was an old Scottish, American and British whaling station that was active in the mid 19th Century. The main purpose there was to hunt the Bowhead Whale. Only 500-900 bowhead whales are still alive on the east coast of Baffin Island currently yet in 1 year in the 1830s-1850s this whaling station caught 1600!!!! The station itself is situated in a picturesque cove on the Island. It is considered a National Historical Site and a Territorial Park. The station was split up into separate areas where the whalers from different countries lived. The ENTIRE station was littered with old iron tools and bones of whales and dogs. One of these bones in particular was a 6ft. long Bowhead Whale skull!!! It was HUGE!!!!  

After we had been given a tour of the site we were free to walk on our own. I walked down to an iceberg that had come to shore. I touched my first iceberg!!! It seem like I have been doing a lot of firsts on this expedition. This afternoon was a traveling time. We had more workshops, these ones were career orientated. We then picked a general topic that we were maybe interested in. The choices ranged from Photojournalism to Conservation. I decided to go to a Science Workshop where a half dozen PhD glaciologists, doctors, biologists, etc… answered questions about their particular professions. Some of the scientists work for the government or other organizations and others are in the University system, wherever they work they all have opinions worth hearing. After dinner (and a ship full of seasick students, including me) we settled down in the lounge to watch a short movie on Inuit Religion before Christianity. This evening we sailed down the Cumberland Sound until we got to Cape Mercy. Tonight we will continue sailing North. 

From: Jenna Dickson

It seems unreal that things are slowly coming to an end. With only a few more days left on the ship, I am frantically trying to soak up every bit of my journey. I find myself taking more pictures, listening more intently to lectures and finding more time up on the deck. But as I sit here I realize that doing all those things is not going to help me learn any more than I will otherwise. The kind of learning we do here isn’t really by lectures or workshops, however interesting they are. It’s all about self realization, and finding it within our own minds that we need to make a change. I have learned so much already, and will continue to learn to the very last day. There’s no need to worry about it ending. This is just the beginning. I will continue to have all the fun in the world until the very last moment, but I know that all of us will remember our time, and it will live on with us as we move into the next years of our life. This trip is one of those things that stays with you as you make future decisions, life altering or not. And I will never be able to thank all those who helped me along enough, but I will try…thanks.

From: Karis Gruben 

Today I woke up at 7:30 am right when the women came to our room to wake us up. Then there was breakfast and then we went to Kekerton Island where we did some exploring of the old whaling areas and we saw a huge bowhead whale skull. I also touched my first iceberg today and I chipped off some pieces and they were actually very tasty. 

When we came back for lunch, we ran into big waves that made the gangway sway far up above us then below us. After lunch we had a lecture by Mary Simon. It was very interesting.  

Then we had a choice of 5 workshops on future careers; I don’t remember all of them but there was one on sciences, one on art and one for all the northern kids. My first choice was art, but there was no room, so I went to the northern kids group where we talked about what we thought the trip might have been like, what it was actually like and questioned what might happen if the Northwest Passage opens up. 

Then it was suppertime! Ya ochin galodnig, which is Russian for I’m hungry. While we were eating there were a lot of people leaving the dining room early because they were getting sick because of all the rocking of the ship. I and others were having fun. After that we had free time again and then watched a movie. The movie was about Sedna and how she created the creatures of the sea. It was a good movie but I almost fell asleep during some parts near the end. Now it is curfew, so I will say goodnight and go to bed!

From: Payal Patel

Today was definitely an interesting day. Our day started a little later, as we got the chance to sleep in a little bit. I didn’t get this chance, as I woke up early to go and do yoga. A little after breakfast, we went to Kekerton Island, which means Island Island. It used to be an old whalers station for the America, British and Scottish whalers who were accompanied by the Inuit. Kekerton is a territorial park; therefore the artefacts that are found there must remain there so that other student groups, like us, will get to see them when they come.

At Kekerton there was a route that we had to take, and along the way there were little stops with a bit of information about the island. We learned about the tools they used, the places they stayed and the way of life on this little, but important island. Fritz was our tour guide, and to our surprise, we were the only group to actually follow the route that was mapped by the island officials. We also saw our first iceberg up close. We spent a lot of time sitting on it to take pictures and sliding off the edge, therefore our bums got very wet. Some of us licked the berg and some of us ate the ice. The truthful thing was however, that you could see it melting at a rapid speed. The entire time it was melting very fast, and with our added heat, it probably melted faster. The last thing we saw was a bowhead whale skull. Now, if you Google one up, you will realize that this thing is HUGE. The skull was about one and a half times my height (I am about 5 feet 4 inches), and that is big. We learned that there are only about 500 bowhead whales left in the Arctic area, and that was sad. Hopefully the hunting for them will stop, conservation efforts will continue and the population will grow. The rest of the day was at sea and there were lectures, workshops and a lot of activities. Now, I am going to go watch a movie!!

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From: Sarina Sydney 

Today we went to Kekerten Island. It was once an old whaling station. So of course we landed and we went on a tour! On our little adventure we got to learn about the land’s history. In the whaling days there were many ships that sank in the area.  

After our little tour around the island we went exploring for ourselves! I went to the iceberg that was on the land and not the water!?(ACKWARD!!) Anyways, I went there and I licked it. It was so awesome! Luckily my tong didn’t get attached to the ice. It was also fun to watch the other students climb up the iceberg and then slid down. Then it was time to go back the ship before the fog came in. So we had to speed up the pace because the fog was coming in fast. It was hard to do this because of the slippery seaweed.  

On the ship we had lunch. I guess we weren’t fast enough because the fog caught up to us! Right now we are supposed to be looking for Bowhead whales but we can’t because of the fog! So it is a free time to write a letter (like I’m doing), hang out with your friends, or go and have a nap (what I’m going to do).

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From: Vanessa Ruptash 

Another day at sea and another day of seasickness! Right now the ship is rocking away and it is horrible! This morning was a beautiful day at Kekerten Island. Kekerten is the sight of an old whaling station and it was great. It was established in the 1800s. There are these old artefacts of all the things that whalers were using in the old days. Also, the view of the mountains as we sail down Cumberland Sound are amazing! You have to be here in order to see it! It’s just so amazing!