The High Arctic: Peeter & Carol Vanker

We left Montreal en route for the Canadian High Arctic via Iqaluit, a 2.5 hour flight. Iqaluit is the territorial capital of Nunavut, located on the south coast of Baffin Island at the head of Frobisher Bay. It has a population of about 6000. After refuelling, we flew for another 2 hours to Resolute, landing the B737 jet on a gravel runway. It was 1 degree C. and snowing lightly. Ice was forming in the bay along the shore. Our solitary ship in the bay looked very small in contrast to its surroundings. Resolute is a small Inuit hamlet at the northern end of Resolute Bay and the Northwest Passage with a population around 200. The terrain and roads are all gravel. There are very few motor vehicles but many all terrain vehicles (ATVs) and snowmobile and husky dogs.

We were transported from the airport via small vans to the local hotel about 2 km away but our luggage came via a front end loader to the ship. We had to don our high rubber boots and life vests for our first zodiac ride to the ship. We were told that all our landings in the Arctic would be “wet” landings and we will therefore have to wear these boots every time. Prices in the cooperative store were all very high, pop tarts 11 dollars, cold cereal 9 and pancake syrup 8 dollars.

It got very windy and wavy in the evening and Carol was very glad to get into bed to avoid getting sick.

We were awakened this morning at 5:15 AM with the hopes of making a pre breakfast landing at Beechey Island where Sir John Franklin spent his first winter trapped in the ice while looking for the northwest passage in 1845. Three of his crew are buried there. However, we were most disappointed that the winds were 50 knots or over 90 km. per hour and it was unsafe to go by zodiac to land. But we saw those grave markers and the memorial to Franklin from the ship. We were told that “flexibility” is the operative word in the Arctic.

We will have a series of lectures today and a film in the evening about the Arctic.

We will be refuelling at Nanisivik on Arctic Bay on the northwest part of Baffin Island. The weather is partly sunny but windy and cold.