There were times when I was at a loss for words, when the beauty and stillness made speaking an interruption to the incredible peace. As if by arrangement voices were hushed. The sky and the sea were one. There was a sense of reverence.
The play of the ever changing light was astonishing - like an art installation that constantly delights the eyes - changing mood in subtle steps.
I'll let these images speak for me - their voices are more powerful than mine.
Qikiqtarjuak is a small town on Broughton Island just off the coast of Baffin Island. Though the area is desolate it has its own beauty - the mountains, the long range vistas not blocked by trees, the precious arctic flowers and the water with ice floes.
This Inukshuk stands on a hill above the town - a sign for those navigating on the water. Inukshuk may be used as navigation markers or to indicate a cache of food. The people are welcoming. They taught us about throat singing, about life in their village and entertained us with singing by some local popular singers. The children were intrigued by the zodiacs and played on them, some of them getting little rides with our drivers.We also visited Pond Inlet - Mittimatalik in Inuktitut where we were treated to a show of arctic sports (they were designed to be played in an igloo and so take up little space), songs and drumming, throat singing as well as explanations of life in the north and the clothes they wear.
Arctic Games
Seeing animals in their natural habitat is incredible. One morning we woke to "polar bear off the starboard side" This bear put on quite a show, walking on the ice floe, stamping to break through a bit of the ice, starting at us, then swimming to another flow.
We often saw birds, the thick billed murres who take several tries until they manage to take off from the water. Their wings are too small for their round bodies so they have to flap them very fast and fly at tremendous speed in order to stay aloft. We saw them nesting on the cliffs of Bylot Island. The cliff side was packed with murres, kittiwakes and guillemots.
Fulmars and other birds often flew near our ship.
On a sunny day off Devon Island we saw a walrus sunning himself. He did not seem perturbed by our ship, though when we were very close he slipped into the water and kept his head below the surface while his back stuck out.
In the zodiacs we came near seals, once surprising a group of about 15. Andrew Qappik, a wonderful artist from Pangnirtung and a hunter was always the first to spot the animals and would know where they would resurface. You can see some of his work here.
Many of the animals in the arctic depend on the lemmings which have years when they are plentiful and then the population drops to start the cycle again. This was definitely a year of sparse rodent population and so the predators were also less abundant - both the mammals and birds that prey on them.
What will happen as the temperature warms in the Arctic? There are already concerns for the polar bears as the sea ice melts and the ice floes are not thick enough to support their weight. Polynyas (areas that stay open in the polar oceans) may not open or may be blocked by ice jams making it impossible for whales to find places to come up and breathe. Will they move further south or will their numbers decline? The polynyas are areas with a lot of nutrients as the water cycles naturally from the bottom of the sea bringing nutrients to the surface. Losing them could be disastrous. The Arctic is a fragile place. Permafrost melt can mean major changes. The climate has always changed on Earth as the continents have drifted, but now we are contributing and the changes seem to be happening faster. Walk gently on the Earth.
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Adventure Canada trip: July 23 - August 2
The first wave of people to settle the area that is now Nunavut were the Tunlit or Dorset people. The next group came about 1000 years ago, the Thule. This is a typical grave of the Thule. The permafrost does not allow for digging graves, so rocks are piled over the body.
We think of Inuit people living in igloos, but many lived in sod houses. They would dig as much as they could into a slight hillside, build a step a little higher than the floor of the entry tunnel. This would help keep the cold air from entering. The house would have a sleeping platform with storage underneath, a hearth where they would use oil lamps to heat the area and to cook (though some food was eaten raw). The family slept together on furs or hides and covered by furs. The walls of the hut were often made of whale bone then covered by skins and finally sod.
The site near Resolute has been well preserved. There are the remains of a number of sod houses which were occupied from around 1400 - the mid 1600s. A mini ice age happened at that time and the people may have had to move farther south in order to hunt the whales they needed for food.
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Adventure Canada and the Clipper Adventurer
Our trip was run by Adventure Canada. They do a great job of organizing and providing experts who greatly enhance the trip. Our leader had to be flexible as ice conditions, winds and other obstacles sometimes precipitated changes in plans. Instead of going to Clyde Inlet we went to Qikiqtarjuak. When we couldn't land in one bay, we continued to the next. On our ship we had a geologist, archeologist, environmental scientist, an Inuit artist, an expert in Inuit art, a film maker whose film on birdlife was shown, a team of interns from Nunatsiavut (the Inuit part of Newfoundland and Labrador). So much to learn. Walking on the tundra, we learned about Inuit history, the plant and animal life, life of today's Inuit...
Our ship, the Clipper Adventurer, has a hull built for ice conditions. As our captain picked his course through sea ice, which at times was quite a challenge, we heard grinding and crashing when we hit the edge. At first unnerving, it just became part of the sounds of our environment. The ship would occasionally shudder when we hit a thicker piece, but we sailed on safely, as times seeming to inch through. We had mostly calm seas, though crossing the Davis Straight sent many of us for motion sickness medication, and even then we spent most of one evening prone. But we woke to calm seas and incredible scenery.
The food on the ship was wonderful, as was the staff. We were sometimes offered fresh fish, picked up in the villages we stopped at. Arctic char does not get much better than this. We also had reindeer, muskox and fish from Greenland. And there is nothing like hot chocolate laced with Bailey's served on the beach on Baffin Island after a hike.
Our daily outings on the zodiacs, sometimes to shore, sometimes to see what the sea had to offer – close views of bird colonies on the cliffs of Bylot Island, searches for marine wildlife, and of course, our trip among the icebergs. So much now to assimilate.
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