Invasion

It is the invasion of the giant ice cubes to Iqaluit.  In Frobisher Bay, at the shore line, there has been a phenomena that hasn't been seen for 50 years.  Ice from Davis Strait has been blown into Frobisher Bay and has ended up at the shore here in Iqaluit. 

The ice is causing havoc.  There is a research vessel called the Nuliajuk that has been sitting just beyond the ice with a full crew who cannot get into Iqaluit.  The vessel has been out in the bay since the beginning of the week.  The Students on ice program which takes students on an arctic expedition to parts of Nunavut and Greenland is delayed because they can't get the students from Iqaluit to the vessel. 

In the picture above, there is a boat in the top of the picture.  This boat has our Jeep Liberty on it and has been out in the bay since last Thursday (July 26th).  This is Thursday August 2nd and the sealifts including the boat with our vehicle cannot get the vehicles and seacan's off to bring into town.  In fact many of the ships are waiting at the mouth of the bay waiting for the ice to disperse. 

An elder was talking on the radio the other day and said that he hasn't seen this much ice in the bay for over 50 years.  It is spectacular and these pieces of ice aren't something you can put in your average beverage.  Some of them are iceburg size. 

We have been told that the ice is what is called "multi-year" ice, meaning that it has been around for many years.  Aparently you can tell by the colour.  The more blue there is in the ice the older that the ice is touted to be.  Many of the large chunks of ice we have in the bay have blue ice within them.


 As we have explained before, Frobisher Bay has 30 foot tides.  So when the tide goes out these large chunks of ice get deposited on dry land.  Jacquie and I decided to go out today at lunch (August 2, 2012) and take some close-ups of the deposited ice.  Some of the chucks were huge.  We felt comfortable going to the ones that were fairly close to shore.   However when the tide goes out the water recedes 300-400 metres and there was a sea full of deposited ice on dry land.

Although the ice is spectacular, we are hoping for a north wind that will drive the ice back into the bay so our jeep can be brought into shore.  Not only is it the vehicle, however there is a barbeque and many other goodies in the vehichle that we could really use. 

Notwithstanding, in the last week we have seen a polar bear family, seals, whales and this ice anomoly that people that have lived in Iqaluit for years have not had the oportunity to see.  We feel priviledged and appreciative that we have been able to have these awesome experiences over the past week.  This weekend (the August long weekend) we are looking foward to going fishing out in the river with friends who have rented a boat, having friends over for dinner a couple of evenings and next weekend there is a good posibility that we will be travelling to Pang to take in the sights in that hamlet.  That is the hamlet that is close to Mount Thor, the highest verticle mount face in the world at 4500 feet. 

We'll keep you posted!!!  :-)