Our Ship Has Come In

In May, when we were back in Ontario getting married, we purchased a Jeep Liberty with the goal of bringing it up to Iqaluit.  We purchased the Jeep in Ottawa from a very nice couple off of Kijiji.  We insured it through Nunavut Insurance and registered it prior to actually completing the purchase, although we had emailed a substantial down payment and received all of the pertinent information for registration prior to leaving Iqaluit.  We completed the purchase and drove the new jeep to London and got married on May 12th, an amazing day!

Our new wheels

After our wedding we drove the jeep to Valley Field, near Montreal to catch the sealift to Iqaluit.  For reasons that we don't quite understand, the jeep missed the first boat, however was put on the second boat,  with an estimated time of arrival of July 18th. 



Qamutik (The ship with our Jeep on it)

Apparently our ship and the others hit heavy ice in the Davis Straight which delayed the arrival a week or so.  The ship arrived at the bay in Iqaluit on July 24th.  Almost immediately the ship started the unloading process.  A barge is taken out to the ship by two tug boats.  The barge is filled with containers from the ship and taken into shore.  This process takes place at high tide.  The barge comes in very close to shore and when the tide starts to go out, large front end loaders take the containers off the barge.



They were able to get about two days of unloading completed  prior to the ice invading the bay. It takes about 5 or 6 days to unload a ship that has a full load destined for Iqaluit. The ice came in with a vengeance and virtually shut down the unloading process from the boats.  As was mentioned in a previous post, the elders in town have said they haven't seen that much ice in the bay in July and August for over 50 years. 

Barge with containers waiting for unloading

The ice that invaded the bay in the forground

The Qamutik in the background, Jacquie in the forground - The date of this picture is Aug 3, 2012

(note how Jacquie is dressed)

Jacquie and I went down to the beach where the containers are unloaded from the barges daily and sometimes two or three times a day.  We waited, waited and waited some more.  The ship with our vehicle arrived a week before the long weekend.  The long weekend came and still no jeep.  Most days they were not making any trips to the boat, however a few days the barge did manage to manoever itself through all of the ice and brought in a small load off the ship.  On the Saturday of the long weekend (August 4th) the ice seemed to ease up a little.  The barges were able to bring in a few loads and we thought for sure our vehicle would be brought in.  We talked to the manager where the containers were unloaded and he said he felt sure that our car would be in Sunday.

We got up bright and early on Sunday morning and headed down to the beach.  Unfortunately and almost unbelievably it was pea soup fog and not possible for any unloading to take place that day.  Its a good thing that Jacquie and I are two of the most patient people in the word.  For anyone else this situation would be frustrating (OK, we were getting a little frustrated)  We were back on Monday of the long weekend and although the weather was better and there was some unloading taking place, a little more ice had blown into the inner bay and the going was slow. 

Finally, on Tuesday morning August 7th, 14 days after the ship with our jeep on it arrived in Iqaluit, our jeep was unloaded.  We picked it up before work and we were two of the most exited people in Iqaluit!  Not only were we able to drive around in our new jeep, there was a lot of other stuff in the Jeep.  It had been so long since we packed it all, we couldn't even remember what all was there.  At lunch we unload our barbaque, 4 - 18 KG bags of dog food, some pop, laundry detergent, booze, clothing, toliot paper (an important commodity) and a bunch of other stuff.  We were just like two kids at Christmas!

Our new wheels were here and we were so pleased.  The next step was to sell our jeep wrangler.  I had been trying to sell the jeep to no avail since June.  Jacquie decided to take the matter into her hands and had it sold in a day to someone at work. 

The Jeep wrangler had been a very reliable vehicle for us.  It started every morning last winter in sometimes colder than -50C temperatures with the windchill and in some ways we were sad to see it go.  However we really didn't need 2 vehicles.  Thanks for getting us to work all winter!

Goodbye Jeep Wrangler

All in all our sealift experience was an interesting one and one we will probably do again next year.  Although we will probably not be brining up a vehicle next year, we want to go south in May or June and purchase a bunch of stuff that's expensive to get up here and ship it up on the sealift.

Driving Amongst the Icebergs

Today, Monday August 6, 2012, Jacquie and I were taking the dogs out for a little drive.  We usually go to Sylvia Grinnell Park on weekends and give the dogs a long walk.  On the way there, we noticed a couple of vehicles out driving on the bay amongst the iceburgs.  That looked like a lot of fun to us.............. so off we went and took a drive out on the bay floor amongst all of the ice.  There were more icebergs than we could count. 



When the tide goes out which today was over 30 feet there is a huge amount of the bay that drains out.  So we followed the lead of a couple of other vehicles and went for a drive among the icebergs.  The ice itself has been blown in from Davis Strait.  How it got to Davis Strait is anyones guess, however a theory that we heard the other night is that a huge chunk of ice touted to be over 700 square miles broke off from Greenland and then broke up into the smaller chucks that made itself into Iqaluit harbour of Frobisher Bay.

It was an eerie feeling driving on the sea floor where there had been 20-30 feet of water just a few hours earlier.  Admittedly, we were a little nevous about getting stuck, since the next high tide is around 10:40 tonight and getting stuck would mean the jeep would get a little wet.     On the other hand, it was an experiece that is hard to descibe. Many of the icebergs were much bigger than the jeep and there were just hundreds of them.  We went out a few hundred yards and drove around and through many huge chunks of ice.   When we got back in towards shore we stopped and took a few pictures. 

It is hard to describe the size of these ice chunks.  There were many that were larger than the one below:

So I'm sure Jacquie and I are two of the few that can boast the experience of driving on the sea floor around a number of icebergs.  That being said, it is an experience that we enjoyed and are glad we had the chance to experience it.

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!!!  :-) 

CASARA Training Flight

Jacquie and I decided to join CASARA (Civil Aviation Search and Rescue Association).  Last Thursday night (July 26, 2012) we attended the 3 hour in class portion of the training and then yesterday (July 28th) we had our training flight.

The organization trains volunteers to assist with spotting in search and resue situations.  We learned search and spotting techniques and what to look for in certain situations. 
The day was wonderful for a flight;  clear and sunny.  Altogether we were away from Iqaluit for about 5 hours.  We took off and flew south east towards a place called York Sound. 

At the beginning of the flight we saw the ship that has our vehicle on it that we are bringing up on the sea lift.  The ship was 10 days late getting into Iqaluit and as we travelled over Frobisher Bay, we began to understand the issues that the ships were having with the ice and iceburgs.  The ice is packed in certain areas and there are a lot of iceburgs.

During the briefing at the beginning of the flight we were told to look for a white plane with blue trim.  Apparently it's a plane that had gone down many years ago and has been one of the training targets for CASARA for a number of years.  We were also told that the flight would be between 2-4 hours in duration.  Further were were told to yell out any sighting of wildlife like seals, whales, walrus and bears. 

Our flight path was over Frobisher Bay along the shore line.  We flew at 500 to 1000 feet above the bay.  Jacquie and I kept our eye's peeled on the water and shore line and both began to realize how difficult and tiring this job can be.  We went for about an hour without seeing anything but ice, iceburgs and the odd boat. 

Then all of a sudden, Jacquie yelled out " polar bear at 3:00 oclock"  She had spotted a mother polar bear and two baby polar bears swimming.  The plane took a quick full turn and sure enough, there they were 3 beautiful looking polar bears.  It was tremendously exciting seeing polar bears in the wild.  One of the things that I had hoped for when moving to Iqaluit. The other great thing is that there was no danger in seeing them as we were 500 feet above them.  Also I was tremendously proud of Jacquie.  Of the 14 traninee's on board, 7 on each side of the plane, it was Jacquie who spotted the bears.  We flew by them a few times to give everyone a good look and then off we went to look for the fallen plane.

One of the very positive things about seeing the polar bears aside from the obvious amazing experience is it gave Jacquie and I a perspective of the size of things.  Even at 500 feet, the mother bear looked to be 3 inches long with the babies less than half that.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, since I have flown many times and of course when you take off and watch cars, streets, houses, and the like, they get pretty small pretty fast.  Anyway, I was surprised how small the bears were and it gave me an appreciation of how difficult it will be to see a lost person from the air.

As we moved forward, I saw a number of seals in a cluster (interestingly a group of seals can be referred to as a pod, herd, rookery or harem).  We also saw a few single seals.  Seeing these animals, gave us experience calling out our sightings.  The spotters main responsibility is to search for the target and once spotted to take control of the plane by calling out the direction and distance of the sighting, while never taking their eye off what they have spotted and communicate to the pilot to guide him or her to whatever has been sighted. 

By this time over 2 hours had passed and it was time for a break.  So interestingly enough the pilot looked for a place to set down.  At York Sound which looks like a left over gravel field from a recent glacier, the pilot landed.  Now let me make myself clear - there is no landing strip, no wheel tracks, the only evidence that any plane has ever landed there before was some left over barrels.  However there were many rocks, some uneven ground, a river and a number of drop offs.  The pilot flew over the sight at a hight of 10 - 20 feet 4 or 5 times to look for the best landing area.  Then down we went.  It was bumpy, however the twin otter lands and stops in a very short distance.  We had one gutsy and skilled pilot!

The take off was even a little more bumpy, however after a 1/2 hour break off we went, back looking for the white plane with blue trim.  Actually we never did find the downed plane, which again was a great training lesson for us.  Sometimes, you just don't find what your looking for, no matter how hard you try.  On the way home, Jacquie (by this time nicknamed "eagle eye") saw 3 more polar bears, which may have been the same ones again, a single polar bear, which I had the pleasure of spotting too, a pod of wales and a few more seals. 

All in all the rugged beauty was spectacular, seeing all of the animals amazing and other than the fact that we didn't find the plane, the day was a wonderful success.  Jacquie and I are happy we had such an awesome opportunity.  We are now certified CASARA volunteers and with some trepidation look forward to our first real search and rescue call.

Cool Man

Jacquie and I were out wandering around and "down by the bay" and guess what......... we saw a pile of ice. Admittedly, we have all seen a pile of ice before, however this is the first time I've seen ice like this on July 16th. 

Now I turned 180 degrees and took this picture of boats out on the bay.  I really thought it was amazing!!

Dogs go Swimming in the Ocean

We were out exploring today (July 15, 2012) and went to the other side of town, past the airport to one of the boat launching spots for those who want to go boating on Frobisher Bay. 

As a side, Frobisher Bay is 250 miles (400 KM) long from it's mouth to Iqaluit.  Anyway while we were down by the boat launch, the dogs decided to take a swim.  Of course Holly and Quinn love the water, however we weren't sure whether the cold water of Frobisher Bay would be that apealing.  However they seemed to really enjoy themselves and were in the water for 10 minutes or so. 

Here are a few pictures of them swimming around!  Have fun you two!!!!

Nunavut Day

Monday July 9th was Nunavut Day.  All government offices were closed and there were a number of events that took place.  Canada AM was broadcasting from just behind the Legislative Assembly building.  Jacquie and I woke up early to watch Canada AM on TV.  It was quite entertaining seeing some of the people we have gotten to know on TV.  The crew did a great job in talking about Iqaluit, Nunavut and some Inuit traditions.  We really enjoyed the broadcast

There were a number of events that took place throughout the day like seal skinning, a breakfast put on by the Rotary Club, an artisan's display and sale to mention a few.

At lunch there were muskox burgers that were being given away, however the line up was huge so Jacquie and I decided not to get in line. 

Then there was one event that took place that happens at many festival's in Nunavut.  We have seen it a few times in Iqaluit.  Local hunters donate a portion of their catch which are displayed and ultimately given away.  A large tarp is placed on the gound with cardboard and plastic over top.  A myriad of different meats are placed on the tarp and the tradition is that the elders inspect and get first dibs on what they want to take and then the balance is open to everyone in the community.  This year there was seal meat, whale meat, Muktuk (whale blubber), walrus, char, caribou, musk ox, bannock and other things that we couldn't identify.  It is actually quite interesting in that all this meat is just thrown out on the tarp for people to take. 

We were able to get some caribou, whale meet and seal fat.  Not sure why we took the seal fat and all I can say is that in the heat of making choices sometimes wrong choices are made.  We tried the whale and ate the caribou.  The caribou was excellent, the whale......... well lets just say, neither Jacquie or I would order it in a restaurant. 

All in all an interesting tradition!