Life in Whale Cove, Nunavut: The Inuksuk

My favorite Inuksuk, on the shores of Aquk, by Sean's cabin

Well, it seems like my time here in lovely Whale Cove is coming to an end. I have 25 days before the end of school year, and quite possibly my experience here. It has been by far my best foray into the unknown. I came up here with an open mind looking for adventure and good friends, instead experienced the expereince of my life with incredible life-long friends. I'll leave this place, its land, ice, and most importantly its people with sadness, but with a promise of coming back regularly.

Souhtern view of the same inuksuk

It has started to warm up finally, and we are experiencing days with single digit negative temperature regularly. In fact today I ran on the soft snow, and puddles of water for the first time since last October. Although it has been much warmer, we have had quite a few blizzards, almost every single weekend since late March. This has been by far the most frustrating and depressing thing for the past 6 weeks. I remember most of my Vancouver friends complaining about having bad weather for weekends. But I can asure them, that it comes nowhere near as frustrating and annoying as it has been here lately. Imagine waiting 6-7 months for warmer weather to get out and do things on the weekend, only to be trapped inside the whole time. As though the mother nature has been playing a cruel game. The only decent non-blizzard weekend so far has been the Easter long weekend when I was away in Winnipeg!

Selfie in front of the Kamutic/sledge on the river ice, complete with my frostbites!

Although bad weather limitted us on our weekend adventure, it didn't entirely kept us from exploring the ice and land. I still managed to head out on the floe edge regularly, sometimes walking all the way out there after work. Days are much longer, we are getting about 18 hours of daylight these days. Longer days and my newly acquired rifle, for safety, gives me much more freedom to explore the sea ice. A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday afternoon, I ventured out on the sea ice to the floe edge. What appeared to be pretty close, ended up being 16km away from the town. It took me two hours to get there. The ice was magical, as usual.

Beautiful fast ice by the floe edge

The sky over the open water always seems much darker than the sky over the ice. This is how we can tell where the open water can be found once on the sea ice. Even on the cloudiest day you see the dark reflection of dark blue water in the clouds. But out on the open vast ice, what appeared to be only 5 or at most 10km, ended up being over 16 km. The walk back was nice, but a bit painful. I didn't know that walking for four hours with rubber boots is much more taxing on one's feet and legs than wearing trail shoes. Another painful lesson learned.

My new insurance policy when out and about!

On my way out, I saw a huge dark coloured creature in the middle of what appeared to be endless ice, kilometres away from the floe edge. Tried to see what it was using the scope, but no success. Later when joined by my friend, Sean, who drove his ATV to floe edge, I learned that must have been a bearded seal by its breathing hole. That was confirmed when a few days later we spotted two smaller black things on the ice. And as soon as we turned towards them, they both dived under the ice. He was telling me, there are literally hundreds of those around, but almost impossible to spot, unless there is a seal by them. According to Sean, soon the entire floe edge will be packed with seals basking in the sunshine. Of course more seals on the ice can only mean more polar bears! That is why I carry the rifle with me these days. I am not sure whether that can be of any use, except for its psychological effects.

My local friend, Jacobie, trying his might pulling the sledge on the sea ice!

I am counting on bears being nice and keep focusing on their favorite food, seals, than me when I go for a long walk/hike from Whale Cove to Rankin Inlet next weekend. Ever since seeing the ice, I have been thinking about going for a 2-3 day trek on it. I was told it would be too risky to camp on the floe edge, due to bears and ice breaking away. But I figure walking to Rankin Inlet, about 70km, would be a nice substitude for that.

(https://www.google.ca/maps/@62.5243708,-92.8928728,9z).

View of the frozen river, Aquk, from higher ground

The idea is to walk about 25 km on the sea ice to the first stretch of land where there is a cabin by a fresh water lake. I can spend the night there, and continue the next morning to the next srtech of land, this one being about 5-10km wide. Rest and have lunch there before making my way to the Rankin Inlet. I haven't decided whether to spend two nights ou there, or just one. I guess it all depends on how the weather and ice conditions are when I am out there.

Trying to land an arctic char, greyling or a lake trout at Akuq. Jacobie is much more focused on the task than I am!

Work is going as smoothly as it could, especially now that we are on the home stretch. I have noticed a sharp drop in attendance, mainly due to warmer weather and the traditional activities it brings about. More and more people are spending time in their cabins out on the land, either hunting or fishing. It wont be long before this whole place will be buzzing with the return of migratory birds. It feels as though everything, alive or dead, is awaiting the arrival of temporary guests. It wont be only the birds that come in huge numbers. Arctic chars will start to swim down streams from frozen lakes through the river back to the Hudson Bay; their yearly migrating journey to and from summer salt water habitat to winter fresh water lakes.

The elusive arctic char. Not my catch though, have yet to land one!

On the only nice weekend of the April, our town had their mini fishing derby on nearby frozen lakes. There were people all over the lakes. Families picnicked while trying their luck at fishing. There would be $100 reward for each fish. There were about 23 fish in total, and I was there to help with measuring their length. I only managed to join in on the activity later in the afternoon, as I was away. But it was a fun experience.

Mini fishing derby on a nearby lake

The real and serious fishing derby will take place on the Victoria day long weekend. I am told this is a huge event, and almost everyone will be out there taking part. In fact it is a family event, and entire families pack up and head out on their cabins and favorite lakes in hope of catching the largest fish!

Manu, and Billy chatting while another friend is busy clearing the fishing hole, over 9 feet deep!

Like everyone else I am excited for that event as well. Victoria day long weekend always used to be the start of fun season for me. In the past it was the official opening weekend of the beach guarding, and now it is the fishing derby weekend. It is also the time when spring starts its slow journey to the arctic. Ice will thin out with rivers flowing in more places. I am hoping to catch some of the frenzy of early spring on camera when it happens. These days are warm enough so that batteries last longer and more importantly I can keep my hands out of gloves for longer periods.

Me chewing on a piece of dried caribou meat the inuit way, biting a bit while cutting the rest using a knife

It is not only fish and seals that locals harvest from the Hudson Bay, they surprisingly catch crabs too. On a fine afternoon, I went on a little excursion out on the sea ice to catch crabs from the ice! The plan was to find areas where there is a large crack on the ice. Clear the snow from the crack, break the top thin layer of ice, and set the trap. Surprisingly the cracks are all over the place some stretching endlessly. But it does take trained eyes to discover them while driving fast.

Sean and his family along with Andy are getting the crab traps ready

The trap is made of an old sock or sleeve of an old sweater filled with gravel with a few bits of chicken or fish. They then cut a few small holes in the fabric, where the crab gets hold of the trap. Once in a while they pull the trap up, and sure enough there will be crabs hanging on the trap. The trick is to quickly grab the crabs as soon as the trap reaches the surface as the crabs will let go of the bait once they come out of the water. Not as easy as one thinks in the freezing -20 degrees temperature! Andy caught 5 crabs that day.