I am sorry to report that there are no photos today as Clay
dropped his camera going ashore from the zodiac. He had more than one
camera, so he’ll hopefully carry on a bit more carefully but he only took one
camera ashore with him today. With the zodiacs, you get one ride each direction
with a tour ticket and so he couldn’t just come back and get another camera and
start again. So no Cambridge Bay photos.
We were both awakened by the alarm at 6:45am today. We had a
quick breakfast at Lido Buffet and then geared up in the cabin for the trip
ashore. The zodiac tendering was running ahead of schedule today with low wind
and very calm water. It was 41F when we woke up and even though it was overcast
all day with a random rain shower, it was warmer and without the wind felt
warmer still. We are in the Dease Strait. It is narrow and shallow. It is the place
that stymied most of the early attempts at a North West Passage. In modern
times, it makes Cambridge Bay rather a North West Passage crossroads or
midpoint. Whereas Ulukhaktok had under 500 people, Cambridge Bay has over 1500.
So, we were off and loading a zodiac by 8:45am. We had a bit of a wait for a
shuttle ride to town. There were people on the beach offering hot drinks and
Bannock. I don’t remember writing about Bannock. We were offered it on the beach
of Ulukhaktok too. We took some there. It was not freshly fried, but Bannock is
a kind of fry bread. Ours was a lump, but we saw some today and then that were
doughnut-shaped. Ours was rock hard and difficult to chew and swallow. I expect
it is more palatable fresh and hot and it may also be an acquired taste. We
didn’t give it a 2nd chance. We were in town before 10am. We were
dropped at the school, but walked on down to the main street and through town.
Our shuttle bus driver pointed out an arctic hare on the other side of the bus
on the way in. We didn’t see it and he didn’t stop. We saw a lot of birds
today. The bus driver recommended a walk through town to the Arctic Coast
Visitor’s Center and then along the water front to look for the Arctic Char
which he said were running like salmon and to see the remains of Amundson’s
Maud. We didn’t see any fish at all. There was a boat moored in front of the wreckage
of the Maud. A Norwegian concern has recently been recovered from the sea and next
year will be towed to Norway where it will be preserved in the museum there
that houses Amundson’s other 2 ships the Fram and the Gjoa. We visited both
last year. The driver also told us that the Post Office was using a Maud
cancellation stamp until the ship leaves. We went into the Post Office and the
man working there had just stamped a Post-It Note to show another passenger.
She said she was going to buy some postcards at the Co-op and be back. I asked
him if he’d give me the Post-It and he did! Clay got a Nunavut t-shirt at the Visitor’s.
I got a Nunavut Provincial Flag embroidered patch at the Co-op. We did go to the
Nunavut Arts Fair and to the craft sale in the school. At the school, they were
also giving away free local foods. Clay ate muktuk (which was boiled narwhal
skin and blubber) he had his dipped in soy sauce and I guess he liked it. He
had Arctic Char 3 ways, as a type of salsa on a cracker, as dried jerky and
like sushi on a cracker. He ate an open face muskox slider. We both ate a
little puff pastry with artic berry filling. When we got back to the zodiac
tender beach they had a pot cooking filled with big chunks of moose. It had a
line up but they were big drumstick-sized pieces of meat on the bone and we
passed. We went to the Northern Store which had a Quik-Stop attached where they
had the KFC and Pizza Hut express outlets. I think that was about it. We were
back aboard Serenity by 1pm. Oh, I guess I should talk about the shuttle rides.
Evidently EYOS/Crystal put out a call for all available vehicles and they’d pay
whoever gave rides back and forth all day. We wound up both ways in one of the
2 hotels’ shuttle buses with the hotel manager driving. It was supposed to be
about 10km and it was about a 20-minute ride. We drove through a real working
gravel pit beyond the beach, past the airport, past the DEW line station and
past the golf course. It is a desolate landscape. Oh, wildlife sightings! We
went back to the Arts Fair at the Community Center before leaving so I could
use the restroom. The 2 local volunteers were pointing out some busy little
critter under the building when we arrived but I didn’t see it. When I came
back out, I spoke to the girl who was still sitting there. She asked me if I
had ever seen a sisksisk (I think that is what it sounded like she said). I
told her I didn’t think so. She pointed out that it was running between this
building and along the front of the next. I asked her if it was the same as an
Arctic Ground Squirrel, which I thought it was, and she said yes, the same. So,
I had seen one before. We thanked her and followed it back up the street. I was
carrying a rodent not much smaller than itself in its mouth. It crossed the
street and then the cross street and we lost it. So, we missed the arctic hare,
but we did get to see more than just birds. There is a low mountain visible
from town and evidently there are large herds of muskox up there. They were
spinning Qiviut at the craft fair! We didn’t ever get close enough to their
table to even check prices here.
We ate lunch at Lido Buffet after changing out of our waterproof
gear. At 2pm there was a craft sale and throat singing demonstration scheduled
in Crystal Plaza. We went early to snag seats at Cove Bar. There was throat
singing, which you’ll have to Google. I have to confess I don’t understand the tradition.
Then there was a kicking contest demonstration with a boy and a young man. They
could both kick an object that dangled over their own heads. Last was a larger
troupe of drum singers/dancers. It was an enjoyable hour. They had something
similar about 10am and 4pm. There is an understanding that they are not
allowing everyone ashore due to physical abilities to zodiac tender and they
are trying to bring somethings onboard from the zodiac ports for those and all
guests. I have to say that Crystal has done a much better job than we ever
expected. I guess that is the good thing about low expectations is you get a
pleasant surprise.
We checked out 2 DVDs later. We watched “Salmon Fishing in
Yemen” and really liked it. Tonight we plan to watch “Prince Avalanche”. We
also have to move the clocks forward one hour tonight. Since we have a stretch
of 5 sailings day through the Canadian Archipelago section of the North West
Passage, we should have plenty of time to adjust.
Dinner was 6pm in the main dining room. It was not great but
OK. I should mention that when we got back aboard this afternoon, we stopped by
the Reception Desk and asked the Concierge for dry rice for the dropped wet
camera. She understood immediately what we wanted to do and about 15 minutes
later the doorbell rang. The waiter with the bowl of raw rice wasn’t at all
sure he was delivering the right thing. I assured him that was exactly what we
wanted. The photos on the card early this morning have been retrieved but the
camera is probably toast. It has not restarted. It won’t cost anything to keep
it in a bag of rice for a couple of more days, so we will and keep trying to
power it up. We’ll see.
photos
photos
