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| Another gorgeous day |
1:00 or should I say 13:00 because that’s ship’s time
I’m finding it hard to even start to describe how fantastic the morning was, except for the fact that we had to board the zodiacs at 7:00. Luckily our colour group was second last so we got a wee bit of extra time.
When I got out of the zodiac and began to make my way up to the stromatolites*,
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| People looking at the stromatolites |
I felt completely relaxed, in a way I haven’t done for a long time. It is such a privilege to be here and to be able to walk on this land. For me, even though I’m a city kid, it’s like coming home after a long absence. The temperature was about +2C and there was a bit of a wind but my rain gear kept me nice and warm. Despite my recent haircut which is maybe a bit shorter than she’s been cutting it lately, I didn’t need my toque, only the ear band, made from musk ox wool, that I bought last year in Greenland. I needed my right hand for my camera and cell phone so I put a very warm glove on my left hand and managed just fine.
The first thing that caught my eye were some waterbirds. My first thought was cormorants but I checked with one of the bird folks and cormorants aren’t found in this area. Her guess was either loons or pintails. She was hoping that some one who was close to the birds on shore got a photo so she could confirm what they were.[They were pintails.]
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| Pintails |
The area of the hike today was made up of a series of terraces that gradually rose from the beach. The stromatolites were visible at several different elevations with the most spectacular collection of them on the second highest terrace.
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| Stromatolites |
The first interpretive station I came to was the burial place for two Mounties who were killed by an Inuit man in the 1920’s. Word came to the RCMP that two men had been murdered so they went to find out what had happened. Two men Tatamigana and Alikomiak admitted to the killings. In their minds they were justified and had done nothing wrong. [In a CBC account, the men were told by the elders of the community to kill a man who was threatening the community and they complied. I didn’t hear David Pelly https://www.davidpelly.com/ give this piece of information although he may have done so.] The Mounties tried to explain to them that that wasn’t the way settler’s justice worked and took them into custody.
There was no jail house so the two prisoners simply lived with the Mounties waiting for a judge to come up from Edmonton in the spring to decide their case. In the meantime the prisoners worked for the Mounties doing household chores. One day one of the Inuit men killed the Mountie because he was being made to do women’s work which was an insult to him. When the second Mountie found that his comrade had been killed, the killer shot him too. After this the men didn’t run or try to cover up what they had done. They waited at the RCMP post to see what would happen. What happened was they were arrested a second time and a judge was sent out from Edmonton to try their case. Interestingly enough, the judge brought with him the lumber to build a gallows. In a very short trial, the judge found the two men guilty and they were hanged. They were the only two Inuit ever executed in Canada. I don’t know where those two were buried but the Mounties were buried in a small plot of grass and soil overlooking the beach at Port Epworth or Kogluktualuk, to give the place its Inuit name.
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| Mounties' graves |
While a group of us was listening to the story, one of the bear guards called to us that there was a ground squirrel fairly close to the cemetery. Of course, I went right over to have a look and ended up spending about half an hour watching and photographing it.
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| Well camouflaged Arctic ground squirrel |
Let me tell you this ground squirrel looked nothing like the Richardson’s ground squirrels we see around home. He was about the size of a house cat and I watched him as he ate, looked around and groomed himself. Of course I was taking photos Ike crazy and enjoying every minute of it. I don’t think any of them will be especially stunning, but I hope to have captured something of what a ground squirrel’s day looks like. I think I watched him for about 30 minutes and then decided to move on up the terraces stopping often to take photos of the tiny plants that cover the land.
As I climbed higher, the smoke from the fire near Yellowknife blew in and began to cast a haze over the land. Despite the smoke, I felt exhilarated. The terrain was just steep enough to give me a good workout and the the need to watch my footing kept my mind engaged as I searched for the best route through the rock bands, the willows, and the boggy bits. When I reached the biggest collection of stromatolites, I stood for a moment in awe of the fact that the rings in the rock caused by tiny microorganisms are the reason we have an atmosphere with enough oxygen to live. As they piled up layer, upon layer, rather like coral, they gave off oxygen gradually changing the composition of the atmosphere and paving the way for a different set of creatures to come into being and, eventually, creating an atmosphere in which we can exist. It might seem silly, but as I turned to go back down to the beach I thanked those small organisms for the perfectly wonderful day that was mine to enjoy.
The wind picked up quite a bit during the morning and by the time we got back to the ship the zodiac was rocking and rolling. Rather than having two people on the platform to help us get aboard, there were an additional three at various points on the stairs, each offering an arm for the sailor’s grip to get us safely aboard.
Before lunch I went through some of my photos. I have managed to take 300 in the last 3 days. It’s going to require some strategic planning to be able to carve out time to write these blogs and edit photos on the fly so this afternoon I skipped the talk about geology in order to write this. When it comes right down to it, I’m much more interested in critters than I am in rocks.
21:54
We spent a lot of time this afternoon in the Nautilus Lounge listening. First there was the traditional Inuit welcome, which is always lovely with the lighting of the quilliq, and the introduction of the Inuit staff. There are 9 of them this year and Aleqa Hammond, former Prime Minister of Greenland, pointed out that there are only 100,000 Inuit in total and they live in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Denmark and Russia.
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| Inuit welcome |
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| Tending the quilliq |
After the welcome there was some free time and I went out on deck with my tea to get a photo for Tea on the Deck for September.
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| Tea on the deck |
There was quite a bit of ‘shipkeeping’ to take care of and after that we had a briefing about our landing in Cambridge Bay. Then came the captian’s welcome and the introduction of his heads of department. I’m so glad we have Captain Dominic again this year. He has been sailing for 30 years and he knows a lot about Arctic Ice having started his career on container ships in the Arctic before moving to cruise ships and then to expedition ships. His bridge tour last year was one of the highlights and he has a great sense of humour. When he introduced himself he said he was from a small country and a tiny city. The country? India. The city? Mumbai. Even though I had heard the joke last year I laughed again as he delivered it with such delight.
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| Captain Domenic and his officers |
After supper tonight there was live music by Ethan and Chris. Chris mentioned that he considered everyone onboard a musical family and if there were any people out there who played or sang we should let him know. I waltzed right up at the end and told him I was a singer and that I play ukulele. He said he would let me know the next time there was going to be a music night and I could do a couple of songs. I said I would. Thanks to the uke jam once a week since January for giving me the confidence to put myself out there in situations like this. I’ll let you know how it goes.
And that’s it for tonight. We don’t have to get going quite so early tomorrow but I still want to get to bed. The CPAP and I have been disagreeing every night so I haven’t been sleeping as well as I would like.
September 22, 2025
Now that I have internet access I can fill out some of the info.
*Stromatolites ‘a calcareous mound built up of lime-secreting cyanobacteria and trapped sediment found in Precambrian rock. They are the earliest known fossils.’ thank you Google
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