Day 3: Heading out on the land

Billy and his boat (photo from 2009 expedition)

We are currently sat outside Billy’s hut, which is on the coast a couple of hours away from Qikiqtarjuaq. We got here yesterday on Billy’s boat , which took about 2 hours. We had to wear giant, fat thermosuits to keep us warm, but it was a really great boat trip: amazing scenery, big mountains. Since Antony last posted, lots happened in Qikiqtarjuaq; lots of packing.  We had amazing hospitality from everyone there.

We were allowed to camp in the back of the Consultation Offices’ garden so that we were safe from the Polar Bears on the coast. The policeman let us do our packing in his garage when it was raining. We had the amazing luck of seeing bowhead whales just off the coast, about four of them engaged in mating rituals. We could see them really clearly, even the marking on their faces as they came right out the water. They did some breaches, lots of tails, and huge fins. It was amazing.

We are now out on the land. We had a bit late start getting here because Billy’s boat is a bit broken. That  gave us a great opportunity to wander around Qikiqtarjuaq getting to know some of the people. They all really, really kind. Heard some Inuit throat singing and lots of the native language, Inuktitut, which is really different from anything else that I have heard before. Having a nice relaxing time out at Billy’s which is where they come out to hunt and live off the land.

Listen to some Inuit throat singing:

We’ve caught some Arctic Char! We put the net out last night and we had five Arctic Char in it this morning, which are huge, very red inside like Salmon. You can eat them. The Inuit hang it up to dry and we tried some of it yesterday which was delicious. Tastes like smoked Salmon. This morning for lunch we had it as boiled Char, which is equally delicious, very like Salmon. A few of us tried eyeballs, which were interesting but a lot better than they sound. It was the texture more than anything that got us all.

Arctic Char, hanging out to dry (photo from 2009 expedition)

We are just building a big campfire now, making the most of our last relax before we head up into the pass and start loading our food into it, which will be the toughest thing we have done so far, because it has been mostly packing and observing the amazing scenery around us.

Tomorrow morning, we are going to head out on Billy’s boat to try to see some Polar Bears, which will be fantastic if we manage to do that. We’ve got Billy’s dog here, you just have to say the word and he is fully on guard. Girls took a dip today in the freezing water but the boys didn’t go in. So we had a nice wash after five days!

Just finished dinner and are going to have a bonfire!

Listen to Emily’s report from Baffin: