Arctic trip #4

Arctic trip #4
Tuesday the 27th
Today we had the opportunity to go into an Inuit village called Arviat. It is up the west coast of Hudson Bay, above Churchill. There are about 2400 inhabitants. They have a generator which powers all the homes, a health center (doctor once a month), schools going right up to Grade 12 and a college which is free. When enrolled in the college, they can go "out" for classes as well. The polars bears are a big problem of course and at the worst times they have plenty of people patrolling the perimeter. They have the sled dog compound surrounded by electric fences. Our zodiac guys deflected a polar bear which was swimming towards town. We saw the head in a distance but by the time we were in our zodiac it was on land. But at least we saw one. I didn't bother taking a picture as it would have just looked like another rock. We went out in two shifts. Our return journey was rather rough as the wind was picking up -- and it was a 4 mile trip! This was the closest the ship could get to shore. The people who showed us around are lovely. Several elders told their stories and showed us how they use a cariboo skin for example.It was a wet landing. This town is accessible by small boat, snowmobile and plane. They have a small hotel. This cruise ship was the first in 12 years.
Earlier in the day we saw a movie about a young Inuit boy being taught by his father on how to hunt and how to navigate. It was done by Sue Flood who is one of our lecturers and who also does filming for Planet Earth, Blue Planet, etc. This shows the quality of lecturers we have on board.
Wednesday the 28th
This is a sea day so many lectures offered -- Arctic birds and how they adapt to winter, Plate Tectonics which was fascinating, Marine Mammals of the Arctic then one on Peopling of the Arctic. All were interesting and pertinent.
Each afternoon at 6:45 we have a recap of the day plus a preview of what will happen the next day. Then it's dinner at 7:30. Too late for us but no choice. We often aren't done until after 9 pm.
Breakfast: smorg style with way too many choices. I've kind of settled on porridge plus sometimes bread or a bun.
Lunch: I usually have soup, bread, fruit and a sweetie. Eg pecan pie, bread pudding.
Supper: 4 courses of which I usually have 3. The portions are usually small so not too filling.
Snacks here and there which we have avoided.
Don and I hit the gym most days -- me on the treadmill and Don on the bike.
Thursday the 29th
This morning we arrived at Walrus Island. Again we couldn't get very close as there are no sounding charts for here. There were walrus on rocks but too far away to see. So we carried on to Bencas Island. The seas are still high but they turned the boat so they could launch two zodiacs on the lee side. One led the ship closer to the island using a portable sonar. The other scooted over to and around the island reporting no animals on land. So this venture was abandoned.
Temperature: 3 to 4 Celcius with a stiff wind. Needed my parka and gloves to walk the deck.
This afternoon we had a film explaining the aurora borealis.