Tuesday, August 30, 2016
We have had a busy week since I last posted - with the exception of what I posted this morning.  The 24th was a sea day with lectures, yoga, and watching for birds.  On the 25th we sailed the Beaufort Sea.  It was a nice calm blue sky day.  While sitting on our balcony reading, Judy noticed whales blowing off the starboard side of the ship.  We ended up seeing about 15 Bowhead whales and a flock of about 50 Snow Geese.  We also passed the Smoking Hills, which contain strata of lignite which have been burning continuously for centuries. The earth is literally on fire.  They were named by John Franklin on one of his 1826 expeditions looking for the Northwest Passage.

On August 26th, we arrived in Ulukhaktok, Nunavut Territory, Canada.  We met our escort ship the RRS Ernest Shackleton, which was waiting for us in the Beaufort Sea.  After we dropped anchor they put on quite a show for us, deploying the 7 Zodiacs, 1 Fast Boat and 2 helicopters which will be used for our excursions while in the Arctic.  Tonight Crystal brought aboard some Inuit drummers and dancers from Uluhaktok to perform for us.

 Launching the Zodiacs

 The Fast Boat

August 27 - We had an excursion on the Fast Boat first thing in the morning. We bundled up in our arctic parkas and boots, hats and gloves.  We toured the shoreline with our guide who was a Botanist.  We learned about the plant life and the animals relation with it and we saw an Arctic Hare.  Later in the day we took the Zodiac into shore in Ulukhaktok where we walked around town and went to the school auditorium where they were selling art prints that they are known for. 

August 28 - we were at sea in the Dolphin and Union Straights on our way to our next port, Cambridge Bay.  We attended a lecture during the day about Arctic birds.

August 29 - We arrived in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada.  We took the Zodiacs into shore, then we were shuttled into town using pick-ups, vans, school busses, or anything with wheels.  There are no excursion busses.  We spent a few hours walking around Cambridge Bay, visited an arts and crafts show put on by the NACA - "Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association".  Inuit art is very different from what we are used to seeing.  There were a lot of beautiful seal-skin garments, as well as a display of quiviet - the wool from musk-ox which is used to spin into yarn for very expensive hats, scarves, gloves, etc.  We also sampled some muktuk made from Narwhal.  Muktuk is whale blubber, and it was actually not too bad!  We visited the grocery store and found some interesting products.  Milk was $9.00 a gallon and cabbages were $8.00 to $9.00 each.  They were quite large, but also quite spendy!

 Quiviet fom Musk-ox

 Seal Skin jacket