September 5-6 Thursday-Friday
Thursday
The expedition team told us how lucky we’ve been with weather on this voyage. The 2023 crossing had activities (nature/historical landings or community visits) canceled on four days due to inclement weather. We’ve had none.
Today we sailed around Bylot Island and west into Pond Inlet to pick up our Greenland pilot. And with that, we had officially completed the northwest passage.
Cambridge University maintains a website documenting all of the Northwest Passage crossings, organized chronologically and by route. We took route number 6. Through last winter, 392 ships have made the transverse. This includes icebreakers, Amundsen, commercial vessels and expedition ships like ours. The exact number of individuals who have crossed is unknown. Amundsen sailed with a crew of 6; we have over 300 aboard with passengers and crew.
For comparison, around 7,000 people have summited Mt. Everest. (Not really a fair comparison, as in 2024 we travel in safety and comfort, while those who summit Everest and were early NW Passage explorers were at extreme risk.)
We are setting clocks one hour forward again for the next three nights to get to Greenland time.
Tonight we began sailing east across Baffin Bay.
———-
We continue sailing towards Greenland.
We attended a tablet weaving workshop and wound up with a bulky bookmark each. It’s believed that the Norse people used tablet weaving to make bag handles, belts and straps to tie the tops of boots closed. I’ve seen people weaving like this in Peru, with strands of yarn stretched between a tree and a belt around their waist.
For us, we used yarn and 8 playing cards that had been cut into house-shaped pentagons and punched with 4 holes. Getting started was a tangled mess (not for Mark). No one was more surprised than I was when it worked out okay.
Mark found a young black-legged kittiwake sitting on the walking track on deck 11. Brendan, the ship ornithologist came up wearing gloves and a mask and examined it to make sure it had no wing damage. He took it down to a lower deck to release into the water.
One of the most rewarding aspects of this voyage are the Inuit cultural ambassadors sailing with us.
Ashley’s niece is modeling an amauti, a special parka worn by Inuit women. There is a pouch below the hood to carry a baby up to about two years old. The hood lifts to cover both mama and baby. The long “tail” in the back provides protection when sitting on the snow.
Rose modeling an amauti her mother-in-law made for her.
Handmade doll, about 8 inches tall
Clockwise from upper left: purses, necklaces, ulu knives, earrings. All, unfortunately, photographed on a glass table.
Panel of some of our cultural ambassadors: Heidi, Cathy, Ashley, Joe and Rose
For us, we used yarn and 8 playing cards that had been cut into house-shaped pentagons and punched with 4 holes. Getting started was a tangled mess (not for Mark). No one was more surprised than I was when it worked out okay.
Mark found a young black-legged kittiwake sitting on the walking track on deck 11. Brendan, the ship ornithologist came up wearing gloves and a mask and examined it to make sure it had no wing damage. He took it down to a lower deck to release into the water.
One of the most rewarding aspects of this voyage are the Inuit cultural ambassadors sailing with us.
We were shown a documentary film, Martha from the North, last night. It’s the story of Martha Flaherty, one of our cultural ambassadors. Her family was forcibly relocated in 1953 to a newly created “settlement” in the far north, Grise Fjord. They were moved from the Hudson Bay Area where they had grass, solid homes, and good hunting to a barren unforgiving area with only their tents for shelter. There were severe hunting restrictions (one caribou per family, no musk ox) so had only seals for pelts and meat. The deprivation was devastating. Once relocated, they couldn’t return to their homes until the 1980s.
Her grandfather, she learned as adult, was Robert J Flaherty, the director of the famous silent film Nanook of the North. He had had an affair with the woman star of the film, who tragically died young. Their unacknowledged son was Martha’s father.
A documentary sequel called Shadow of Nanook is in post-production and will be released in Canada, Ireland and the United States.
Martha has spent her life as an indigenous activist and traveled throughout the world to raise awareness of and seek justice for aboriginals. Among other roles, she’s served as the President of the National Indigenous Women’s Association. We are honored to have her spend time with us.
We had a round table discussion today to discuss Inuit crafts.
Ashley’s niece is modeling an amauti, a special parka worn by Inuit women. There is a pouch below the hood to carry a baby up to about two years old. The hood lifts to cover both mama and baby. The long “tail” in the back provides protection when sitting on the snow.
Rose modeling an amauti her mother-in-law made for her.
Handmade doll, about 8 inches tall
Clockwise from upper left: purses, necklaces, ulu knives, earrings. All, unfortunately, photographed on a glass table.
We’ve also been learning about “country food”, or food that is obtained from the land. It’s the favorite food of all of the Inuit on board. Mark asked them what were their favorites and they happily volunteered:
Raw frozen caribou (kept in the freezer and cut off in small pieces for a treat)
Raw beluga - fat and meat layers
Surf and turf- arctic char and caribou
Fresh seal brains
Bannock (fry bread - not exactly a local dish but very popular)
We’ve gotten to sample some of these, including raw beluga, arctic char in several forms, and bannock. I liked the dried char, like jerky.
Panel of some of our cultural ambassadors: Heidi, Cathy, Ashley, Joe and Rose
No comments:
Post a Comment