Today the 24th the weather is clear. We sailed along the coast of Baffin Island under calm seas and 6 degree temperatures. We anchored in Lake Harbour where we travelled by zodiac to the small village of Kimmirut. They have not had any visitors since 2019 so for some of the young children we were quite the oddity. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and some of the locals conducted tours of this village of 400 Inuits. Everyone rides around on ATVs and there is obviously no age limit as to who can drive as many young ones were zipping up the dirt streets. There is an Anglican Church in town which was built in 1908 and holds weekly services.
One of their main sources of food supply comes from the sea and often this is the seal. They use every part of the animal, using the skin for mittens and boots, the blubber to burn their lamps for light and cooking and the meat as food. They had just caught two seals and showed us how they skin them in one piece and then harvest all the individual parts. We went into the co-op which is their store and it was fascinating to see first of all what they sold and secondly the prices. As an example a bag of potato chips was $11.99 and a box of Kraft Mac and cheese was $4.99. As far as what they sold they amount of junk food far out weighed healthy offerings which would help explain why even though they all had broad smiles to greet you most were missing many teeth. Also noticed that there were a lot of smokers amongst the locals. It was special to visit such a remote village that most have never even heard of much less visited.
July 25th plans were once again changed due to weather. Most of the day was spent in dense fog though we did have an hour window where we got out in the zodiacs to see Somme icebergs close up. Was nice to get off the ship for at least a bit. Fog prevented any wildlife spotting.
The Icebreaker Terry Fox leading the way through the fog and ice.
Big chunks of sea ice that appeared through the fog. There are two ice navigators on board the ship.
The village of Kimmirut where we would visit and meet the locals. Many of the children wanted to come back to the ship with us as for many I am sure they have never left the small village.
Boarding the zodiacs for our visit
This was our guide for the village. Betsy had lived here her whole life and has three children. She is wearing the traditional Inuit coat with very intricate beadwork.local boats sit in the harbour and dot the shore waiting for the hunt.
Houses in the village are small and basic and the church sits centrally located and is a meeting point for the residents.
The ring seal is an important source of food for the people and they do use every part. We had a demonstration of how carefully and quick they carve up the seal and then the meat is distributed amongst the residents.
The hood of the traditional coat is used to carry the babies and we saw a few being toted around this way. Even the small children wore the traditional clothes.
The children of the village were fascinated with us and loved to have their pictures taken and then showed to them
A visit to the local co-op revealed the high cost of food here and why it is important to catch what you can
Certainly a tranquil outlook from the town. In the Arctic we are above the tree line so the hills appear bare though on closer inspection they are often covered in beautiful wildflowers unique to the Arctic.
Visiting icebergs by zodiac does make one realize how big some of them truly are
The ship is dwarfed by this iceberg
The shapes, colours of blue in the ocean , sky and iceberg make for a spectacular sight
An iceberg at sunset takes on a whole different light and beauty
This was a very strange halo effect we caught in the sea through the fog from the ship. The small halo in the middle is coming from behind Eric and I. It was quite beautiful.
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