Arctic Dippers

The Arctic Polar Dippers

What started out as a crazy idea .. wound up being an actual crazy idea. Aaron (the researcher) had the idea that we should all go for a polar dip in the bay. Well.. by the end of the day we were all pretty much in. So here we are at 6:30 all gathered at David and Irene's trying to figure out where we were going to go for the dip. Victor Bay? The other side of Arctic Bay? Out side of Arctic Bay? Nope. We went right to the break water.

Imagine, if you will, a bunch of teachers, mental health worker and RCMP officers show up all in a large group, all warmly (and strangely) dressed all piling out onto the beach .. only to begin peeling off layers of clothing. The kids were quite curious to know what on earth we were doing, and the tourists who were here were even more curious. We explained to them that we do this everyday and that they should join in the fun (hahaha).

After group pictures were taken (more pics to follow once we get the mailing list figured out) we all ran into the slightly cold water (what was it? 1.2 degrees?) [found out later on that the water was 0.6 degrees and the air temp was 1.2 degrees] yelling out polar cry ...er... yell, kids in the background cheering us on, tourists watching and taking pictures of us crazy Southerners going in for a dip.

It wasn't too bad - once you got used to the cold it was pretty nice - and surprisingly, we were pretty warm after getting out of the water. But, we all quickly pilled into warm and running trucks and got home quickly to get warmed up. Now it's off to hockey night.

Oops .. sneaky technology

hi all ... you can now access the Nanisivik Waterfall pics ... for some strange reason (computer error I tell you, not user stupidity) the link wasn't active ... it is now. Enjoy!

OK, now all links should be active.. they appear to be active up here

-k

Brr It's Cold Outside

Well, I think summer is finally over and we've moved directly into winter ... at least winter to me. It was a little chilly here today and it snained (snow + rain) all day long - but at least we don't have any snow covering the ground. I'm going to have to get a digital thermometer to put in the window so I can keep track of the temperature changes here.

Things are going well at school. Loads of planning to do, and I even have to plan for a week of me being away (as I might be heading to Iqaluit at the end of the month for NFU meetings).

Tomorrow should be an interesting day in Arctic Bay as there is a cruise ship arriving in with 90 passengers (at least that's what I've heard) [now by cruise ship, I don't mean the ones that take us down to Bermuda; it was an educational cruise ship from what I've gathered as most of the passengers on it were either retired teachers or researchers who wanted to see the Arctic] .. so there will be plenty of pictures of that. I wonder if it is the same boat I saw over the weekend in Nanisivik [it wasn't the same boat that I saw in Nanisivik .. it was another boat .

The "Cruise Ship"

Off to Nanisivik I Go

Today's adventure took me to Nanisivik (about 30 min away from Arctic Bay) with Kirk, Aletha and my roommate for a hike to see the waterfall and to do a little climbing (not quite as much as Saturday though ;-) ).

We left Arctic Bay around 2:00 and arrived in Nanisivik around 2:30 where we first stopped off at the "new cafeteria" for the workers up there that are decommissioning the mine and the town. We stuck around chatting for a little bit and had a nice cup of coffee before heading off to check out the "cruise" ship that was in at the port from we think Russia (at least we think it was from Russia).



From the docks, we drove back up the road a km or two and parked the truck on the side of the road and took off on foot towards the waterfall.

The hike to the falls
The "Red" River"
As you can see, the river rocks are red, making the water look red as well. Although we argued whether it was the sulphate in the rocks or the iron that made it red, no one really knew (although, it didn't have a sulphate smell).


The Falls
The Dare Devils


The River Walker

We checked out the water fall for about half-an-hour with us passing cameras back and forth (got to love it when each of us has a camera and were all snapping pictures of each other - so more pics of this adventure to come). From there we climbed up a nice rocky mountain-hill back towards the main road. Once we made it back to the main road, we didn't realize how far the truck was from us. Contemplating walking out to the truck, Kirk came up with the bright idea to just ask the workers up the road for a lift out to the truck. The workers were more than glad to give him a lift to the tuck. Aletha, Paulette and I relaxed soaking in the sun while we waited for our chariot to return.

Hiking up the St. George Society Cliffs

This afternoon I went for a long (long) hike with Aletha and Kirk up the mountains behind where Clare's B&B is (any one know the name of those mountains for me?). The climb up the rocks was a little daunting (for someone who likes having solid ground under her feet), but it was well worth it. The view from way up the hill was breath taking.

Shot of Arctic Bay from way up

We continued our hike (heading I guess North-West - next time GPS is a must), where we had to climb up some more steep rocky mountains/hills. After the first little bit, it was flat the rest of the way and I was able to get some pretty amazing landscape shots.




Me and the Cliff and the Ocean


The silence way up in the mountains was mind boggling - no noise at all other than the little wind that was blowing and the sound of us ... and the occasional gun shot from the Narwhal hunters in the water.




We were out there for about 5 hours hiking and along the way learned a couple of survival tips for up here and some more info about how things are (or how they are quite different from down south ;-) ).

It's definitely moments (days? hikes?) like this (and the sights and sounds) that make this adventure all worthwhile (and the students of course :-) ) - the outdoor sights are a nice added bonus.