Sunday Fun

Today has been a great day. It all started out with a huge yummy brunch down the hill at my old haunt with several other teachers and our southern visitor. As usual, we had more food than what we knew to do with (eggs, bacon, ham, potatoes, toast, fruit) ... and of course as usual, the ravens got a nice plate of scraps too.

After brunch, four of us set out on skidoos to go see the iceberg that is frozen in our bay [this is the same iceberg that I skidooed to and climbed last year , boated out to this past September, and watched go back and forth in the bay area here in Arctic Bay for several weeks here, here and here.]

The iceberg has changed quite a bit since then during its time out in the "wild"








And of course, what's a trip out to an iceberg without some insanity?





After the insanity, we all headed home to warm up some before heading out back across town for a Grey Cup gathering .... It was a tense game at times with most of the group cheering on the Alouette's ... the Northern Newfie decided to cheer on the Stampeeders just because some one had to. Sadly, the Alouette's lost .... Northern Newfie is loving his win.

More Ice Cube Floating in the Bay

The first one was taken this afternoon down on the breakwater while walking home from school. The second was taken about 20 minutes ago from down the street. It's already begun to drift back out towards the mouth of the bay.

Drifting Ice Cubes

This morning, I woke up to an empty bay. I was bummed out as I was hoping that the iceberg from last night would have ventured in closer to town. Little did I know that the berg was hiding out behind the RCMP house, out of my view. It was a great little surprise to see it so far in the bay (close to town) as we (Darcy and I) were walking down to school this morning.

Look What the Current Dragged In

This little guy (well - not so little) as been floating back and forth between the mouth of the bay leading out to Admiralty Inlet and Adams Sound for the last couple of weeks being pushed back and forth by the currents. At least I think it's the one that has been floating back and forth between Admiralty Inlet and Adams Sound ... if not, it's a new one that has arrived in from Admiralty Inlet



I didn't have the best conditions outside while nabbing these pics - it was bitterly cold and windy - and st00pid me didn't bother grabbing a hat or pair of mittens as I didn't have much time to try to nab these before there wasn't enough light anymore.




Hopefully, the iceberg will still be there tomorrow and I can get a good shot of it during the day. Or even better, the currents bring it in closer to town :-) I can wish ... right?

On the Ice Again

Today a group of us decided to go on off for a nice long 5 hour skidoo ride out to the icebergs on the bay. Our first stop was the iceberg way out at Adams Sound (that we have all climbed up at varying points during the winter). For most of us, our last visit to this iceberg was two weeks ago ... and since then, there has been significant melting occurring, including chunks of ice falling off of the iceberg and visible stress cracks forming in the peaks. A sure sign of Springs arrival (or Global Warming).




Groovin @ the Iceberg

Jumping in the Ice Slush

We climbed the iceberg for a while and got some good group pics, and headed back off towards Victor Point to check out another iceberg ..... and along the way, Kennie got a driving lesson. Yes everyone, I finally learned how to drive a skidoo .... I am hooked. I can say though, that two of us who were on this trip did not know how to drive a skidoo ... so we both got our lessons today. I guess we can say I have been "skidooed-in". Quite a different experience being upfront than a passenger.



Continuing on our way out to the iceberg, we spotted something moving in the distance towards us. We could tell that it was not a polar bear (as it was far too small) ... but we weren't too sure if it was a fox, wolf or dog. So.. being the adventurous people we are, we went to check it out. And what we found was a sled dog who was let off most likely during the last leg of the race as it was injured (as far as any of us could tell, looked like a sprain). Figuring that it hadn't eaten since at least Wednesday (if not Tuesday), we gave it one of our sandwiches and a good belly rub before continuing our trek to the iceberg, Well, this lil pup decided to follow us to the iceberg and joined up with us. Poor lil guy ran after us for a good 10km. We stopped, gave him another sandwich half, another belly rub and hoped that he would follow us back into town on our way back.

We rode along for another 20 minutes before stopping to have a snack along the way (the remaining sandwiches) and to check out some "seal holes" as Monty swore up and down that he saw a seal (yet none of us saw this seal ....). While we were snacking and chatting, we could yet again see a little dot coming towards us in the distance .... the pup found us! And as his reward for finding us .... another piece of sandwich!



Soon it was time to head back to town (as we all wanted to nab a shower before watching the hockey game - which did not happen as CBC is still not working properly up here in Arctic Bay .... ), and we hoped that the pup would follow us back into town. Well, pup was tired after following us all day so he got a ride on one of the skidoos all the way back into town .... and did the pup ever love getting a ride back on the skidoo in the effort to be reunited with the rest of his pack.