Yesterday, we feared a possible eviction from the apartment in Pond Inlet where we’ve graciously been given refuge while awaiting our launch, so in the middle of what the rest of the world (the world with “night time”) calls “afternoon” we started packing up our gear to head out into Eclipse Sound to make our way out to Baffin Bay to being our expedition. Mind you, we’re still waiting on blessings on paper from the Parks Canada guys in the local office and from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, which controls parts of Bylot Island.
After a couple of hours of rather frantic packing, we got news that the eviction was not a real thing and all was well, so we settled back down.
This morning, having no definitive word from the QIA or Canada Parks, we decided to just head out. Right about then our friend, Titus came by with news that all hell was breaking loose in the form of gale force winds coming into the Pond Inlet from Baffin Bay, all the way from Greenland which meant kayaking was a really, really bad idea. By now, we’ve learned that Titus pretty much knows what he’s talking about, so we stopped packing (again) just as I got a text from the Canada Parks guy to come down for a 2 hour orientation and that our Locked and Unloaded Firearm Permit (yep, a real thing) for polar bear areas in Sirmilik National Park was being approved and will be ready in the morning.
We attended the orientation, filled out more forms and watched a Powerpoint, at the end of which we were informed that we’re the first visitors to Sirmilik National Park for the year! Cool. When we walked out of the office the wind hit us just as Titus predicted. On the upside, we got to test out the stampede strings on our Resistol cowboy hats, which, other than being a shameless plug for these great hats, have been quite popular with the Pond Inlet residents. We get some really great questions about the weather in Texas and the status of our horse ownership.
Last night Rebekah cooked a really wonderful meal of spaghetti with a fresh salad. I suppose our rather rash, somewhat basic choices for meals have been getting to all of us a bit. Titus brought us some Arctic Char steaks he caught this morning, so that’s what we’re having this evening with potatoes and some other green stuff Rebekah found at the local co-op.
As I’m finishing this note, I just got an email from QIA that our application to camp on their territory has been approved and is processing now, so that’s great news. With that approval and the blessing from Parks Canada to carry a Locked and Unloaded Firearm in polar bear country, we’ll be ready to launch as soon as the gale force winds lay down a bit…. looks like a few more days… ugh…
