Northwest Passage Expedition – daily update 23 July

Missed yesterday’s post? You can find it here.

We started the day with an enormous breakfast I cooked for the team: 21 large eggs, 1kg of smoked bacon rashers, 500g of butter (for scrambled eggs & toasts), plenty of Canadian style “Heinz Deep Browned Baked Beans with Molasses and Pork”, and bread. The rest of the day was rather busy, so didn’t get to take a lot of pictures. Sorted out a rental extension for our truck from today until Sunday. Turns out the car hire company’s boss was born in Germany, so we chatted a bit about our country of origin.

MORE SHOPPING

Next, we did plenty more shopping incl. for vast amounts of food and plenty more gear. After Leven voiced concerns about my lack of an Arctic grade full-blown synthetic down jacket, I purchased one to make sure I’d be ready for the violent Northerlies that will hit us, straight from the North Pole.

(c) Art Huseonica

VARIOUS ERRANDS AND TASKS

Leven and Art did a lot more work on the boat’s electrics and electronics. Mike and I sorted out some of the stuff that was left on board by last year’s expedition members. Some ended up in the bin, some stuff we cleaned and hung to dry.

LEARNING HOW TO CLEAN THE GUNS

All four of us spent some time getting our heads around the semi-automatic and the shotgun. Mike, a former special ops guy, showed us how to disassemble the two guns, how to clean them, and how to reassemble them. How to put the safety on and off, how to load the guns, how to point and shoot, etc. Tomorrow we will do a bit of firing practice.

SPENDING SOME TIME INSIDE THE BOAT’S CABINS

This afternoon was also my first time inside the two cabins of Hermione, and boy oh boy are they tiny. How 8 people would have fit into them, like at times they had to, during last year’s first leg, is an absolute mystery to me. As a matter of fact, it’s difficult for me to get my head around how I on my own would be able to sleep in the smaller stern (back end) cabin. And the bow (front end) cabin is by no means big for one or two persons to sleep there.

Everything looks solid and high quality though, and no traces of the mould are left. Nothing smells funny. Of course that will change when four unwashed seamen will inhabit these spaces from Sunday onwards for up to ten weeks.

DINNERTIME

I cooked about 5 or 6 litres of chilli con carne for dinner, of which we finished about half. Also started to prepare tomorrow’s dinner.

After dinner, our gracious host, Shawn Marriott, arrived for a visit together with his two little daughters and one of his daughters’ friends. We had already briefly met them yesterday, together with Shawn’s lovely wife Patty Jane.

POLAR BEAR HUNT

Shawn is a huge bear of a man with arms twice as big my legs. Before he moved to Cambridge Bay from Vancouver more than 15 years ago, he had only gone hunting 4 times and was far from a seasoned outdoors man. Two years in, some 13 years ago, he got lucky and got one of that year’s only 14 polar bear hunting permits in the Cambridge Bay  draw. He took only one day to get to his hunting ground and kill a polar bear. He used all the edible parts. Then he sent the rest to a taxidermist in Edmonton. Usually, only Inuit can take part in the draw for the polar bear permits, because the world’s largest land predators are classified as vulnerable. But Shawn’s wife is Inuit, which means she can pass her rights on to her husband.

WOLF HUNTS AND FISHING

The polar bear rug now adorns his main residence. In his not yet finished weekend cabin, our temporary residence, there is a wolf rug. It’s one of several wolves Shawn has shot over the years. Interestingly, our host is also an expert fisherman despite avoiding all seafood. He’s caught dozens of Arctic char so far this summer and they are currently air-dried outside our cabin.

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It’s only my second night in the Arctic, but it still feels weird that the sun never sets. Time to go to bed now. Another big day ahead, tomorrow.