Northwest Passage Expedition – daily update 27 July

FIRST SHOWER SINCE ARRIVAL

The day started with me having my first shower in four and a half days. So far I had either gone for swims or at least washed myself in the ocean. This fine morning I drove to town and used the shower in the small B&B room we were renting there for the expedition. It didn’t feel like something great that I had been craving badly for days. Washing myself in the sea is not unpleasant albeit cold.

THE CREW OF RESEARCH SHIP MARTIN BERGMANN

When back at the cabin, we started preparations for Hermione’s launch. A short while later the crew of research ship the Martin Bergmann arrived.

LAST-MINUTE LAUNCH PREPARATIONS

I let the pros go about their business and assisted Art a bit with the setting-up of his cameras and GoPros. After about an hour of careful preparations and meticulous planning we were ready to push and pull the boat down the launch slide.

PULLING…

Shawn was some 20m off the pebble beach with his motor boat, pulling Hermione as hard as possible via a long rope.

(c) Art Huseonica, left photo above, right photo above and feature photo

…AND PUSHING

We didn’t even use any of the vehicles to push the boat, as initially planned, but just placed ourselves on both sides alongside the hull and started pulling forward and wiggling up and down in order to start the momentum that would get the old lady to slide into the water. After all the worries and complex considerations that had been had, it all ended up surprisingly straightforward and easy.

 

A HUGE RELIEF

Thank heavens for that. It could have all ended up a right mess if the boat would have completely tipped over to one side and hit one of the large boulders, or if it would have entered the sea at too steep an angle and crashed full-on into one of the submerged rocks.

TWO GIANT CHARS

Some of the Bergmann crew, encouraged by Shawn, helped themselves to two huge chars from the fishnet, gutted and filleted them right there. One of them cleaned the raw roe in the sea and devoured it right there and with gusto.

GULLS AND JAEGERS

There were some seagulls and some parasitic jaegers, also called shitty hawks by locals.

STORIES OF ADVENTURE

We all went back to Shawn’s cabin and spent a couple of hours telling stories of adventures past and discussing all types of topics. The research ship crew naturally had lots of interesting insights into the exotic Arctic flora and fauna.

TALKATIVE ORCAS VS QUIET KILLER WHALES

Among a million other things we learned that orcas who hunt seals don’t talk much with each other during the hunt, because seals would be alerted to them. Orcas who chase fish like sharks talk plenty during their hunt. And who knew that transient killer whales and resident killer whales have absolutely no dealings with each other and have entirely different hunting habits and behaviours. Some scientists have recently provided evidence that suggests, the two types of orca are indeed entirely different species.

DELICIOUS DINNER

Dinner was delicious and plentiful. Some stewed moose ribs prepared by Shawn, some grilled elk cubes on skewers, salmon steaks, vegetables, bread, and the remainder of the 6 or 7 litres of chili con carne I had prepared a couple of days ago. Perhaps the most fun evening so far. We are all looking forward to meeting the Bergmann crew again soon in Cambridge Bay, when we are supposed to visit them with Hermione on their ship, just to say hi.

For tomorrow’s post click here.