Missed yesterday’s post? Click here.
Got up at 4:30am to get some admin done. Everyone was busy when they got up. So no one cared about making or eating breakfast. At 11am Leven arrived. The initial plan had been to get the remainder of Art’s and my stuff onto Hermione. Mike was going to join Leven at the B&B, before we would all meet our hosts Shawn and Patty for lunch, courtesy of the expedition to say thank you for the hospitality.
The first part panned out, but it was decided to reschedule lunch and make it dinner.
Art, Mike and Leven took our hire truck. Shawn kindly offered to drive me, as there wasn’t enough space in our hire truck for 4 passengers and the gear. On our way we passed by the U.S. Canadian joint ‘North Warning System Site’ for one last time. It’s these good folk here who will be the first to know if Putin or Kim Yong Un have had a real bad day and pushed the red button which will end human civilisation. Good for them.
Then we all stopped by the hardware store before returning to Hermione to do some more maintenance and checks.
After we had completed all our tasks, Art made himself comfortable in the stern cabin where he will be staying the next up to 100 nights.
Mike & I decided to walk to Old Town on the other side of the local river’s estuary. We encountered two huge, rather scary-looking husky mixed breeds, freely roaming around, about 5mins apart from each other. Mike & I didn’t know what to expect but stocked up on rocks which we would have been prepared to throw at the dogs if required. Luckily one of them stayed on the other side and ignored us. The other one came very close and gave us a grumpy look, but left it at that.
Mike then had the idea to free our journey from unsolicited close husky encounters and to make it faster, by hitching a ride to Old Town. The first truck that passed, driven by an Inuit lady with her daughter on the passenger seat, let us hop onto their loading deck. We were dropped off at the river bridge near the graveyard, then walked the last few metres from there.
Apart from a few minuscule rectangular remainders of building foundations and a lot of rubble plus a neat “Stone Tower” (just above the boat) there was not a ton to see. Mike spotted a nice Inuit human sculpture on a rock.
At 4pm we all went to the B&B again to get more admin done, then at 5:30pm we met up with Shawn, Patty and their two daughters for dinner. I was hungry, so ordered the family-sized meat fest pizza with extra cheese. Everyone was very happy with their food. There was a fair bit of banter and laughter and promises to meet again.
After dinner, Art & I were dropped off at Hermione, while Mike and Leven went back to the B&B.
Art went straight to bed, while I explored the part of New Town that revolves around the former Hudson Bay Company trading post, including a prison and the police station. Adjacent to this area is an art studio with lots of fun exhibits. My favourite was a ski-doo lowrider.
Around 8pm I got ready to go to bed, too, when I heard a lady’s voice from the pier, “Excuse me, may I ask you a question?” Turns out that it was Sunniva Hiti (Sunniva Sorby), an adventurer from Vancouver with Norwegian roots, who, among many other things, has skied to the South Pole and used to live in one of Ellie’s and my absolute favourite destinations, Spitsbergen/Svalbard for six years.
We had a real nice long chat. Sunniva, if I understand correctly, is leading a group of children and young people, who will go on a tour of part of the Northwest Passage in small motorboats. That evening, she was accompanied by an Inuit lady and two of her three triplets. The kids looked so keen to join our expedition, there absolutely cannot be any doubt that they will be great explorers one day.
About half an hour after Sunniva had left, her two buddies Hilde and Laura rocked up. Hilde is part of Sunniva’s team, Laura is a photographer who will stay with Sunniva’s team for a few days, then fly to Inuvik via Yellowknife to join a party who will travel along the Northwest Passage Eastward by boat, so there is a chance we might bump into her again on the water later this month.
At around 9:30pm I finally got into my sleeping bag on board of Hermione. The stern (back) cabin sees Leven and Art sleeping on the floor. However, the bow (front) cabin where Mike and I sleep, involves two coffin-like holes whose opening on the short side is inside the cabin. However the rest of the hole is under the deck, so only your head reaches into the proper part of the cabin.
The hole is so narrow that a big guy like me doesn’t have space for all the layers he brought. Equally no space for the Arctic sleeping mat I brought, only two layers of standard half-inch (1.25cm) thick mats. I am unable to move much, once inside. I only fit if lying on my back or stomach, but not sleeping on the side. No complaints. I knew this wasn’t going to be 5-star.
At around 3:30pm I woke up from the noise some two dozen Inuit kids aged 8 to 12 were making. They had climbed on board of the Bergmann and were clearly planning on jumping onto Hermione from the bigger vessel. I had to get out of my sleeping bag, put on my clothes, then chase them off the Bergmann and off the pier. With the sun never setting during the Arctic summer the sleeping patterns of many locals, including kids, is a bit unorthodox.
Can’t wait until tomorrow noon when our expedition will finally start with a row Westward from Cambridge Bay Harbour.
For tomorrow’s post click here.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE EXPEDITION
22 July – LHR to YCB
2 August 2024 (Cambridge Bay to Starvation Bay)
4 August 2024 (Starvation Bay to Wellington Bay)
12 August 2024 (From Wellington Bay 6h further Westward)
15 August 2024 (53mi/96km from Botany Island to Richardson Islands)
18 August 2024 (from Richardson Islands past Marker Islands)
22 August 2024 (23mi/37km Westward from Miles and Nauyan Islands past Lady Franklin Point – extremely tough conditions – ‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE’)
23 August 2024 (Dreadful 10 miles – 12mi/19km – that felt like 100 miles to Douglas Island; welcome committee of two dozen seals)
25 August 2024 (An easy 19mi/31km from Douglas Island to Lambert Island; MS Fridtjoff Nansen passing)
27 August 2024 (An easy 7mi/9km along Lambert Island; yacht Night Owl passing by us)
28 August 2024 (STARTING OUR 64MI/104KM PUSH EARLY; passing Hanseatic Spirit, MS Roald Amundsen, yacht Honshu)
29 August 2024 (Arriving at Cape Hope after 64mi/104km – new team best)
30 August 2024 (EMERGENCY BEACHING at a bay next to Cape Hope)
31 August 2024 (CABIN FLOODED; LEAK FOUND)
Mike’s Poem about our Northwest Passage Expedition
3 September 2024 (REPAIRING HERMIONE)
DETAILS OF LEVEN’S MASTERPIECE: THE PRELIMINARY REPAIR and preparation of the re-launch of Hermione
4 September 2024 (A LOT OF DIGGING and another unsuccessful attempt to refloat the boat)
5 September 2024 (REFLOATING HERMIONE, MOTORING TOWARDS PAULATUK; MILITARY PLANE PASSING)
6 September 2024 (BACK TO ROWING AFTER EMERGENCY MOTOR BREAKS)
8 September 2024 (my 50th birthday; ALMOST CRASHING THE BOAT into rocks; Skynet; a pod of whales)
12 September 2024 (starting our last big push before Paulatuk; RUNNING AGROUND 3X; BIOLUMINESCENCE; Northern lights)
13 September 2024 (ALL HELL BREAKING LOOSE – ALMOST CRASHING INTO CLIFFS)
NORTHERN LIGHTS, 15 September, near Paulatuk
15 September 2024 (REACHING PAULATUK)
16 September 2024 (eating proper food; shower; the good life)
19 September 2024 (flying back home; 5 flights; Breakfast Club at Inuvik Airport)
Stefan will be rowing the Northwest Passage this summer – A little Q&A
Northwest Passage Expedition – Kit List
Trevor’s Travel Trivia IX – The Northwest Passage
My home town’s newspaper, Burghauser Anzeiger, has published an article about the Expedition
Post-expedition Q&As – Coming back from the Arctic after two months
