Johnson Bay, Victoria Island, Canada
Day 16 — Friday September 4, 2015
Victoria Island
Victoria Island (or Kitlineq) straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. The island is named after Queen Victoria, the Canadian sovereign from 1867 to 1901 and Prince Albert Sound is named after her consort. It is the eighth largest island in the world, and at 217,291 square kilometres it is Canada's second largest island, nearly double the size of Newfoundland at 111,390 square kilometres and slightly larger than the island of Great Britain at 209,331 square kilometres. The Inuvik region was created in the early 1970s by the territorial government and was formerly part of Mackenzie and Franklin districts. The nineteenth century whalers seldom penetrated this far east, and consequently the explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson (a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist born in Manitoba) was the first qallunaaq, or white man, to visit the Copper Inuit people on the west side of Victoria Island in 1911. The northwestern part of the island is mainly composed of the Shaler Mountains, the peaks of which reach above six hundred metres. The steep cliffs and bluffs are home to a wide variety of animals and birds including musk ox, caribou, and polar bear.
Victoria Island
Victoria Island (or Kitlineq) straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. The island is named after Queen Victoria, the Canadian sovereign from 1867 to 1901 and Prince Albert Sound is named after her consort. It is the eighth largest island in the world, and at 217,291 square kilometres it is Canada's second largest island, nearly double the size of Newfoundland at 111,390 square kilometres and slightly larger than the island of Great Britain at 209,331 square kilometres. The Inuvik region was created in the early 1970s by the territorial government and was formerly part of Mackenzie and Franklin districts. The nineteenth century whalers seldom penetrated this far east, and consequently the explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson (a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist born in Manitoba) was the first qallunaaq, or white man, to visit the Copper Inuit people on the west side of Victoria Island in 1911. The northwestern part of the island is mainly composed of the Shaler Mountains, the peaks of which reach above six hundred metres. The steep cliffs and bluffs are home to a wide variety of animals and birds including musk ox, caribou, and polar bear.
Inuktitut word of the day:
Isiqtittinasuaqtuq! Isiqtittijuq! — He shoots! He scores!
Isiqtittinasuaqtuq! Isiqtittijuq! — He shoots! He scores!
"Beauty and grace are
performed whether or not we
will or sense them. The least we
can do is try to be there."
Sauna hours: 0630-1200 & 1700-2300
—Annie Dillard
Our last full day in the Arctic (or at least this was supposed to be our last full day in the Arctic - see next post). A pretty spot and a nice place to do some rambling within the polar bear perimeter. There is a hunters camp, a polar bear rock carving (the archaeologists say it is more recent, but impressive nonetheless), and a fresh bear track that greets us as we come ashore (James Halfpenny later decides it is a grizzly track, not a polar bear track - grizzly can be this far north in the western Arctic, not in the eastern Arctic). I'm one of the last folks back to the ship soaking in the ambience of the Arctic one last time.
Our last full day in the Arctic (or at least this was supposed to be our last full day in the Arctic - see next post). A pretty spot and a nice place to do some rambling within the polar bear perimeter. There is a hunters camp, a polar bear rock carving (the archaeologists say it is more recent, but impressive nonetheless), and a fresh bear track that greets us as we come ashore (James Halfpenny later decides it is a grizzly track, not a polar bear track - grizzly can be this far north in the western Arctic, not in the eastern Arctic). I'm one of the last folks back to the ship soaking in the ambience of the Arctic one last time.
Arctic early morning
Arctic early morning
Dr. Halfpenny pointing out and interpreting the grizzly tracks
Grizzly track on the beach
Hunters camp
Polar bear carving
Charlotte (owners little girl) and her babysitter (owner's cousin)
unidentified staff member and assistant expedition leader Chris
Charlotte (owners little girl) and her babysitter (owner's cousin)
Cookie (retired Canadian lawyer and amazing wilderness adventurer with her friend Gloria) and some of her Arctic paintings
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