I was in denial when the alarm went off at 4am. 5 and a half hours sleep wasn't enough. I like to get 8 hours a night on a trip where possible. I find my body receivers pretty well from a long days paddling if I get enough rest. It was bitterly cold outside and still windy, although a bit less than 10 knots and less of a sea state, so not enough excuse to turn over and go back to sleep. We launched around 5.10 and our first 3-4km crossing to the mainland seemed to take forever. At our progress of about 4km per hour, it would take non stop paddling until 7pm to reach Salluit. Not a happy prospect. At least the scenery was beautiful, high craggy mountains and lots of wide green valleys with rivers snaking their way down to the sea.

Luckily the wind gradually dropped, the sea calmed and our speed increased. The sun came out and my thermometer went from 5 degrees to 23! Its hard to choose how many layers to put on in the morning here!

W e finally turned left down the inlet where Salluit is and paddled 15km to the community of over 1000 people. We passed a group of at least half a dozen seals fishing in a group, surrounded by an eager group of seagulls. This was 30 minutes after a boat passed us looking for seals to hunt.

A colorful collection of houses finally came into view, with a few cars and quad bikes speeding along the roads. We landed and JF went on a reconnaissance. He came back in a car 20 minutes later. Some kind people had driven him to the supermarket, postoffice and airport, the 3 places we needed to check out. Sonia then turned up and offered us use of her internet to try to sell the kayaks. Her generosity kept increasing and we will go to stay with her tomorrow night, have a shower, wash our clothes and use hey place as a base to organise things. She'll drop us at the airport in 2 days. Peoples generosity is amazing. Thank you.

For tonight, we've paddled 1km out of tow n to a lovely headland for one last night camping in the Arctic wilderness, or near enough. JF is fishing of the point, hoping for one last arctic char. It's been a grand adventure in a place I had never considered visiting. Massive thanks to Pierro, JFs brother, for the flight tickets with Air Inuit and for all his help with logistics. He even flew over us as we approached Quaqtaq and saw us from the plane! thanks a lot to Karel for sending us weather forecasts (kayakweather. Com) and to all the other people who helped us beforehand and along the way. I'll write more later, its time to enjoy our last evening now.

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