Justine’s Blog

The wind blew our tent all night and we thought maybe we’d have the same following sea as last evening but alas the SW forecast came true and we battled into 20 knots making about 2-2.5 knots progress. It wasn’t enough to motivate us to keep going and we stopped after only about 6 nautical miles. The prospect a 4 and 6 mile crossing at a snails pace not inspiring us. We landed at a headland 3 hours after HW where the long portage up to the high tide mark was “only” about 400 metres on mostly gravel and stones. It was as good as it was going to get! We didn’t set up the tent at first as it was a beautiful warm, sunny day and we hoped the wind might drop later so we could paddle on. We went for an explore of the tundra and found lots of carribou scat and fur and a dusting of tiny flowers. As the sea went out further we marveled at the massive power of the tides. It was windy enough that we hadn’t seen any mosquitos for 24 hours but as soon as we decided to sit in a rock and enjoy
the sunshine, they appeared in a swarm around us. The wind still felt like 10-15 knots but it must have dropped enough for the hardy Arctic stinging machine to tolerate. As gusts came, the mossies disappeared but with every lull they gathered forces and returned en masse with the sole mission of funding any tiny millimetre of exposed flesh. We rallied our defences and braved the battlefield for a while longer. Then suddenly in an instant the wind swung round to the North West and intensified. I went from hot to needing 2 jackets and a wooly hat in 5 seconds. The only saving grace was that we never saw another mossie for the rest of the evening.

We cooked udon noodle soup with homemade deer jerky, filtered some water from a nearby pond and watched with admiration, and then alarm, as the sea came further and further up that beach towards us. JF quickly studied the tide tables. It was almost 2 hours until high water and we could expect it to rise another 1.5 metres. Oh dear! We reluctantly moved the tent, kayaks and pack alarm to higher ground, This time going above the highest grounded iceberg! Its now 45 minutes before high water and would be under a foot of water eighty now if we hasn’t moved! Its a learning process and a grand adventure.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Today was the first day that the tide receded 3 miles from the shore in places. The tidal range in the bay of Ungava is up to 17 vertical metres, so we were quite lucky that today where we are it was merely just over 10 metres! The best news was that the low tide was 2.7 metres higher than a really low tide here so the sea didn’t disappear quite so far from the coast as it might. This limited the distance we had to paddle around alk the reefs and meant we were only about 3 miles from land at our furthest. Still we didnt fancy a 3 mile carry with the kayaks so we played a tactical game and paddled from high water at 8.20am until 2 hours before the next HW. We landed on an offshore island at 7pm after about 25 nautical miles or so. It was a lovely day, which started with a light headwind, just enough to keep the bugs away. The middle third was calm and the last few hours a trail wind picked up and we whooped and surfed.

Once we left the Koksoak river we headed for some offshore islands to avoid getting caught inland in a drying pout bay. It looked like the low rocky islands were less than a mile away with some large looking waves breaking around them. That seemed strange in the small sea state and finally we realised it was ice caught on the rocks. 90 minutes later we arrived, realizing our sense of scale here needed modifying. We landed for lunch, noting that the sea and air temperature is significantly colder on the sea and further north. I was chilled pretty quickly. It was a beautiful island with lots of terns, eiders and other birds making it home and car size and bigger icebergs caught on the rocks. We climbed to the high point and saw Rocks everywhere inside the islands , there was guaranteed way through so we continued on the outside, skirting the reefs and small islands, admiring white and blue icebergs shimmering on every reef and shallow rock. It felt great to be getting to know that
nuances of a new landscape. Now we are on our rocky island, having eaten a big meal and getting ready to walk to the top of this bigger island to see what lies ahead tomorrow!

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

I'm sat on hard granite_like rock, nestled between crusts of lime green lichen and tufts of yellowish moss. There are no trees and only occasional low shrubs. Fron my vantage point 20 metres up a small rise, I'm watching JF set up our trip wire around the tents and kayaks. Last night, our first under the arctic sky, it proved itself already. At 4am the siren sounded, we heard footsteps in the pools of water that had gathered on the rock during the nights rainfall, JF grabbed the gun and leapt out of the tent with impressive acceleration. I Think it was the siren that scared the dog, or wolf, that was now sprinting away, but it could have been the sight of JF totally naked surrounded by a swarm of hungry mosquitos. Actually I'm using artistic license with the last statement (i.e lying !) At that particular moment, it was windy enough that there were no bugs... but it could have been very different!

Today we started the trip properly - after a d etour back to kuujjuaq to buy toothpaste after ours disappeared. We left at the start of the ebb, bouncing over wind waves with the current, or sometimes smashing down into them, our heavy kayaks loaded with 2 weeks of food losing their momentum. We made quick progress despite the wind and clicked 5 knots for our fastest hour. We just cruised through "the narrows" before the current changed against us and shortly afterwards found a pretty inlet to land in and Camp on a soft carpet of moss and low bushes. It wasn't a long carry with the kayaks although it felt hard enough in the soft mud. It's a beautiful spot in a landscape which are first looks uniform but is infinitely varied when you look closely. All the life is in miniature but its thriving and clings to every rock. We are having a great time.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

JF and i are excited to go to the Arctic for our month long trip in a week! The one thing that scares me ALOT are polar bears! We will have near bangers and all sorts of deterrents

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.