Baffin: Day 3 and 4 Qikiqtarjuaq and the Auyuittuq park
DAY 3
5:30 am counted for a good night sleep after two days of travel. Early enough to sort out the gear and to try and eliminate unnecessary items; have a shower, and still make the 8am opening of the coffee bar below the hotel.
With no immediate engagement except meeting Vikki, our chef, at 09:30, there was time for a stroll in Iqaluit.
So, with my cappuccino in hand I head towards the bay first. Some nice Canadian canoes and more powerful motor boats are docked in the marina. The waterfront is nice. As it’s early Sunday morning, there are not so many people are around except one local, marching with intent towards the docks, fishing rod in one hand and a rifle in the other. I am too shy to ask what the rifle is for, but I heard later that there was a big hunting party that day where any game was allowed: char, seal, or caribou. Also the rifle is used in Baffin for bear protection. When hunting on water, men and bears compete for the same prey.
Outside from this exciting encounter, Iqaluit downtown confirms the first impression of chaos, big boxy pre-fabs, nothing architecturally attractive, except the new church is in the shape of a massive igloo and the school is just a rectangular but curvy thing with no windows. I ask later to the taxi driver why most public buildings, although massive have so few windows. I’m told it’s because of the weather which can be extremely windy. Less windows means warmer buildings in the winter.
Back in the hotel. I meet Vikki. Get delivery of 15kg of desiccated (freeze-dried) meals which I try to fit in my luggage. And with 30 minutes to spare before meeting Jason and Sonia I head to the Arctic Adventure store to buy a new pen knife and to get my Canadian fishing license.
I forgot to mention. This is a hiking expedition in the Arctic Circle. But this is also the time of the year for the run of the Arctic char.
I could not be here without a fishing rod. In the next two weeks, freshly caught char will be a great alternative to our desiccated (freeze-dried) meals. We’ll see.
I meet the Aussies at 11am. And with not much to do, we spend the next 3 hours just chatting in the hotel and at airport while waiting for our plane for Qikiqtarjuaq. My luggage combined weight is now over 60kg.
But everything is running smoothly. Plane goes on time. All the luggage is on board and after 1 hour we land in Qikiqtarjuaq at 5pm as planned.
The airport is tiny and when we disembark the whole village is there to meet us in the very “contained” terminal hall. The luggage is delivered on carousel 1, meaning by truck on the street directly in front of the tiny airport.
And one half of the village is inside the terminal, the other half is outside: a cacophony of cars, trucks, quad bikes and anything motorized. Our landing is a community event…!
Among the people in our Welcoming Committee is Jeela, the owner of the B&B where we shall spend our last night in luxury; and finally Celine, our guide for the next two weeks and a local resident. We first met Celine in Antarctica. She was our guide on Vinson. We’ll spend the next two weeks in her backyard as she has lived here for 13 years.
The drive to the B&B is less than 5min. It would take 10min to cover the whole of Qikiqtarjuaq or Qik for short.
But this village on Broughton Island on the north side of Baffin is much prettier than Iqaluit. It is a little bay with pretty houses and stunning views of Baffin and its peaks and a community which feels much richer and united.
Once in our B&B, it is pretty much down to business for Celine. Our gear check results in only one t-shirt and 1 underwear allowed for 10 days (I refuse) and nothing bigger than a handkerchief. To be fair by the time we distributed the food, the tent, the cooking gear and oils, our packs are well over 25kg.
Gear organized, it is an arctic char dinner at Celine’s.
To describe Celine’s house would require a full chapter on its own, but let’s say the house is compact. One room downstairs, comprising of all inclusive: internal vegetable garden, the dining space and kitchen, the 3D metal printer and separate knitting positions, a mountain gear room plus annex bathroom, and a mezzanine bedroom accessible via an indoor climbing wall. All this in a cabin of probably 10 sqm. And of course, super eco, with solar panels outside and everything built out of reclaimed materials.
But the food is good and the company as well. A great way to finish day 3.
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DAY 4
05:30am, this time courtesy of Jason and we start day 4.
We are in bear country. So, before being allowed in the park, we need to undergo bear safety training at the Canadian National Park Trust.
The building is only a few minute walk from ours (everywhere in Qik is only a few minutes away). Celine meets us there, helps us sign our life away in the relevant forms and then abandons us to Abigail, one of the park staff, who in a monotone presentation takes us through the Park’s safety rules. After that is the “beware of the bear” video (which sends Jason to sleep) and shows us the option of stay, spray and/or fight for your life if you encounter the bear.
And finally, once Celine has paid for the Park tickets, we’re released from the trust.
And right in time at the end of our training comes Billy, our boat outfitter.
Billy is Inuk, (Inuk is the name for one person: Inuit is used to refer to all the people) a citizen of Qik and also the brother of Jeela our B&B owner. Billy is from a family of 5 brothers and sisters and has 5 children. Jeela also has 5 children. She was the Community Representative and now one of the Inuit elders (BTW, at my age I would qualify as an elder!)
All of this shows how the whole community on Qik is related to each other. And how the nights in winter are very long!!! Seriously, Inuit communities are very tight and one way to preserve the community is to have many children.
It’s 11am and our boat is ready. We stop by the house, collect our luggage and very quickly we are on board in the marina.
A few minutes later Celine is also there after having made sure our spare bags are sent off and ready to be collected at the end of our journey.
The trip from Qik to the Auyuittuq National Park is 80km.
It’s an open boat, and the passage is cold. However, we do this in pretty calm seas and beautiful sunshine. The view of fjords, multiple inlets surrounded by highly vertical and dramatically shaped peaks cascading directly into the sea is surreal. The landscape, a mixture of the Vikings, House of Dragons and the Hobbit.
Unfortunately we cannot see any narwhals, which we are told are local; and there are very few birds around, but the trip is still spectacular.
Billy is a funny man, with plenty of stories. He has travelled the surrounding area (more than 200 square kilometres) in every direction and every kind of vehicle - boat in the summer; skidoo in the winter.
The part of sea we cover is frozen in winter. Through the ice, Qik gets connected to Baffin Island and people travel across in a snowmobile.
We hear about trips to Greenland by boat (Greenland is on the back of Qik, but still 200km away) and of hunting expeditions going as far as 100s km north.
Billy is multi-talented: rides boats, plays the piano and teaches photography. All skills he learned during the long winters. He is also well travelled and tell us the story of when he went for a safari holiday to Kenya. The locals had never met an Inuk. He was treated like a king.
It takes 3 hours to reach the estuary of the Owl River which is also the entrance of the Auyuittuq National Park.
Billy says his goodbyes. The boat is gone. We are on our own.
For the next 10 days, the four of us shall travel 100km, carrying a pack of 25kg on our back. And we shall be pretty much the only humans in this part of the world.
The real adventure begins
