Introduction

Cambridge Bay out in the distance

Well, it has been exactly four weeks since I have arrived here in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. A northern town of about 1700 people, although this number is rapidly increasing due to numerous projects that are undergoing up here. The twon is located at latitude 69 degrees north and longitude 105 degrees west, which makes it about 800km north of where I was last year, Whale Cove, and one hour of time zone closer to Vancouver. So this latest setting is well above the Arctic Circle, meaning I will get to experience complete darkness in winter and 24 hours of daylight in June. 

My new residence, a newly built 10plex. I live in the top left unit

When I first arrived here in mid August I had difficulty sleeping at nights, but that problem has long been forgotten, as the days got shorter and shorter by roughly about 10 minutes per day. Today's sunset was 7:33, and tomorrow's is going to be 7:28. Soon it will be the complete darkness that may play havoc to my normal daily routines. I haven't really done much of what I used to do in Whale Cove. I spent some time early in the year to organize and catch up with work, which sort of stopped me from doing more of what I was hoping to do. I do however still go for walks, runs, and ocassional attempt at fishing after work.

One of my favourite spots on the tundra, a shallow creek about 45 mins walk from my place

Work has been really kind to me so far. Although yet again I am teaching completely new courses, I find it much easier than anywhere else I have worked so far. I have been assigned to teach accademic science 10, chemistry 11, as well as PE 10-12. I have about 10 students in Sc10 and Chem11 classes, and 20 for my PE class. Most of my students are very polite and eager to learn, which makes my working life so much easier. The PE class was a challenge in the beginning, it is always difficult to get a group of 20 teenagers to take part in activities that they may not find appealing to them. But that has been sorted out with some variety and clarification on some of my expectations. We all get to enjoy the PE sessions. We even managed to go for a run the other day. Hopefully I can get some of them ready for the Terry Fox run on Friday afternoon, a return trip of roughly about 6km. 

Kiilinik high school. This is where I work

The bridge, you can see the cemetery in the back ground.

As with other places, I have gotten involved with the after school activities now that days are considerably shorter. Once again I am helping out with Ping Pong, and Soccer. Our school has a good girl's soccer program and as soon as they heard I liked soccer, the players asked me to run organized practice sessions. We have had a few sessions already, and I am very impressed with their skill and athletism. I am sure we can challenge some much larger communities in upcoming competition. Who knows, they may even challenge for the territorial championship. As for Ping Pong, the interest is not as much it was in Whale Cove. We have three nice tables, and about 18 kids who take part in training for the mid October competition in Iqaluit. Last year's competion was great, and I hope this year kids will have even more fun. Sadly, I must mention that one of my most skilled Ping Pong players from Whale Cove had drowned over the summer. It will be difficult to go to the competition and not see him there. He was such a great young man, so into making friends and playing Ping Pong.

A central road in Cambrideg Bay. No more dust, as roads are freezing already!

After school fishing and hunting outings haven't been as fruitful as I was hoping either. I was expecting to have my freezer filled with fish and geese/ducks by now. But have not much to show for other than a Greenland cod, a lake char, a lake trout, and a Canada goose. To be fair, there weren't many geese up here, and those that were around, were too close to town to shoot. The fish, especially chars are very hard to catch also. When I started fishing for them, they were heading up river to the lake for the winter, and would not bite. The lake itself is about 2 hours walk from the town. It is very large, but shallow from from the shore. Could not find a place where it would be deep enough off a rock or a sharp drop off. Hence caught only one lake trout and a char!

My one and only lake trout of the high arctic

I am not posting a photo of the char, as it was not worth showing it off. Fisherman's pride, eh! While fishing for chars in the bay, before they headed up river, I did manage to catch a Greenland cod. It is a good fish for fish and chips, I suppose, but not high on my or anyone's list of fish to eat up here. I fillet and fried it fresh. It was very white and flakey, but with little taste. I enjoyed eating it with the help of some spices and of course fresh lime.  

Greenland cod

So the lack of protein from the water or sky forced me to try arctic hare for a change. There are lots around here, but you need to get lucky in order to spot one. They usually move about in the evenings and at nights, so unless you walk right by them, you wont have a chance of spotting one. I caught, the term used by inuits for things they hunt, one on my second weekend here and another about a week ago. They are pretty large; the first one I caught was about 10 pounds or more. And they taste good as well. I saw two of them while retrieving a goos I had shot, I guess they were spooked by the sound of the gun, but decided against catching them. I promised only hunt more hares when I am absolutely desperate for variety in my protein diet.

Cleaning the arctic hare. It was all white, winter can't be far off now!

My one and only Canada goose of the high arctic

As for camping and outdoor activities of worth writing about, only one so far. I along with two other colleagues headed out for a two-hour drive to a place called Starvation cove. We were lucky to be able to drive our ATV's on the shore all the way to our destination. It can get tricky at times, as the tide may make it difficult to get there on most days. It was such a beautiful and relatively easy drive.

Our highway to Starvation cove

The place is known for red coloured rocks, and of course fishing, ironic considering it is called Starvation cove! The rocks were there, but no luck with fish, as locals had correctly informed me of earlier. All the chars were already swimming up river to their winter lakes. So I didn't catch any fish. There were only two or three flocks of geese that showed up in the area, but none close enough to get a shot at. The view however was amazing. We set up camp right on the beach. 

Our tents on the beach at Starvation cove

We parked our ATV's to surround our tent on three sides for a bit of protection from tundra grizzlies. We did store our food about a hundred metres away, but again you can never be too careful when out in the wild. Unlike coastal grizzlies, their tundra cousins have a more aggressive reputation. I guess it all has to do with scarcity of food up here. I am told they do hunt caribous regularly, so that makes them a bit more dangerous. Locals warn me of wolves and tundra grizzlies. Although I have yet to see either, I have seen wolf tracks all over the tundra when I am out and about. But strangely enough on my first day, in fact my first hour up here, I was lucky enough to see a magnificent muskox. 

Heading back from Starvation cove

I was out on a drive with our kind vice principal, principal, and another teacher to get a tour of the area when I suddenly spotted it right on top of a mount by the bridge. It was a lone male, perhaps a dominant male that had been dethroned by another bull. It was just walking down the hill to the shallow creek for some fresh grass. I was hoping that would be sign of things to come, but was reminded that this was a rare occurrence. This was the first time in two years since there was a muskox so close to town. However I was told that there will be plenty of caribous and muskox later in the fall, but of course not so close to town. I'll have to ask around as to when and where caribous are spotted, so I can catch one for the long winter ahead. As I know I wont be able to catch anything when it is too cold. I don't feel ready for hunting in arctic winter just yet, perhaps with a few more years under my belt.  

Frozen rock in early September

I have decided to venture out on weekends for as long as I can survive the cold. This afternoon I headed out despite the 30km/hr wind and -3 temperature which the wind made it feel much colder. It took me two hours to walk to the lake. I fished at different spots for about an hour, lost two expensive lures, and then walked for two hours back. The wind made it very difficult to cast, and not to forget, very cold. On the way back I decided to follow a different path that took me to the creek. I was surprised to see it completely frozen, but then again it made the crossing a bit easier.

Frozen creek, September

Windy and cold day out on the tundra. Look at the tire swinging so high!

The tundra was quiet, except for the howling wind. No more geese, ducks, swans, cranes. No birds but some seagulls, snow birds, and of course the Ravens. Seagulls and snow birds will be gone soon as well, but the ravens are here for the winter. Incredible! I always find it sad when the hustle and bustle of migrating birds ends. And very warming when they return in spring.

My toys out on the tundra

So what is my over all impression of Cambridge Bay? Although still early, I find it less authentic and genuine than Whale Cove. Here is a place that is in a hurry to become a big town. There are many non-inuits up here (like me) which may eventually make it like any other booming northern destination. Something which I hope doesn't happen anytime soon. There are lots of businesses up here that are owned and operated by southerners. The best analogy for me would be comparing it to a northern town in the midst of a gold rush of a centry ago. Many are here to get rich in a hurry! 

Ice and snow in August. That snow survived the 24 hour daylight all through spring and summer, amazing!

You may wave at cars and ATV's without getting a wave back. It makes sense, as there are lots of new faces arriving everyday. I have no doubt that once I reach out and make more local friends, I would find it somewhat similar to Whale Cove. I have found all inuits very welcoming and generous with their friendship once they realize that my motives are not same as that of many other southerners who come up to their towns. If you embrace their way of life, if you show interest in learning their rich culture, then you'll have the most amazing experience. Something which I intent to and look forward to. Quana!

Me in my elements!