Tokimata's Travels

Cambridge Bay is about twice the population of Tuktoyaktuk (roughly 1400 vs 700 people) but is much more of a "southern town" with lots of industrial activity and many workers passing through it as a staging post to other arctic outposts. There is still a significant Inuit presence but not the 99% of Tuk. We anchored off the beach as the small dock was taken up by a research boat and large very smart British flagged sailboat with a Polish crew - called "Catharsis II". "Upchuck" and "Tranquilo" had left Friday morning and we spoke on the radio to both boats as they passed us heading out of the bay. It was Friday afternoon and we were told by Kim on "Sol" that fuel orders had to be in by 3pm and there was nothing more until Monday. So we hastily went ashore with 8 jerry cans after filling our main tanks and got the fuel truck to come down to the beach to fill them, and also got a propane tank exchanged for a full one. Diesel was actually cheaper than Tuk which reflects the size of the place.

We then motored a mile up the bay to the eastern arm and anchored close to shore to get some shelter from the strong SE winds that were building and due to stay for a couple of days. We were anchored a few hundred metres from the wreck of the "Maud" - the wooden hulled vessel that Amundsen used to sail the Northeast Passage (across the top of Russia) some years after he did the first Northwest Passage in the boat "Gjoa". His boat had been bought by the Hudson Bay company and then sank at its moorings some years later. Part of the wreck sits a above water and below one can see the remains of the deck, anchor gear, engine etc through the clear water. The Canadian Government has given permission for a Norwegian group to raise the wreck and take it back to Norway to be restored and displayed. The organiser of the group was on shore building a large stone cairn to mark the spot where the Maud lay before it get taken away next year. He apparently asked Kim on Sol to move his boat so that their photos of the Maud didn't have a Danish flag flying in the background - Kim declined in no uncertain terms! The Danes take their flags very seriously and we think that suggestion did not go down so well!

Tuktoyaktuk was a "dry" town where no sale of alcohol is permitted by agreement of the local community. This is to prevent ,any of the social problems that have arisen in Inuit communities where alcohol is freely available. Cambridge Bay is a little less strict as one "club" is permitted to serve alcohol to members once a week, but there is no alcohol for sale in the stores. We were invited to the Friday "steak night" at the club and signed in by some members. A reporter from Yellowknife joined us at our table and we learnt that the Canadian Prime Minister Harper is due in town on Wednesday or Thursday as part of an arctic tour and that there is due to be some big announcement about British explorer Franklin's lost ships the "Erebus" and "Terror". Since Franklin's ship were beset by ice and then abandoned near King William Island around 1848, the fate of the expedition has been a mystery. (We are presently reading a recent book lent us by Sol, which argues that their key problem was botulism poisoning from poorly canned food). All 150 odd crew and officers perished - many trying to march south to the mainland dragging heavy ships boats and equipment. So perhaps the Parks Canada archeologists have discovered the wrecks of the ships - they have been searching for years. We will pass right through the area where Franklin was stranded.

Canada is pouring resources into the arctic. According to one view (expressed to us in Cambridge Bay) this is part of a political strategy by the Harper government to make global warming an arctic issue (hence too they argued, the many scientists at Hershel Island). This deflects attention from the belching tar sands for example in Alberta, and is intended to downplay the global nature of the problem. The Harper government has renounced its commitment to the Kyoto protocol and Canada is now an environmental pariah on the world stage, reminding us of how the USA was viewed with Bush at the helm�... some local academics we met at Cambridge Bay rolled their eyes in shame�... such a pity to see Canada refusing to acknowledge, let alone show leadership, on such an important world issue. It certainly seems as if the government sees the arctic as a huge mineral resource, with many mines nearby, and the prosperity of Cambridge Bay is partly due to the fact that so many workers fly-in and fly-out from down south to do a few weeks on at a mine site then fly home for R&R. All day Sunday a Beaver float plane was making flights out of the little bay where were anchored, carrying a couple of drums of fuel and other equipment inside - the cost flying drums of fuel, two at a time to some remote outpost is horrendous and contributes to the energy dependency in itself.

The visitors centre at Cambridge Bay was terrific with helpful staff and free internet - the crew of the previous yachts must have blown their bandwidth allowance as they were reduced dial-up speeds. So it was frustrating trying to upload photos to go with our blog and everything died in the end with just a few photos and no captions successfully uploaded. Thanks to those who have commented on the blog - although we can make a blog post from the boat, we cannot read comments or load photos and it may be a while before we get internet again - so you'll just have to imagine the vast open spaces, amazing wildlife and interesting people!

We left Cambridge Bay on Sunday evening after the strong winds died down and rode a northeasterly breeze out of the bay and down Queen Maud Gulf. Sol left with us. At the moment the thick pack ice is still blocking both Victoria Strait and James Ross Strait - the two routes north around either side of King William Island - about 100 miles from here. We would like to go through Victoria Strait and up the north west coast of King William Island to see some of the places where the Franklin expedition struggled south. But it depends if the strong SE winds of the last few days have blown the ice far enough fro shore for us to get through.

Right now we're heading up Victoria Strait after passing through Icebreaker Channel - Rach has been sitting on the bow mending a rip in our genoa and got seriously cold! We're expecting to reach ice again shortly and hopefully sneak around the top of King WIlliam Island.