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Expedition Update - Aug 14 - Cruising off Cumberland Island
What a day! The team woke to the sound of the Polar Ambassador breaking sea ice. It was all hands on deck, as the students rushed into warm clothes and out onto deck to watch the spectacle. While the students were enjoying a speedy breakfast, the Captain was expertly positioning the ship at the edge of the ice floe, so that the crew could lower the zodiacs into the water for a cruise.
The team spent the rest of the morning cruising through a veritable iceberg garden - and even had a very rare spotting of a Bowhead Whale - blowing in the pack ice. Their first bowhead of the journey. Much of this journey was spent discussing the plight of the Bowhead in Canadian waters. North of here - too far for the SOI team to reach on this expedition - lies Isabella Bay - a critical summer habitat for the
eastern Arctic population of Bowhead Whales. The community of Clyde River
proposed designating Isabella Bay a wildlife reserve for the protection of the
Bowhead Whale and its habitat. Negotiations are slow, but ongoing. (Participants were told afternoon about a letter writing campaign to help secure this designation - watch your mailbox Stephen Harper!)
Then it was back on board the ship for lunch followed by an... Arctic swim! The crew lowered the gangway and many, many brave souls leapt into the water for a quick 3 second dip! After being helped (hauled) out of the water by staff and crew at the foot of the gangway, participants were wrapped in towels and marched off for a mandatory hot chocolate infusin.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with workshops and lectures addressing Arctic conservation.
Participant Journals
From: Vanessa Totalik
We have had cold, wet, sunny, and cloudy days in the past two weeks and I have seen a lot of animals that I had not seen before like polar bears, orcas, and others animals….
I have met a lot of students and chaperones on the trip. From the Russian students I learnt phrases like thank you, ‘you’re welcome’ and ‘crazy.’ I have taught some students to speak some Inuktitut and throat singing. It made me happy that they had so much fun learning. The best part about this trip has been going to places I have never been before like Kimmirut, Pangnirtung and Iqaluit. I can’t wait to tell my school about this expedition and tell them about a lot of things they didn’t know before about the Arctic. I had a lot of fun in the last two weeks and it was great to meet new people from around the world.
From: Katrina Adams
So far, this trip has been an experience of a lifetime, and with only a day and a half left, I am starting to feel sad that soon I am going to disembark the Orlova and say goodbye to all my new friends. But I am not going to think about that now.
This morning we were in some pack ice, hopped into the zodiacs and explored the edge of the ice. It was really neat to see the different shapes of the ice; we saw dragons, polar bears, turtles and many more in the icebergs. In the distance we also saw the blow of bowhead whale!!!! It did not last very long but it was amazing while it lasted! So long for now, I am going to enjoy the last few days of this amazing expedition!!
From: Omar Beg
Being one of the last days, today was a great day, but surrounded by the sadness of the nearing end. We finally got into some ice, had a nice zodiac cruise through it and some of us also witnessed a bowhead spray from its blow hole!
Today many of the students had their wish fulfilled, going swimming (a dip more likely) in the Arctic Ocean! I wasn’t going to go at the beginning, I was videotaping everyone going down the gangway, but as soon as I saw a girl going down who couldn’t swim, like me (with a life jacket), I decided to go too! After swimming we had a nice chill, had lunch and then went to a workshop. Then we had a session on leadership and how we were going to spread our experience back at home continued by a letter to ourselves. Then we had our daily recap with pretty neat photos of today’s swim, dinner and a music session with Jim. Lovely day!
 From: Carol Francis
I am a swimmer. I swim a lot in very cold water, so the thought of jumping into the sea today did not really perturb me. However, the spectre of jumping off the side of the boat, from the gangway, with cameras flashing, nearly stopped me. I have had a tough six months watching a sister-in-law go through the last stages of diabetes, and one result was an extra fifteen pounds that I was not eager to show off to the world. But the main reason I was so scared was getting back onto the ship. I have a titanium rod in my right arm after a bad break, and two surgeries to fix the screws in the shoulder and arm, plus I broke my right clavicle a year ago. I call it my wounded wing, and I was really scared I would not be able to climb back onto the ship with any sense of grace. The image of a white beluga whale was close to what I thought I would look like…
So I was standing on Deck 6, near tears for missing my chance to make the Arctic Swim Team, and I slowly got into the laughter and camaraderie. Much younger people in varying physical conditions and shapes were getting all sorts of cheers and support for making this drastic plunge into the sea. Mind you, the ship was not far away from the pack ice we visited by zodiac this morning, and there were all sorts of ice bits floating around. And literally the whole ship was watching, even the crew.
What saved me was watching the crew get into the act, and start jumping into the water also. When the redhead who works in the bar jumped, all of the sudden I knew I could do it. So I raced down and changed into my suit, pulling my Students on Ice white t-shirt over the suit. At least I would make it down the gangway with some grace… Then I waited in line with the other staff taking the plunge. 
Finally it was my turn, and I walked down the gangway. I knew I would do a lifeguard leap, as it would hold me near the surface, and I nailed it, not even getting the top of my hair wet. The water felt good. I like cold water, crazy as that sounds. Now I was in for the hard part, back to the ship with Diz helping me along. She and Geoff knew how scared I was and gave me both moral and physical support. The two crew members on the gangway grabbed my arms, but I had trouble getting my feet up to help climb out. How I made it, I really do not know, but I was suddenly standing on the gangway ready to climb back up, amid cheering. It was not a graceful landing, but it worked. Wow!!
What I learned is that sometimes it is just best to push myself through a fearful situation and go for it. I knew I would be horribly disappointed in myself missing the Arctic Swim Team, having made the team on the previous trip to the Arctic, and swimming in Antarctica on two prior trips. Let me clarify that. You do not really swim, but rather hop in the water and then levitate back out, screaming if you walk in from shore, as quickly as possibly. I did not even have time to scream today, as I was so intent on getting back on the ship with whatever grace I could muster. And afterwards one of the other women my age said I had really been inspirational to her, taking the plunge. At 58, I was the oldest person hitting the water today, by quite a bit. I am a happy camper tonight.
From: Colleen Alkalay-Houlihan
Yesterday morning we crossed the Arctic Circle at 7:45 am and this morning we found sea ice, which we’d been looking for since day one. After breakfast we got out in the zodiacs and cruised right up to the 9/10 ice (almost solid ice, but with some gaps of water in between). You might be wondering what else we could have done today that could involve something even colder than frozen sea feet away from our zodiacs, so here it is: We jumped into -1°C seawater! I could feel my skin freezing in the few seconds it took me to jump into the water and then swim a few feet back to the gangway for the Russian crew to help me back up. I was shivering and shaking after, wow!
Most of the students decided to participate in this polar dip, along with many of the staff and crew, and so, as we went one at a time, it took a while for us to all finish. Geoff and Diz were there with the zodiac and a lifesaving ring in case something happened but we all got out safe and sound (but freezing). Dr. Paul was ready with a dry towel as soon as we stepped off the gangway, which really helped—it was definitely a team effort.
From: Connor Jessup
TODAY WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!! We did so much and saw so much that was not only eye boggling but made me think as well. SOI woke up this morning to a ship surrounded by sea ice!! There were mini-icebergs everywhere!!! As we sailed further and further into Hoar Bay (a bay on the eastern coast of Baffin Island that we had sailed to last night) the ice started getting more compacted and harder to sail through. Eventually we reached 10:10 ice (100% ice, 0% water) and the boat had to stop. The next little while was spent looking at the beauty and magnificence of our frozen landscape. It finally hit me that this was what was in danger; this was what was at risk because of humans. The thought that ran through my mind at that time was, “what right do we have? Who gave us the right to destroy?” I couldn’t imagine this bay without the splendour of the ice. This is one of many amazing things that humans are unknowingly changing. It is hard to see so much beauty and bear the thought that the next generation might never witness it. 
After a while of a frightening yet sometimes hopeful daydream about the future I was awakened by the announcement over the PA system that we were going to be making an hour long Zodiac cruise through the ice. I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs. When I finally boarded a Zodiac I had an excitement welling up inside me. The next hour was amazing. A calm silence fell over everybody. It was like everybody knew without communicating that we were somehow guests in somebody else’s home. About halfway into the cruise we saw the distinctive spouts of water coming from the blowhole of a Bowhead whale. Unfortunately we never saw the actual mammal.
We were all upset to go back to the ship, that is until we found out that we were going to go swimming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were going to join the Arctic Swim Team. The gangway (a stairway that leads to the water) was lowered and one by one we jumped into the small patch of open water that was completely surrounded by ice. When I hit the water it felt like a baseball bat had just hit me in the stomach, all the wind was knocked out of me. That was only for a short while though. As soon as I climbed onto the gangway I felt great (cold, but great). It felt like I had had a cold shower after a 13-year-long hike. We (later) found out that the water temperature at that time had been -1oC. That is roughly 3o away from the freezing point of salt water. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
The rest of the day was great. I was still on the adrenaline rush from swimming. We had workshops on conservation strategies and we talked about our experiences on the expedition.
At the end of the evening we listened to and watched songs/art/poems that students had written/drawn while on board. It was a funny yet emotional night because tomorrow is our last day on board the ship. After that we fly home from Iqualuit.
From: Mary Simon
Only 2 more days left on our Arctic Expedition. It seems like yesterday that we left Ottawa. Today we are in the ice. This is the first pack ice we have seen except for the odd iceberg.
I can remember when I was growing up, as soon as there was a strong north wind the sea ice would blow to the shore or around the islands and sometimes we could not travel because the ice was so dense. We would have to wait for the wind to change direction and sometimes it took days for that to happen. We would just enjoy being on the islands and would find all kinds of things to do, like looking for eggs, picking mussels, digging for clams, gathering kelp, or just playing on the rocks and going hiking. When our parents were not looking we would jump across the ice panes along the shore and once in a while we got soaking wet and then we would get caught by the adults at the camp. It was fun! And this trip is fun too!
From: Vicky Saunders
Today in the morning we went on a Zodiac cruise, looking at the ice; there was lots of sea ice and icebergs around Baffin Island. After our Zodiac trip we went back to the ship and had lunch in the dinning room. Next, we had a lecture in the lounge and after that we had free time. After this, we had a workshop with Stephen in the lounge. At this workshop we talked about the global, community and human environmental problems.
Stay tuned for more! |
