Expedition Update: Kimmirut, Baffin Island
Aug. 8 - Day 7

Click on August 6 to see a behind-the-scenes tour of our expedition ship, led by the expedition's youngest participant, Connor Jessup.

On the August 7 page you'll see some great video of the team's discovery of a pod of orcas in the middle of Hudson Bay.

This morning, after sailing 265 miles overnight from Cape Wolstenholme, the team visited the Inuit community of Kimmirut, located on the southern shore of Baffin Island.

The community welcomed the team with a full and exciting afternoon of activities! As you will see from the journals below, it was a very special visit for all involved. The activities included a visit with local artists, where the students learned about stenciling, sewing and watched a soapstone carving demonstration. At the Akavak Community Centre, everybody had the chance to participate in some Inuit games, tried their hand at some throat singing and drum dancing. They also had the opportunity to sample some prepared bannock and seal meat! At the end of the day, the the team met with a group of elders to discuss the effects of climate change in their region.



Participant Journals!

From: Bali Symenuk

I have been having so much fun lately and have been involved in various different activities. I am helping Steven Price from the WWF with bird sightings and other wildlife sightings as well as assisting Izzy with reporting on the important events from each day for the International Polar Year website. I also wrote an article on the “Jellyfish Hunting” expedition that a few of us undertook yesterday while most people went on a shore landing. It was so interesting and I saw the most fascinating creature I had seen so far on the trip, a small angelic looking zooplankton. Anyway, I have been keeping myself busy and today I saw the first iceberg I had seen on the trip. It has been a trip of many firsts for me! Anyway, the boat is actually rocking today as Hudson Pond has turned back into Hudson Strait. I went to morning yoga today and it was quite funny trying to balance when the ship was rocking so much.

---------------

From: Vicky S.

Today we woke up at 7:30am and then we had breakfast at 8:00am.Then we had a meeting in the forward  Lounge. After lunch we went to Kimmirut, Nunavut. We had a tour of town, went to the Stores (Northern ,Kimmik Coop) and we went to the hills of Kimmirut! It was great going there!  When we were back to the ship we ate supper at 7:30 pm, then after the supper we had our daily briefing.  It was a great day!

---------------

From: Bowen Zhang

Today is really a special day, as it marks the halfway point of the whole expedition. Getting up in the morning, I was informed that there was still a long way to go before we reached our destination—Kimmirut. We thus spent the entire morning on ship and had two productive lectures concerning glaciers and Nunavut knowledge respectively. I think the lectures are very professional and it is knowledge that I seldom learn back home. As a consequence, I feel that I understand a lot more and have become much more interested in the Polar Regions.

After lunch, it was time for us to land at Kimmirut and visit the local community. Inuit children greeted us to the beach of the village as we arrived. People there are connected with nature, and very hospitable. To become more familiar with the village, I talked to an elder man and learned that there are approximately 450 people in the community and that the facilities there are up to date with a television signal, internet links, etc.

Later on the trip, I watched the whole process of skinning and preparing a seal. It was an utterly splendid show and the realization came to me that the process contains special cutting skills and delicate techniques which are seldom seen in daily Chinese life, and that “seal culture” is deeply rooted in the village living philosophy. Visiting the local school was another great spot. The students gave so many amazing performances. It is really amazing when people from different countries communicate together and share their feelings without concealment. Before heading back to our Zodiac, I roamed around the village and climbed a hill. To sit on the rock and have a bird’s eye view of the village was really satisfying. As a city person I do not have many opportunities to be alone and experience such a feeling.
Our four-hour visit gradually ended but it will undoubtedly become an unforgettable memory for me in the future. I will always remember this place as it brings to me a picture in which the nature is truly natural, people live in harmony and the world is perfect.

------------------------

From: Jinjia Qiu
Today is really a brand new day and I got up early to see the icebergs floating on the surface of the sea, near and fresh. In the morning we had two lectures. They were productive and fruitful and allowed me to explore a field in which I have little prior contact. So, I gained a lot.

The tour to the village in the afternoon also deeply impacted me. Communicating with the local people, stepping into their daily lives and being so close to nature was really meaningful to me. I strongly felt their warmth, their optimistic attitudes and their highly harmonious relationship with the natural nature. Also, we were fortunate enough to get to know the process of preparing a fresh seal, and eating its meat and liver, which is very different from eastern food. I decided to try it, with the strong encouragement of the community. Eating a liver was definitely a great challenge for me, a challenge I have never encountered before and a challenge which I conquered.
From the bottom of my heart, I think that I am very fortunate to have such a special xperience in my life and that through such an activity I have had much closer contact with people, cultures and foreign customs.

As I high-school teacher, I want to take this experience and associate the knowledge of polar areas such as ice melting and temperature change with my classes. I have been strongly motivated by this expedition and I am willing to participate in more activities, meaningful activities which do good for human beings. Thank you! And welcome to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

I must attend the next lecture right now. After the lecture we will visit a local community named Kimmirut which has a population of only 300. I’d like to say hello to my Chinese friends and hopefully you are having a very good time.