Still Waiting - Update

Almost a week since my last post and nothing much has changed. We are STILL WAITING here in Cambridge Bay. Unbelievably, the crane operator that was lined up to launch us last week left town without even a goodbye, leaving us high and dry still on the shore and extremely frustrated. Another operator is flying in from Yellowknife on Tuesday and we're hopeful that will be the day we finally get back into the water.

We're not on the critical path just yet as the ice is still blocking our exit. It's looking better, but, not yet ideal for departure. Yesterday's ice chart is no longer showing any 9-10/10 outside Cambridge Bay. It's now showing a band of 4-8/10 across the entrance. This is still too difficult for us to get through and we were curious how accurate this was. Six of us decided to charter a local floatplane to check it out.

Dease Strait, outside Cambridge Bay, Aug 1/2015

There's probably a route through there somewhere, but, it would be a slow and tortuous process trying to find it, better to wait a few more days (not that we have much choice) when it should improve significantly. There is a Dutch boat, Necton, making a west-to-east NWP transit, that is waiting outside somewhere in Dease Strait. Yesterday, the Coast Guard advised them not to try and enter the ice. It sounds like they are taking the advice and staying put for now.

The one hour flight was absolutely magnificent. It was a perfect day and the pilot was able to swoop us along at only a couple of hundred feet off the ground. It was a completely different perspective on the place we've called home for the last year. Beaches, turquoise water and wildlife were all on display.

This was our chariot, a DeHavilland Beaver, seating seven.

Cold, clear water meant we could see right to the bottom.

In some places the turquoise colour was so intense you might have thought you were in the Caribbean, except for the ice floes here and there.

The brown shapes on the tundra are muskox, the first we've seen in the Arctic. We saw two, or, three family groupings during the flight.

All the critical boat jobs have been done that can get done while still onshore and we now have more time for tourism activities. The weather has been incredible here over the last few days, sunny, windless and +17C.  People are out in shorts and t-shirts, with bare arms/legs and breezy summer sundresses. Mosquitoes are almost non-existent. Summer here is short, but, very, very sweet and we've been making the best of the beautiful weather with outings and hikes.

Most of the flowers are gone now, but, we came across this beautiful display on the way out to Long Point just a few days ago.

View of the Maud with lifting balloons attached. The crew is diving daily, attaching straps to prepare for the lift.

View from the top of Mt. Pelly. We were here on snowmobiles in the winter, it looks a little different now!

The Peregrine falcon chicks are growing fast, but, they have a long way to go yet. There are four here.