Arctic 2011
What a trip! I have to admit I hesitated when I got offered the opportunity to go to the Canadian Arctic with
Adventure Canada this fall. I knew my two and half year old son travelled well, but I wasn’t sure how he would handle the closed quarters of a ship for almost two weeks. Then there was the question of how much I would get out of the trip; watching him while trying to absorb this new landscape and culture.
He did amazingly. I on the other hand found a lot of new inspiration in the new to me moody landscape of Baffin Island and Greenland, the many lectures on board of the Ocean Nova and encouters with various artists like
Andrew Qappik and Mattiusi Iyaituk, musician J P Hoe, as well as many local stone carvers, printmakers and tapestry artists, giving me new appreciation for Inuit art and the land that inspires its creation.
The trip started with a flight from Toronto to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland, down the beautiful 168 km long Söndre Strömfjord, which is one of the longest fjords in the world, Evighedsfjorden towards Kangaamiut and the world’s smallest capital Nuuk.
Leaving the coast of Greenland the 1400 mile journey continued across Davis Strait towards Nunavut and along Canada’s largest: Baffin Island’s south coast, crossing over to Douglas Harbour in Nunavik in Quebec and ending in Iqaluit
Throughout the journey I experienced many firsts; the rolling waves sometimes swaying the ship quite violently, the northern lights, polar bears, caribou, hikes through the fall covered tundra brimming with blueberries, scrambles up and down the arctic coast with my son on my back, a birthday zodiac ride through Savage Islands amongst icebergs, colorful coastal towns of Pangnirtung, Kimmirut, misty sunrises, Inuksuk in Mallikjuaq Territorial Park and Inuit archeological site covered with bones and antlers in Kinngait (Cape Dorset).
Exploring Kinngait and Mallikjuaq Territorial Park with John Houston