Nunavut Canada Exped – Day 14
We started sailing towards Qikiqtarjuaq last night; I decided to go to bed early to get in a few hours of sleep, knowing that me and Valentin had to get up at 2 am to do our watch to look out for icebergs or any other dangers! Waking up at that early hours of the morning was certainly not an easy task when you know you have to leave your warm cozy bed and go stand outside in the rain. What made matters worse was the dense fog we where sailing through, but luckily we did not have any close encounters with these massive ice bergs drifting all the way from the Green Land ice shelf.
The fog had us a bit worried at times with our eyes fixed on the horizon scanning for anything, made me think of the crew of Roald Amundsen on their passage of the North West in 1903 until1906. They were the first people to cross the passage. At least we are living in luxury compared to their vessel named the Gjoa! I can just imagine how his crew must have felt in the cold night in a storm standing in the crows nest on the look out for icebergs!
In the end after a nice hot cup of Rooibos tea that I brought all the way from home in South Africa, I could finally go to sleep at 4 am when the next shift started! When I was awoken the morning for breakfast, it felt like I have just slept 10 minutes but I knew its better to go get some oats to build up some energy for the coming days and my next watch is at 10 am!
The wind was finally strong enough to do some sailing and we had a fun time jibing along with the wind taking us to our next destination. At noon we finally arrived at Qikiqtarjuaq. It looked like the whole town sprung to life as we arrived, with everyone eager to see the Pangaea! After a very nice lunch prepared by Mike himself, which consists of most things he found in the gulley and some pasta sauce, in the end it tasted very nice. Here is a list of what was in this tasty meal:
* Canned Spaghetti and sauce
* Ritz crackers
* Couscous
* Cheese chunks
* Butter
* Beans
* Oat meal
* Corn
* Onions and garlic
Basically everything that we had in the gully to use but it tasted very very nice for our hungry stomachs! Then we were on a mission to try and do some community service by handing out the rest of the first aid kits and presenting ourselves and spreading the Pangaea message! But after walking through the whole town it proved that we would be unable to do this, but we made some friends with young Inuit girls to whom we gave soccer balls and had some fun playing soccer with them!
The day flew past but the highlight was still to come when Mike told us we could go SUP (Stand up paddle boarding) after feeling the water under my feet even though wearing booties you could feel the one degree water! I then proposed a challenge to the other yep`s that we must all jump from the boat to do a short swim in the ice cold arctic water! Xue xi and I ended up swimming around the boat! Then we suddenly felt the effect of the cold water on our hands and feet starting to cramp! It was fun and the locals certainly thought we must be crazy! When everyone got out of the water everyone was scrambling for their warm clothes! But it was great fun! We had a nice surprise after dinner the girls made us a chocolate cake! We are all waiting anxiously to hear from Mike what our plans are for the following days, but it`s a mystery.
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