Quiet Time

Quiet Time

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Stranded!



Holy smokes. I thought my first blizzard in Baker Lake was a good blizzard. It couldn't hold a candle to the one that has stranded me in Repulse Bay! The storm started within an hour of us arriving and hasn't let up since. Even the other guests at the hotel, who have spent years in the Arctic, are standing at the window and "oohing and awing" at the wind and blowing snow. I have rebooked my flights to attempt to get out tomorrow afternoon, returning to Baker rather than continuing on to Coral Harbour. Coral will have to wait for another day!

Unfortunately, our transfer point, Rankin Inlet, is also experiencing a blizzard, so it may not work out for me! The possiblity exists that we could leave Repulse tomorrow, and, should we not be able to land in Rankin, continue down to Churchill, Manitoba. Churchill is the polar bear capital of the world, but unfortunately, the polar bears are out on the ice now and not visible from land. As I fly out of Repulse, however, I should be able to see polar bears near the ice floe edge, which is about 10 minutes by air, out of town. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I can't wait to see a real, live polar bear!

I arrived in Repulse on Monday night, just barely making it out ahead of a blizzard that was forming in Baker. In fact, as we drove out to the airport at 7am, we did so in total white-out conditions. We couldn't see anything other than the reflective pole markers on the left side of the road. We had to come to a complete stop a couple of times, because we couldn't tell the road from the ditch. But, the winds were not enough to ground the aircraft, so we made it out. Surprisingly, it was a calm flight, even as we could see the severe weather forming to the north of us.

After a short stop in Rankin Inlet (home of Jordan Tootoo), we made it to Repulse Bay. The community sits directly on the Arctic Circle and has a special monument to mark the location. It was covered in snow when we arrived but I did get a summer picture of the monument and an aerial view of the town from a local educator. He was also gracious enough to also tell me a great story about polar bears and one bear in particular, that was an unfortunate one (for the bear, that is). I'll tell you about that story in my next blog!

1 comment:

  1. Wowzer, the Artic Circle. Very cool. Can't wait for the Polar Bear story and pictures! Stay warm! :)

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