The last two weeks have been an incredible challenge. The weather has not co-operated, we have had little sun and thus have been extremely short on the solar power needed to drive both the notebook computer and the satellite phone. Here are some entries at last. Most of these are written by Mike. Our longer stories, written by Pamela are being published every Sunday in The Ottawa Citizen, The Calgary Herald, The Montreal Gazette and The Edmonton Journal. After each Sunday, they will also be posted to this site. To receive a copy of any or all segments of the series, which include Mike's photo essays, please contact The Citizen. Thanks for following us.
Pamela and Mike
Just our luck. After almost a year of preparations, a couple of delayed departures due to ongoing logistical arrangements, and less than eight hours before our flight leaves, a major storm hits the region and the power goes out in our house. There we are at 2 am with flashlights tucked under our arms and headlamps strapped to our foreheads trying to get the last of the gear into Whit Fraser's borrowed van. All the gear that was laid out on the lawn now has to be rapidly thrown back into the garage to wait out the rain.
July 5th, Arrival in Mittimatalik
Met by Joshua, the Manager of the Sauniq Hotel in Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet). It is t-shirt weather in Pond with clear blue skies and 20 kms across the inlet Bylot dominates the landscape. We cart our 550 lbs of expedition gear to the hotel van where we meet the new manager of Toonoonik Sahoonik Outfitters, Dave Cook who will assist us with certain logistical aspects of our journey and be our liaison in Pond while we are travelling.
Mike
