Day 2 – Mid Day
But it’s hard to tell when it’s cloudy because there is 24 hrs of daylight.  I’m 72°.46 N on the Northern end of Baffin Island.  It’s been a bit of a ride just getting here.  First we lost 2 days to rain and wind when we landed at Pond Inlet.  On the way to our base camp we found ourselves beside a pod of killer whales.  At one point we shut down the motor and 3 large whales came over to check us out. Just feet beneath the surface the 3 killer whales dove under our boat at the side, made a tight turn and resurfaced right at the bow of the boat.  It was a once in a lifetime, thrill of a lifetime!

There were at least 18 whales in total. Then a short distance away we found what they were after.  Narwhals!  Thousands of them were all around our boat. Though most of them would not come close we could see their tusks come out of the water every now and then. They have been known to beach themselves right on to shore to escape the killer whales. Once we made it to our base camp I was supposed to spend a day on the land learning from an Inuit elder; which I did.  But when we finished, the wind and rain came in again and held us down for 2 days before I could be boated over to where I am now.

Although the rain stopped the wind has increased and I am stuck – pinned down on an exposed point using some old crate plywood for a shelter.  The polar bears are on the land now and I have to keep a sharp eye out for them.  So far I have only seen arctic wolf tracks on this location, no bear tracks. For protection I have a shot gun, a bear banger pistol and bear spray.  The arctic char are here along the coast and I can see them in the water.  Yet even though I’m lucky enough to have fishing tackle, I am not getting any hits at all. Of course it is so windy that the lure just blows back in my face when I try to cast out into the ocean anyway.

My only supplies are a CB radio, fishing tackle and a handful of whale blubber.

I have to make up my mind on whether or not to stay where I am or relocate further inland – closer to bears but out of the wind.

Day 2 – Night

Since the spot inland by the river was pretty windy too, I decided to stay out on the point in my “crate shelter” one more night.  I tried fishing again – no luck.  Now in the evening the wind has finally calmed down.  I hope it will stay this way for the morning so I can use the canoe and paddle the ocean instead of travelling over land and across the river.  If I had a white water canoe I wouldn’t even think twice about handling the rapids but I have a folding canoe and I’m not sure how it would handle the fast water.  One great thing today though – I have fire!!!  I found some old steel wool in the refuse on the shore and ignited it by touching it to the two terminals on my CB radio battery.  There is a load of scrap lumber littered about so it’s no problem keeping my fire going just inside my shelter.

Should be a much warmer night tonight.  I found some old Thule Indian sod huts with bow-head whale skulls still in them.  I also found some plants I can make wild tea out of and did so with an old tin cup I found in the refuse.  Tomorrow – I move!

The wind picked back up again through the arctic night and now it’s raining!

Day 3 – Night

I spent the morning hauling my camera gear and canoe over land and down the river a bit to relocate.  It blew strong the whole time and unbelievably it went dead calm, after it rained on me for a half hour, right after I got here.  Had I known it was going to calm down I could have just paddled the coast and saved myself all that carrying!  Oh well an hour later it was windy again anyway.

Fortunately I spotted a shallow spot in the river that I could cross by foot.  This saved me paddling down some tricky rapids.

Since I’ve landed I made a shelter out of all the refuse of the fish camp and I set out a bird trap using hooks from my fishing tackle and some of the whale blubber I have with me.  No takers yet.  I’ve tried fishing but nothing is biting.  At least it’s not raining and my fire is going.

Day 4 – Night

Well I’ve said it before – what a difference a day makes!  Everything started out the same – more fishing – no hits.  After storing away some firewood in a dry place I figured I would head out and get some wild edibles.  After a few hundred yards I realized I had forgot my camera and went back for it.  I saw the ocean was calm and the tide was high so I thought why not?  Just for good luck I cast my line a couple of times and bang! An Arctic char hit!  Then another and another until I had four large char caught.  I spent the afternoon cutting them for traditional wind drying.  Ate some sushi and cooked some fresh fillets!  I’m stuffed and have enough fish for at least a week!  What a day!!

Day 6

Nearly all 8½ hours of yesterday (day 5) was spent sitting in my shelter waiting out the rain.  At least I had plenty of food and a fire going.  I finally had to get out in the evening and walked a couple of hours inland searching for wild edibles – I found lots so it was a good trip.  But now I have done a radio check in and with more bad weather coming the decision was made to bring me in today before we all  – me and the safety crew – get stuck out here for another week!!