Port Epworth and Tree River

Walking through the vegetation of Port Epworth.

The burial grounds of two RCMP officers.

Different types of lichen.

The fossil stromatolites.

The quillug ceremony with Joe, Suzie and John Huston on the TV in my room.

Saturday, September 2^nd. Port Epworth - Qurluqtualuk

Thankfully I got some good sleep, but I still feel crappy, and my right eye was glued shut. John brought me some yogurt, granola and fruit for breakfast. Joanna, the female doctor checked out my eye pretty thoroughly, listened to my lungs, took my blood pressure (very high- have to look at that when I get home) and proclaimed I needed antibiotic pills and eyedrops. I went back to the room and started on both. The day was grey and cold, about 3 degrees. I spent the rest of the day mostly in bed. Poor Bruce isn’t well either, he has either sciatica or a disc problem and he becomes uncomfortable sitting for long and has to go and lay down to stretch out his back. John and Bruce went on the first shore excursion which was a landing and either a short walk about or a long hike, guess who did which. They saw stromatolites (an ancient life form, similar to the ones I saw at Shark Bay, Australia). I had no energy and thought it best to stay on the ship. They came back for lunch, but I missed them. I just had some fruit, the watermelon was especially good on my throat. One of the expedition team, Dylan White, who hails from the Danforth area of Toronto, came and sat with me. Not sure how he felt when I croaked at him, but he was gracious enough eat with me and try to have a conversation. Seems like a very nice guy. I walked about the ship a bit exploring and then went back to the room. There were a series of talks in the Nautilus Room. The first was about the work that the Inuit are doing to try to maintain control of their culture and lands. The second was about the geology of the high north and Greenland; and the third was about the survival techniques of the native animals. I attended none of them, because I didn’t want to have a coughing fit there and I couldn’t talk to anyone anyway. There is a TV in the room that broadcasts all the talks, so I watched from the room, unfortunately, I feel asleep during all of them. I did learn that the isobar of 10 degrees Celsius is the tree line around the world. Then there was a welcoming fire lighting (quillug) ceremony by an Inuit couple who are part of the expedition team. Fire was very important to them as it provided heat, cooked their food, melted the snow for drinking and dried clothing. Then the Captain made a speech and introduced the major team members and raised a toast to the success of the adventure. I watched most of that in my room too. Then it was dinner. I went up but John and Bruce were already sitting at a table for six, so I sat by myself as I feel like a leper anyway, because people just look at me and wonder why I’m not talking and when I croak at them to explain I’m sure they think I’m contagious. Then back to the room for drugs and to go to bed. John and Bruce went up to the lounge to see the Arctic Foxes (a band of a few musicians from the crew) play (Dylan is one of them) but didn’t stay long as they didn’t much like the music. So, we were all in bed by 9:30. Time goes ahead one hour tonight as we head east. Interesting that today I heard two different expedition leaders say that they preferred this trip to all of the Arctic trips that Adventure Canada provides, even over the east to west Into the Northwest Passage, as in their opinion the scenery and wildlife viewing is better on the eastern side of the passage, so our trip gets more and more interesting as we travel from west to east. So, that being said, if I have to be sick for a couple of days, I’ve picked probably the two best to be sick and haven’t really missed a lot, other than talking to people.