Iqaluit, Canada
From our balcony at 9:53pm on 2022.10.01 @ Baffin, Canada
Day 7: Iqaluit, means place of many fish, our first stop in Canada, after two days at sea, crossing Davis Strait.
Highlight of the day is aurora or northern light and seeing how hard the staff works; perhaps, the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Steve, one of the staff who drives the Zodiac
On our way back to the ship, seeing Steve the kid wears so little, I ask if he feels cold.
“I’m soaking wet inside and out since this morning…”
The mother of me, thought oh lord, helps him or them … but then I thought again, he sure enjoys it: he relishes the moment, doesn’t he?
Live your dream, kid. And have fun while doing it.
We docked just as the sun rises. It’s 7am, the ship‘s time, which they changed during the Davis Strait crossin on Day 5 and 6 to Halifax. However, my iPhone insists its 6am (on auto change) and my laptop says 10am (I’ve no idea why …). It’s very confusing, if you need to make certain engagements. To solve it, I changed my iPhone from auto to manual, and to Halifax too.
Iqaluit is the capital of the Nunavut, part of Canadian territory. It’s largest community, and the only city. They have just built a new airport, that is serving about 100 flights a day! Small place like this, they’re promoting their tourism as well.
The native Inuit are an integral part of Iqaluit, a remote community at the head of Frobisher Bay. Once-considered the possible entrance of a Northwest Passage, the bay provides insight into Inuit history and culture including dog-sledding on handmade qamutik sleds led by qimmiiq – North America’s oldest and rarest purebred canine. Inuit artworks are showcased at Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum while Inuit history is evident at Crystal II, an ancient Thule Inuit settlement outside of Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park.
It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay. In 1987, its traditional Inuktitut name was restored.
Our bus guide Jeff is a local, who said the government’s count of population is around 8,000 but he knew the actual figure is around 10,000. Our bus #6 drive Mike is a settler, who said he’d bad accident when he was 23 and that had changed his prospective. When his friend there offered him a job, he came. Shortly after, he married his boss’s daughter.
At the tourist office, I heard one of the two staff said, he just got a contract to work that came with $2.5 or $5 per hour raise. “I work overtime today, so it’s $7.50 per hour for me today.”
The church and school.
We did a little walk on their beach (… thanks to their mud boots … ha ha ha), in front of the Hudson’s Bay Co.; and at their park
Lunch was provided by the bus / land operator – they gave each of us a huge brown bag, that consisted: a bottle of water and an orange juice, fruit box, salad box, a sandwich and a bag of potato chips. This is just way too much.
Dinner – the girl is really sweet who sees me doing my braid, so she does it too and calling me mommy -:)
Afternoon tea: the sundried tomato quiche hits the spot.
