Journey to the ice Students on Ice takes 110 adventurers on a journey of learning and discovery in the North Canadian Geographic writer James Raffan spent two weeks aboard the Arctic
Ambassador last August. This shipboard log of his journey is his second contribution
to a year-long series of stories in Canadian
Geographic in recognition of International Polar Year 2007-08.
Click
for more photos from Day 13
Day 13 — Making sense of it all Location: Butterfly Bay
Coasting south along Baffin Island toward Iqaluit we stop among
a wonderful constellation of icebergs at Butterfly Bay. A scheduled landing is a chance to
just visit, wander the shore, and spend time on this magnificent Arctic landscape before
this remarkable expedition comes to an end. Something that would likely not have happened
earlier, had we come across a similar sight, is a spontaneous beach clean-up to which almost
everyone in the early landing parties contributes. For some reason, tides and currents perhaps,
the beach is littered with nets, floats, plastic bottles and other flotsam from the sea.
This is all collected and brought to our landing place on the beach where it is packaged
up for recycling and appropriate disposal with the ship's garbage and leftovers. Once
that is done, people spread across the beach for quiet walks with new friends. The frenzy
of movement and discovery that had characterized our early shore visits is gone, replaced
by a languid, reflective and conversational energy that speaks of lasting connections being
forged and confirmed among shipmates.
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Tonight, like last evening, we are
treated to delightful little windows into what people have been doing on this journey.
Last night, we heard from several people who had written songs, including one that particularly
struck me, called "Bold in the Water," by one of the chaperones, Erin Turke.
Others read journal excerpts, and several shared artwork that demonstrated the different individual
reactions to the places we'd visited. Sun Ye from China showed us her painting and talked
about how the light in the eyes of a child in Kimmirut had taken her back to an experience
she had on a school trip to Nepal. For her, the connection in the villages was not about science
or climate, but about people. A dramatic arts person aboard, Stephanie Burchell from the Museum
of Civilization, created and inhabitated the character of Miss Magenta Orlova, the long-lost
vamp cousin of the ship's namesake, Lyubov Orlova, who gave us her take on two action-packed
weeks at sea. And tonight, we hear from Phillip Hanson, a young Inuk from Iqaluit who is a
budding rap star. He lays down a few computer-generated beats and lets us in on some lyrics
he has been working on throughout the journey. Unquestionably, however, the highlight of the
evening is a duet by Student's On Ice intern, David Matyas, and Government of Nunavut
representative, June Shappa, who crystallize the wonderful fusion of perspectives that this
expedition has been. Dave, using only his mouth and a microphone, sets up a driving beatbox
rhythm onto which June embroiders a pattern of Inuit throat singing. Magic!
Posted by James Raffan on Wednesday, August 15th,
2007
