Killing Time

Sloop Harbour, Labrador  

July 6, 2013

Killing time . . . it’s not something that comes natural to us.  Seems we’re always juggling multiple projects, working a deadline, saying, “If we just had 2 more weeks we could get it all done.”  So maybe enforced idleness is a good thing . . .

We’ve been pushing hard to get up here so we can have as long a time as possible north of Nain.  It’s a looonnnnnggggg way and the fall storms arrive up here when it’s the still the height of summer further south.  But we’ve been keeping an eye on the ice too.  Pack ice that is.  Environment Canada puts out ice charts daily.    (insert link)  (You can search by date if you’re interested in past charts.)  It’s not been looking good.  Cape Harrison is the next milestone to get around and the pack ice is hugging it tight. 

Canada Day found us pulling into Sloop Harbour on the north side of Groswater Bay (called Hamilton Inlet if you have a Labrador road map) and we saw it ~ a thin line of white stretching across the horizon.  Yep, that was the pack.

Anchoring, I caught movement on shore. It was our first polar bear of the trip and he was running up the hill.  We definitely hadn’t expected to see a polar bear this far south but with the pack right here, it made sense.  “Sloopy” had just decided to get off his floating ice raft for a bit of land travel. 

That changed our plans to go hiking ashore. We do have bear “deterrents” but are doing all we can to avoid a close encounter.  Polar bears are very curious and although they may not be interested in eating you they may be curious enough to want to check you out.  That goes for your dinghy too.  And in that checking out process, things, you or the dinghy, may not be left in the same state the bear found them in so we’ll be limiting our shore excursions.  When we do go ashore, we thoroughly scout the shore and surrounding areas before landing, stay in sight of the dinghy and have our bear deterrents with us and ready. 

The white line on the horizon is the pack ice.

Andante and crew made 2 excursions out to see the pack ice.  Pack ice is saltwater ice that froze over the winter in a band up to 100 miles or so wide along the Labrador coast.  Mixed in is older pack ice that has drifted down from further north.  Scattered amongst this sea ice are big icebergs (freshwater, good for the icebox!) that have calved off glaciers and been frozen into the pack ice.   This time of year it’s all melting and shifting around day to day with the wind and currents.  Pack ice is affected by wind and the big bergs, with most of their mass underwater, are affected by currents.

A long line of eider stretch out in front of the mirage.

Leaving Sloop, that thin line of white stretched vertically with the mirages that happen in these cold waters.  It’s like they were a reflection in a fun house mirror.  It’s said the Inuit could read these mirages and pick out leads through the ice pack. 

Common Eider flying in front of the distant pack ice.

Andante putted along the ice edge and we watched these bergy bits from VW Beetle size to house size, heave up and down on the swell crashing together with a thud and a crunch, then bounding off each other like sumo wrestlers fighting for the championship.  We wanted no part of it in our glass home.  

Andante is glass reinforced with fibers and plastic but might as well be pure glass to this roiling ice pack.  Guillemots, puffins and common eider flew among the bergs perfectly at home in this icy landscape. 

Calm seas awaited our second excursion and we felt comfortable enough to do a little photographic side trip.  

I got Andante close to Quaker Hat Island, Russ and the camera and the bear deterrents headed to shore.  The air here is so dry and clear things seem closer and smaller than they are.  Russ and our dinghy looked very tiny landing on that island.  Back on board we maneuvered through stray bits and got back to Sloop. 

So how do we kill time on Andante?  A rainy day and a US Holiday (Independence Day) meant a day free from chores. We read, knitted, played scrabble (and yes those really were my letters at one point!) baked goodies, ate and watched the other inhabitants of Sloop Harbour.  At one point 13 seals lounged on rocks.  They seem to favor this bowed position and will stay that way until just the tip of a nose and the tip of their feet are above water.  These looked like very fat seals!  Russ is worried we interrupted the polar bear’s dinner.

 

The other reason I call this “killing time.”  Shortly after we arrived the hills were keeping our attention looking for another bear.  No bear but we saw a strange, black, chicken like bird frantically hurrying down the hill.  Scanning with the binoculars we saw a golden white shape moving stealthily and determinedly through the brush.  Not a bear, but an arctic fox with his coat changing between winter white and summer reddish brown.  Well that little bird was right to be frantic because the next thing we knew, the fox had her.  Somebody’s going to eat well tonight!

P.S.  We’re heading north of Nain and won’t have internet access for 3-4 weeks.  Planning to post onto our sailblogs blog site which we can do remotely.  Please visit us at:

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/svandante/