The waters in the area are subject to a tidal range of approximately six feet, ruling out difficulties with strong currents until they reached the Mt. Herodier headland. Beyond the headland, the inlet was still blocked by pack ice. The group progressed at a leisurely pace, keeping 100 to 200 meters offshore and passing tall, car-sized icebergs and increasing amounts of near-shore sheet ice. They had a great morning admiring the beauty around them and getting used to the gentle swell and being in the Arctic. At 1:30 they stopped along the western shore just past James Creek for a late lunch. They discussed setting up camp right then, but decided to take advantage of the ample travelling time that the continuous high arctic daylight provided.
 By
2:30 the kayaks were back in the water. Marilyn
and Rosemary both had been experiencing some lower back
discomfort and so they both improvised backrests using sweatshirts
wrapped in plastic bags. They were looking forward to reaching
Mt. Herodier and rest. A French couple—Elizabeth Mitchell (originally from Canada) andPascal Ertlé—had
left Pond Inlet in a double kayak at 2:00 that
day headed for the same campsite area (as a jump-off point
to Bylot Island). They had spoken with the four Canadians
back in town and had watched them load their gear down at
the beach. It didn't take long for the experienced duo to
overtake the group. By then they had the impression that
the four Canadians might not be adequately prepared for
Arctic paddling. Only Elizabeth spoke English. She wanted
to express her concern that the four kayakers were paddling
too far from shore. Noting the idyllic conditions and not
wanting to stick her nose into the other people's business,
she just bid them farewell as they parted company.
Sometime in the late afternoon Mark, Marilyn,
Phil and Rosemary approached the changing topography
near the large bay formed by the elbow south of Mt. Herodier's
765-meter peak. Rosemary felt she should keep
well away from the near-shore ice, which she had read could
roll over without warning and cause a sudden surge. The group
did not meet to discuss concerns or form a consensus at this
juncture. It wasn't long before a strong offshore wind sprang
up. Rosemary describes their initial positioning: "The
coastline was rather scalloped [the accompanying map is not
at a scale that could show this] with points of land between
pebbled beaches. I could see where we were going and rather
than staying close to the shore and having a longer route
I cut across the last bay to make a straight line to the
last point before landing. Once I got past that point of
land I stopped paddling and took out the camera to take a
picture of where we were going. I waited for Marilyn and
Phil, who were closer to shore, to paddle into the shot.
I asked Mark to move in closer to shore so I could take his
picture but he joked that no, he 'had paddled out to take
a video of me taking a photo of Marilyn and Phil." |
