From Vancouver to the Northwest Passage

The Rockies, from a dirty plane window. Still magnificent.

Clearly, we didn't get ourselves organized last week, so today I offer you the two final Acts of our August travel adventuring: Act II (Vancouver), and Act III (The Arctic).  Just to throw things off completely, I'll showcase Clark's trip to the Northwest Passage first, as he finished creating his post first, and was being whiny about being bumped to the second half. True story.

Clark's Arctic Fieldwork:

Clark here. As some of you may have read previously, I was spending my time away during August doing fieldwork in the Arctic, in my role as the chief scientist of the Barrow Strait program (one of the projects I inherited when I started my job at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography). I won't inundate you all with details of the specific science that we were doing up there, suffice to say that the goal of the fieldwork was to put instruments in the water that will measure temperature, salinity, currents, and ice properties to help us understand the (changing) Arctic ocean environment. 

The mission (or "cruise" as we often refer to them in science) on the CCGS Henry Larsen was a success -- we got all the instruments deployed and even did some extra sampling that I had on my "if we have time" list. It was a very busy trip -- not just because of the work that we had to do, but because it was my first time as chief scientist on a large and complicated program, and it involved a lot of planning and coordination with my team and with the ship's crew. 

What follows is a pictorial of some of the sights (with some description of the work). Enjoy!

Our fieldwork area in Barrow Strait. Coincidentally a few days before we left I heard Stan Rogers' "Northwest Passage" on the radio, and I had it stuck in my head for about half the trip ...

Pond Inlet, Baffin Island. We were originally supposed to meet the ship in Resolute, but on our flight up discovered they were actually in Pond Inlet. Since our flight had to pass through there anyway, we disembarked there and joined the ship 2 days early!

Spying on some of the locals while icebreaking through Lancaster Sound on our way to the field site.

The CCGS Henry Larsen is a fantastic ship to be on for such a cruise. Clean, comfortable, great food, and an amazing crew.

Icebreaking through Lancaster Sound. This was the view from the "Senior Scientist" cabin!

Another local -- who wasn't too pleased with our passage.

The headland at Gascoyne Inlet -- a formidable cliff that looked as imposing after two weeks of seeing it every day as it did when we first arrived.

The Henry Larsen, our home for 2 weeks

A lot of the time we spent working involved deploying a subsea cable for a real-time observatory. Here the barge is just leaving to deploy the first of 4 spools of our new cable.

We had an impromptu meet up and party with the Canada C3 expedition in Erebus and Terror Bay (by Beechey Island). 

On our final day, we had a chance to go ashore on Beechey Island with the Larsen crew before flying (by helicopter) back to Resolute to catch our flight home. This is a replica of one of the original graves left by the Franklin expedition after passing their first winter in the Arctic. It was a very desolate, lonely place, and amazingly quiet.

The Larsen anchored in Erebus and Terror Bay

Tough little plants pushing their way through the gravel and fossilized coral.

Northumberland House. This was built by one of the expeditions searching for Franklin as a storehouse in case they returned. The metal hoops lying around are from the barrels that held provisions, and the wood of the building was scavenged from ships.

Team DFO! Ready to board the helicopter to fly out.

Flying over scattered ice of Wellington Channel.

Resolute Bay.

Tara's Vancouver Adventure:

Look at that personality!  On a four-month-old, no less!

Alright, now that you've gotten some insight into what it's like to be chief scientist on an Arctic cruise, I (as in, Tara) will switch gears and post a whole lot of adorable baby photos. That is, you see, what my west coast adventure was all about -- hanging out with my 4-month-old nephew, Jacob, while his mom (my sister, Andrea), quarantined herself after drinking radioactive iodine, and his dad (Dinesh, a urologist), embarked on 8 straight days of call. 

We were best buds immediately.  No word of a lie - the first thing he did when we met was give me a huge kiss.

Two caveats before I begin:
1. While I was in Vancouver for a little shy of two weeks, I basically did not really leave the general vicinity of Andrea and Dinesh's house, other than to run a couple of errands, and go for long, beautiful walks around the Pacific Spirit Regional Park, which was a stone's throw from the house. Therefore, the pictures (and narrative) reflect that.
2.  I did not have our nice camera (Clark, of course had it).  I felt the whole time as if I had a missing appendage, and the quality of the photos is therefore sadly sub-par.  But the subject matter makes up for it, I think!

Hahahaha.  Classic expression.

Now that I've been back for a couple of weeks, and trying to reflect and sum up the experience, I am remembering equal parts of calm and chaos.  That is, I suppose, a pretty accurate way to describe infant-care generally, but this was a whole new kettle of fish for me.  First off, Andrea and Dinesh had JUST moved in to a brand new house only about a week before I arrived.  It is a completely gorgeous, huge house, with appliances and furniture and decor that is about 1000 times nicer than I'll ever have. This was a pretty huge treat.  But, it was also in a state of mid-unpacking and set-up.  This meant that on top of the constant flow of "regular" people in and out of the house (the house cleaner, dog walker, Dinesh's family, etc), there were also just random delivery people and maintenance people and fix-it people dropping by at all times of the day, all of which Geoffrey (the dog) would bark at wildly and continuously.

So calm and tranquil, moths like to hang out on his nose.

See?  Naps all around.  Yawnnnnnn.  That is, until someone comes to the door.  THEN NO NAPS FOR ANYONE.

Just as I was hitting my stride, (and also getting completely exhausted from infant-care and jet-lag), our youngest sister Faye arrived.  Hurrah!  I now had a partner-in-crime for day-time adventures, and (more importantly), someone to share night-duty.

Clearly, I'm not the only favourite aunt.  Oh well.

Mostly, we hung out at home...

Jacob's favourite chair

Bath time!

Best buds

So many naps.  I forgot about baby naps in your arms.

He tried food for the first time while we were there!

Solving a few math problems.  No big deal.

Playing with the doll Faye brought him from Sierra Leone ("Abdul"), while rocking a jeansie.

The light fixtures were ENTHRALLING

Jacob's awesome cousin, Anila

... and went for epic walks around Pacific Spirit park.  This was a pretty big bonus, for me anyway - kilometres and kilometres of trails in the magnificent West Coast forest, all completely accessible without a vehicle.  Plus, Jacob loved going on walks - he'd happily look around at all the glorious huge trees, contemplate life for a bit, and then just sleep like a champ.  

Faye tries out epic-walk baby wearing

Look who isolated his thumb!

It's difficult to see clearly, but this stately owl was clearly guardian of the park

I liked to snack as I walked, and had blackberries so sweet, they could have been candy

Those TREES!

After about four days, Andrea was able to come home, as long as she kept her distance from Jacob for a little bit longer.  So the three of us (or, I should say, four of us), did some fun stuff - for instance:

Pedicures!  Pretty soon, Jacob will be able to enjoy his own.

Finally, the after before I left, Faye's s.o. Derrick arrived.  This was awesome, as I finally got to meet him (albeit, only very briefly), and there was a willing and capable replacement for me.

Out for dinner at a super-cool vegetarian restaurant

Jacob approves of his new walking buddy

And just like that - it was over.  A complete whirlwind of a visit, but I'm so glad it all worked out.  I should also say, even though I have no good pictures to show, we were treated to some pretty fabulous Sri Lankan home cooking by Indira (Dinesh's mom), and got to visit with the rest of his family as well, which was a real treat.  It's such a shame that Vancouver is so VERY far away.  But I'm already planning a visit (perhaps in the distant future), with the whole family.  We'll do Vancouver up properly, as there is a pretty amazing city to explore, if you have the chance.  Plus, I already mis Jacob dearly - I'll take any excuse to hang out with him again.