Wild Blue Kids Arctic

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Beechey Island flight....

Ozzy is our host at South Camp Inn (Base Camp).  His grand daughter lives at the lodge and wears traditional Inuit clothing. Our Wild Blue Kids had fun playing with her.

After an early breakfast we all loaded in the van and headed to the airport hangar of Ken Borek Airlines.  These planes and pilots are famous  for flying in rugged and remote regions of the Arctic and Antarctica.

After a meeting with our pilot Richie and guide Mark, we got ready to check out the plane and then board.  Our intended destination was Beechey Island to visit the graves of the men from the Franklin expedition.

Our Guide Mark has been leading explorers and expeditions since he was 12 years old.  He is now 27 with two children and a new baby on the way.  Below is a picture of Mark with Jacob, one of our team members. Mark has to have the gun to protect us from polar bears that may be around when we walk on the ice.

The plane we flew is a Twin Otter and can seat all 15 of our team.  The pilot Richie shows us all around the plane and briefs us on the flight plan.  It is important to not move from side to side to see out the windows because this shifts the weight in the plane and can cause problems for the pilots flying.  If they see wildlife they will fly by several times on each side so everyone can get a look.

The planes are equipped with skis that lower down over the wheels while the plane is in the air.  Often, the pilot will make many landings just touching the skis to the snow to smooth out a runway that he will finally use to land. 

We took pictures of the crew all in front of the Otter.

Once on the plane, we all settled in for an adventure we will never forget.

 

The cliffs of Beechey Island appear out of the endless white.

Once we reached Beechey Island we discovered that the ice was too rough to land.  We made several passes, each lower than the next so we could get closer to the grave sites of the men of the Franklin expedition.

After our Beechey Island landing was cancelled, we made the decision to go to the edge of the ice floe and look at the open Arctic Ocean. This is where animals like polar bear, walrus, seals arctic birds and whales live and feed. 

 From either side of the plane amazing ice formations that form from melting and refreezing into blue and white ice could be seen. We also saw yeagers, birds that live in South America in the winter and nest in the Arctic in the summer.  They fly though Florida Keys' waters every April on their way to the North. We also saw a ring seal at the hole he uses to get through the ice.  The highlight of our trip was seeing two polar bears. Click on the polar bear picture for a bunch of pictures of this 10 foot male.  

Today the conditions at the ice floe edge did not allow us to land, so we headed home. Flying over  Resolute Bay we safely landed, took the plane back to the hangar and had lunch and then everyone got a turn to sit in the captain's seat!

It was interesting to learn that the planes have to be plugged in at night to keep them warm.  Otherwise the cold Arctic temperatures would freeze all the oil and fluids in the machines.

 

Wild Blue Kids Arctic Pilot Program

Tomorrow we go out on the frozen Arctic Ocean on snowmobiles to see seals, other wild animals and have a cookout.