Tuktoyaktuk

Enid and David in the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk

Well, we finally made it here after a thirteen year wait.  It was an absolutely fabulous day, the pilot said the best one that they’ve had here all this summer.  The sky was clear, and the air was calm, and so we got excellent views out over the tundra.

Well, at least I did.  Unfortunately on the flight up Enid got stuck with the seat next to a window that  was not clear plastic, but rather  cloudy semi-translucent yellow.  She couldn’t see anything out of it, and it wasn’t easy to get a view out of either the window ahead or behind her,  Fortunately we got a different seat on the way back, and so then she could see ok.  The plane was just a small six seater Cessna 270, and it was in pretty bad shape.  The back seat Enid had on the way up wouldn’t even lock in place at first.  So we weren’t too impressed with that part of the adventure.

However, all in all it was a fun hour over the Mackenzie Delta, followed by two hours in the town.  It’s a pretty typical northern town, small, dilapidated, and poor.  We took a “dip” in the Arctic Ocean.  Well we waded.  It isn’t really all that cold, not much different than any northern Saskatchewan lake.  Enid said it was much warmer than the mountain lakes she’s swum in.  I went down into the ice house, but Enid didn’t, as it was down a vertical ladder about thirty feet.  It was very cool under the permafrost.  I don’t think that they really use it any longer, but it does make a good tourist attraction.

Tomorrow we will be leaving and driving south.