Wainwright to Barrow

For the first time I got to fly across the slope in the summer.  The majority of my travel on the North Slope has been during the winter months when it is cold and dark.  Summer in Barrow means 24-7 sunlight.  It truly never gets dark for 84 days!  Coming from Fairbanks at 75 degrees, 36 degrees in Barrow felt quite cold, but the endless daylight was incredible.

Off to work

On my way from Wainwright (a village west of Barrow along the coast) to Barrow we flew over the pack ice and got to see the Arctic Ocean.

As we flew out over the ice the Era pilot told us to look along the cracks of the ice for polar bears waiting on seals to surface.  I looked really hard, but how exactly do you spot white on white?

 The Arctic Ocean is incredibly beautiful, vast and still.  Because of the ice there are not large waves like you see in the Pacific or Atlantic.  As far as the eye can see there is calm.

 From the air, the ice creates a stark contrast of mosaic patterns as far as the eye can see.

 I like the areas where the differences in ice thickness creates greens and blues.  Even from the air you can get a sense of the texture of the ice.

Like cloud watching, I tried to look for shapes in the ice and imagined quite a few creatures.

Halfway between Wainwright and Barrow we spotted a whale!  This photo from my IPod really doesn't do it justice.  The pilot actually looped back and dropped down low so that we could get a better view, but the whale dove down disappearing back into the ocean.

While I was in Wainwright they were celebrating the last of the whaling boats returning to the village.  It had been a good season of whaling.  The 10 or 11 crews that went out took 5 or 6 whales.  Muktuk for everyone!