Our dive team is off to Salliq, Nunavut. There are 3 of us: Ignacio Garrido (Tim Horten's-loving Chilean polar dive explorer, who brought an underwater camera the size of a toaster and does NOT travel light.... 70 lbs! for one man), Gabrielle Martineau (Laval undergraduate and quebecois extravert, who has been analyzing underwater videos for months and dying to get underwater), and Karen Filbee-Dexter (me... Haligonian kelp enthusiast and excitable postdoc who has been tirelessly sorting logistics and is wildly thrilled to be finally up here!).
Together the team plans to dive on 16 stations for the next 3 weeks around the island measuring kelp species and animals using these habitats. This plan is optimistic and weather dependent. But let's aim high.
Interesting facts we learned at Rankin Inlet airport. Salliq is one of the best places in Nunavut to see polar bears and walrus. Fun news for those on the ship! Slightly more exciting information for the dive team who will be near the coast in a zodiac! Lucky we have an Inuit guide to keep us safe.
You can track our ship's journey here. It is the only fishing vessel in the area. We are leaving from Salliq (Coral Harbour) and sailing around the north side of Southhampton island to Naujaat.