In early July, four sea kayakers set off on a 1,000-km kayaking journey to the ‘Place of Spirits’ in the Canadian Arctic. Over the next month, Justine Curgenven, JF Marleau, Frank Wolf and Larry Chomyn will paddle around the Labrador Peninsula unsupported from Kangiqsualujjuaq, Quebec to Nain, Newfoundland. Along with documenting the expedition through film and text, the group will be piloting a polar bear sighting/encounter SMART app used for helping such groups as Polar Bears International.
“This is an amazingly accomplished group of explorers and paddlers with over 50,000 km of wilderness travel between them,” says Lisa Kincaid of trip sponsor Kokatat. “This expedition is wrought with danger between icebergs, polar bears, and massive tides, and so it’s no surprise so few people have attempted this route.”
Nigel and Kristen Foster were the last to complete the route 20 years ago. The trip starts in Ungava bay, home to the world’s largest tides and travels around to the exposed Labrador coast. They’ll then traverse through Torngat National Park which comes from the Inuktitut word Tongait, meaning “place of spirits”. There are a handful of hunting cabins along the way, but for most of the journey the paddlers will spend nights in the rugged landscape where they will set up an alarm fence and take turns holding night watch to keep an eye out for polar bears and other predators.
Long-time adventurers Wolf and Curgenven have produced award-winning films and published many articles for national and international audiences. Marleau is one of the most experienced and highly qualified sea kayak professionals in Canada. Chomyn rounds out the all-Canadian team, and has a long expedition resume and is passionate about paddling in dynamic water.
Curgenven will be posting updates on the trip on her blog at https://www.cackletv.com/justines-blog/.
Post #3:
“We paddled in a bubble today, about 2km around in all directions. Everything beyond that was hidden by smoke. The sun peeked through as a tiny orange circle, benign to look at. A few times it was overlaid by wispy black smoke giving the impression of craters, like on the moon.
We glided out of Moores island tickle with a swarm of dedicated mosquitos in hot pursuit. The occasional extra loud buzz of a horsefly caused me to be on high alert as all of us wore our drysuits tied around our waists in the hot muggy air. My thin thermal top was no match for their long probing proboscis. The okak island shore is low and guarded by a wide reef of boulders of different shapes and sizes. Sometimes we could weave through the bigger ones. As the tide fell we were forced around a few hundred meters of rocks. The sea was like a mirror, grey water reflecting the grey sky. It was almost hard to see where the ocean ended. Our bright kayaks were in duplicate, lit up by the weak sun.
We detoured a few kilometers to a river as water is getting less easy to find. The hills are lower and there’s almost no snow melting. Crossing to the Tikkigaksuk peninsula we felt the swell again, a gentle roll , just enough to be heard slamming against the rocks. A couple of icebergs gently rocked. A few minke whales emerged from the depths with a blow and a flourish of a fin.
By the end of the day we were tired mentally. Keeping on paddling with limited stimulus or challenge can sometimes be more tiring than battling into conditions. We landed at a small hut, probably the tiniest one yet. We’ll be shoulder to shoulder on out mattresses on the floor. It’s better than bear watch!