Day 6 – Diana Island to Douglas Harbour

Today was a very busy day. Probably one of the busiest I’ve ever participated in on and SOI expedition. Despite the exhausting schedule, I’m feeling very rewarded about my contributions to this experience. The only question is will I get enough sleep to do them. But I digress…

As morning broke over our fine ship, we arrived in Douglas Harbour along the northern coast of Quebec. The plan for after breakfast was to head to shore and participate in one of seven workshops held by our very diverse expedition staff – anything from art to caribou hunting to water labs.

This was SOI’s first visit to Douglas Harbour, and that means you never know what to expect. That unknown is exciting but, at the same time, a bit dangerous. However, this landing spot was as safe as could be as we dribbled out of the zodiacs onto shore. From there, we split off into the workshops of our choice.

My choice, naturally, was the Journalism, Interviews and Responsible Citizenship seminar being held by none other than Peter Mansbridge. It was a privilege to sit in on his workshop and absorb a bit of the knowledge and experience that he has gained over the past four decades. I was able to let the “pure” journalist in me come out and have some frank media discussions with one of the most respected professionals in North America.

Couple that with some very intelligent and well-thought out questions from the students who also attended, and it was one of the most engaging dialogues I’ve been involved with since Journalism school.

It was a bit surreal, as Peter had picked a babbling brook to have this workshop. There were also some great

caribou sightings (a first for me on either expedition), lemmings and voles darting in and out of the underbrush, and even the appearance of a ringed seal right off shore from our landing spot.

After returning to the ship, we had a whirlwind afternoon with seminars, pod teams meetings (groups of 8 or 9 students with two staff), and other presentations. I’m one of the pod team leaders and my group is called the Arctic Ninjas (hooooooo-waaaaa!!!) and looks to be a very dynamic group.

Right afterwards, myself and a few other staff had a discussion about a Critical Thinking seminar to get the students thinking about the news and opinions they read and hear and to think about what they mean. I’m really looking forward to that.

But the highlight of the day occurred just a few moments ago before curfew. The sky had cleared for the first time of our expedition, so many students quickly rushed outside to see what was left of the sunset. As we did, we looked up and got a show of Northern Lights!! Despite the fairly bright twilight, they were quite visible and elicited a few oohs and aahs. Meanwhile, some of the students inundated me with questions about this phenomenon and I got to do some actual astronomy for a few minutes!

All in all, as I said, a busy but rewarding day. Tomorrow we are off to Digges Island, a well-known bird sanctuary just at the southwestern corner of Hudson Strait. Geoff Green mentioned something about a 250 metre hike up a cliff – something that I’m leery about. But I’m always up to the challenge…

Wrapping this up so all the journals, photos and videos of the day can be sent out via satellite! Good night!