Greetings from AStrO/PEARL!

After a long day of traveling, the team finally arrived in Eureka late on February 16. Everyone had flown in to the Nation's Capital on February 15 and spent their time exploring or visiting with friends and family.

We awoke on the morning of February 16 to wet snow and slippery roads in Ottawa. The campaign team made it to the airport and slowly assembled in the First Air departure lounge. Richard M., Michael and Kaley passed the time by speculating on whether the rest of the team would ever get to the airport but it all worked out in the end. We boarded the "front-half cargo, back-half passengers" jet and spent what seemed like quite a while sitting at the gate waiting. It turned out that there were two "special" passengers to be transported to Iqaluit who had to board last with their correctional officer escorts. Then we had to go through a de-icing cycle to get rid of the snow and ice that was covering the plane. Finally, about an hour after we were supposed to depart, we left Ottawa. The views were not very exciting as there was much cloud cover. Most of the team slept or enjoyed the First Air breakfast choices.

By about 12:45 PM, we were in beautiful Iqaluit. The airport is hard to miss because the entire building is bright yellow! It was very windy so the walk that Keith, Annemarie, Jennifer and Kaley took did not last very long. Not to miss out on any experience in the North, Jennifer supported the local economy by spending some quality time in the airport gift shop. Then we were back on the jet on our way to Resolute.

At 3 PM, we landed in Resolute Bay. Clive managed to sleep through the lunch service so was really hungry once we landed. We collected our luggage and went to the Kenn Borek desk to have everything weighed. Between the ten of us and our luggage and carry-ons, we were 175 lbs over the weight limit for the Twin Otter. There was a mad round of repacking as people decided what items they could live without for a night. The remaining luggage was put with our freight to be brought up on the February 17th charter.

Aziz (Ozzy), owner of the South Camp Inn, met us at the airport and took us back to South Camp for some relaxation and dinner before the charter flight to Eureka. We availed ourselves of his hospitality (snacks and internet connection). Annemarie, Jennifer, Keith and Keeyoon were taken for a walk by Ozzy's dog Nanook. Dinner was tasty and we were ready to go by about 7 PM. Once everyone was bundled up in all their Arctic gear, only then did people realize that they had had one too many bowls of soup (or five in Clive's case).

The flight was about 2.5 hours long and we had one of the warmest experiences in a Twin Otter ever ("sauna-like" was one description). Most considered this to be the warmest they will be for the next month. We were met at the Eureka International Airport by familiar faces and some new ones. As the team settled into their quarters in the station, the new members of the team (Jennifer and Michael) were given tours to acquaint them with all the amenities and necessities of Eureka station.

On February 17, after a good night's rest, the team was briefed by Rai, the Station Program Manager, on safety and other issues to do with living at the weather station. Half of the team went up to AStrO/PEARL with the freight that had arrived on the January 30th produce flight and the water truck. Richard B., Richard M. and Michael started to work on reactivating the DIAL system, while Paul and Keith got the lab into shape. While trying to catch up on work, the half of the team that stayed at the weather station had the opportunity to see the local wolf pack (parents and 4 pups) as they passed by the station.

The freight charter carrying the rest of our luggage and gear arrived in Eureka at 3:30 PM. We took most of the boxes up to AStrO/PEARL and put them into the labs. The last few boxes will be taken up tomorrow morning.