On to Cape Dorset
The great expanse between Iqaluit & Cape Dorset, Nunavut. Photo: ©Christine Montague www.christinemontague.com
In late May 2014, I travelled from my home in the Greater Toronto Area (pop. 8,000,000+) to the Canadian arctic. I flew first to Baffin Island in Nunavut, the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. I stayed overnight in Iqaluit, Nunavut's capital, and had a good look at that city's public art (Read Brush with Beauty: Part Iand Brush with Beauty: Part 2.). But my true destination was Cape Dorset, on Dorset Island, near the Foxe Peninsula and on the Hudson Strait.
Cape Dorset (map https://goo.gl/maps/Ycjoz) is an Inuit community of about 1300 people (our local high school has more people). The Inuktitut name for Cape Dorset is Kinngait (high mountain) as the hamlet sits by the magnificent Kinngait mountain range.
Cape Dorset is the self-proclaimed "capital of Inuit art" and home to the world-renowned Kinngait Studios, the oldest professional printmaking studios in Canada. It is the most artistic community in Canada with over one fifth of the population employed in the arts (printing and carving). Walk the streets, and it is guaranteed you will meet carvers, either at work in their yard, or on their way to Kinngait Studios to sell the work they've completed.
Reaching Cape Dorset
Cape Dorset, on Dorset Island, can only be reached by plane, or when the ice breaks up by ship. The turbo-prop planes of Canada North Air and First Air make the daily flight in (there may have been a merger since I first wrote this?) . Below is a Google satellite view of the hamlet and runway. The narrow grey bar on the right is the small Cape Dorset runway. To the left of the runway, are the few roads of Cape Dorset, about 4 kilometres worth.
The airplane will only take one try to approach the runway and will return to Iqaluit if unsuccessful. This means sudden fog, snow, and winds blowing in the wrong direction (wouldn't be good to be pushed back into the sea!) can result in the return to Iqaluit.
The Infamous Green Sticker
As a newbie to travel in the north, I didn't know to look for the infamous green sticker on my boarding pass. The green sticker, for that is exactly what it is, indicates the airline is not responsible for any expenses occurred when, if turned back, one waits for the next day's flight (or the next day's flight after that, or the next day's flight after that...).
On the late May morning I made the flight to Dorset, I and the other three passengers seated in the sun-filled plane, thought the very personable steward was joking when, as we began our descent to the Cape Dorset runway, he announced we were turning back. Ha, ha, ha...no, wait, you're serious?!
A sudden snow squall below made landing risky.
The others on the plane, regular travellers to the north, wildly looked at their boarding passes and proclaimed gleefully "No green stickers!". And with relief, I saw there was no green sticker on my boarding pass either.
Back in Iqaluit, my good fortune held. The other airline had room for me on their flight that day, and to the relief of the young clerk who had originally assigned me my pass without the sticker, I happily declined the hotel and food vouchers.
How can you not love the north?!! It gets in your blood immediately. ©Christine-Montague-Cape-Dorset-plane-blog-3
Approaching Dorset Island. Photo: Christine Montague www.christinemontague.com
©Christine-Montague-Cape-Dorset-landing-blog-3
Landing... Photo Copyright ©Christine Montague
Down! My first gravel runway. Photo: ©Christine Montague
I like small planes and found landing at Dorset exciting. Like the roads, the runway is not paved, so the surface is rougher. And the wind pushes the plane. I have never been on a flight where the plane wagged (the only word I could think of) as it came to a stop.
I am a big city girl who always flies out of Pearson International Airport. Pearson is Canada's largest airport, second only in activity to the JFK Airport in the USA. In 2013, it handled over 36 million passengers. It directly employs almost as many people who live in Cape Dorset and if you include all the other employees at the airport, you have 40times Dorset's population). So, I found it a memorable and favourable experience to disembark a 20 seat plane, have my large luggage in hand, and be on the road to the hotel in about 5 minutes.
My first view of Cape Dorset. Photo: ©Christine Montague
©Christine-Montague-Cape-Dorset
Cape Dorset Walk About
I shot the photos above about 6 p.m. shortly after I arrived in town. (FYI Nunavut uses EDT in the summer and EST in the winter). The skies were overcast, as they had been apparently for days before my arrival.
But when I stepped out the door early the next morning, the weather was glorious! Since my itinerary was to consist mostly of me exploring and photographing the hamlet, alone and on foot, what more could I have asked?!
Approaching the road from the entrance of Dorset Suites. Photo: ©Christine Montague
So that first morning, glove and care free, and my Sony a7Rin hand (my iPhone 5S camera served as backup), I turned right at the road towards Kinngait Studios, and the water beyond.