There are approximately 900 people living here (95%Inuit). It's a friendly town with an astounding number of small children. The only way to get to Clyde River is by plane. Some supplies come by ship during the short time when there is no sea ice. Orders are placed in late spring with a company in Montreal and are delivered to Clyde River (and other arctic communities) in late August, early September. The sealift order can contain anything from groceries (including frozen food) to snowmobiles and cars. When the ship arrives, the crates are brought from the ship to the beach by barge. From there they are delivered to the houses and businesses by forklift. My sealift order consisted mainly of cat food, dog food and cat litter with a bit of stuff for me. During the last 2 weeks of August I was very anxious for the ship to arrive as I had run out of litter and was collecting sand off the beach. I came home from school one day in early September to find my crate in front of my house. The vice-prinicpal, other teachers and community kids unloaded it into my houseafter it was opened by crowbar first.
My crate
Behind, you can see neighbour's crates.
Vice-principal opening the crate(school administration takes on a whole new meaning here)
Part of the pet's portion of the sealift order.
Hope you enjoy Clyde River. I've never been there but from I know, the scenery is quite something. You can expect a few blizzards over the course of the school year. I was down in Qikiqtarjuaq for a couple years and it always seemed as though Clyde would get hammered by a blizzard and we would get off scot free. I only recall having one blizzard during my time there.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if the ship that visits Clyde is the same one that also stops in Arctic Bay although it does look pretty familiar. I've only ever had a couple sealifts and I know they can be busy times indeed.
....and welcome to the blogosphere. I added your blog to my sidebar at the start of the school year and look forward to reading up on your adventures.