North of 60

I am away on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Where the hell is that? Definitely not hell, it's too cold. It's Canada's North, just above New York City, almost three thousand miles north of New York City, two thousand+ kilometers north of Ottawa.

Baffin Island is a “small” island that is part of Nunavut. Nunavut is the same size as California plus Oregon plus Washington State plus Idaho and a chunk of Nevada. Baffin Island, itself, is the same size as Oregon. The place is huge. The largest town is called Iqaluit, grand total population: six thousand people. The nearest town is only a 800 km/500 miles away, and no road.

I do not know how much or if I will be able to update my websites.

1. There is no high speed internet. It's only a satellite connection. I have been promised some “kind” of Internet access, but no guarantee.
2. There is no smart phone, no iPhone… I have been told that there is only one cell phone carrier and it does not support GSM. There is only CDMA coverage, just like my flip phone.
3. The average snow fall for the month of June is 4 inches/10 centimeters.
4. The average temperature high for the month of June is +3°C/37°F. The problem is not the temperature but the wind and the wind chill factor. Daily winds of 50+km/h or 30+ miles/h. This means that the wind chill factor is somewhere in the -100° range or something like that (Celsius or Fahrenheit, make your own choice).
5. The nearest Starbucks is in Ottawa 2,000+ km/1,250 miles away.
6. The nearest McDonald's is in Ottawa 2,000+ km/1,250 miles away.
7. Sushi? Catch your own Arctic Char…
8. There is no road to Iqaluit.
9. Iqaluit is on Frovisher Bay and I'm told that the ice is starting to break (June)! In winter, lows of -50°C are not uncommon.
10. There is a huge, massive landing strip that was built for the US military when Canada and the US built the DEW Line during the “cold” war (pun intended) to allow for the B52 bombers to refuel before going over to the “old” USSR and fight a nuclear war between the US and the USSR. The landing strip is so long that they tested the Airbus 380 to withstand the -50s° and the -70s° (Celsius or Fahrenheit, make your own choice).

The big sticker shock is the price of the flight. From Vancouver to Ottawa, the price is almost reasonable, but not when you have to pay for the seat, the luggage… The really expensive part is the flight from Ottawa to Iqaluit. After fees and taxes, we are talking about the same price as a flight around the world on a “regular” airline like KLM, British Airways…

Hopefully, I will be able to keep you updated.