It was one of the nicest days of the year yesterday, in fact one of the nicest days of the past several years. We headed down to Victor Bay, driving over the pass directly into the late evening sun, but still managing to keep the truck on the road. Leah’s mom and dad were over in Victor Bay setting up their tent for the summer camping season, but when we arrived they were just leaving for the evening. So we went down to a little landing with a stream on the ocean.
Most of the "beaches" here are comprised of shingle, but this little landing actually has patches of sand, and Travis and Hilary plopped themselves down in the sand and played, Travis with some toys he had brought along. Hilary was content to run sand through her fingers and try to bury her legs. There wasn’t a breath of wind, and the sun made it feel positively hot, despite an air temperature of 8 or 9, and the presence of a frozen ocean feet away.
Travis and I explored Tidal cracks near shore, catching amphipods (little shrimp-like crustaceans) in a jar and letting them go again. There were hundreds of them in the cracks closest to shore, and we had a great time looking at them up close. Not sure how great a time the amphipods were having, but hey, we practiced catch and release. We also watched four young men trying to carry an iglutaq into shore, and had a good laugh as they struggled to cross cracks, pulling or pushing each other into cracks, slipping and struggling most of the way. And before you get too upset, they were laughing too, we were laughing with them, not at them (okay maybe a little at them).
I also almost saw a bird I don’t usually see near town. I could hear Arctic Terns somewhere near shore, but for the life of me I couldn’t find them, and by the time I got the binoculars and searched in earnest they could no longer be heard. I kept scanning for them to no avail.
Other bird life seen were Glaucous Gulls, Thayer’s Gulls and the omnipresent Snow Buntings. Around 11:00 pm, when I was wishing I had brought some wood and some hotdogs, the wind picked up a little and the spell was broken. Although it was just a small breeze it had enough effect to make me want a jacket and as it was getting late anyway we pulled up stakes and headed home.
Next time we’ll have that fire.