Logbook: Nuiqsut to Wasilla, entry 1: Departing look at Suluk's boat, one of those that carried us to the whales.

The flags will remain on the boat until the meat and maktak now fermenting is just right for mikigaq which will then be served to the community.

Going home

Note: I tried to post this last night before I went to bed but the signal was too weak:

If all goes as currently planned, I will leave here in the morning and be back in Wasilla by Thursday evening. There is another segment to the whaling story coming up and I have been feeling the temptation to rebook my flight for a later day. However, there is a very important birthday about to be celebrated in Anchorage, I need to be there and I did photograph the segment in 2010, when the entire hunt happened in just three days and was completely over when I arrived on Cross Island September 3. So in that year, I missed the actual hunt but photographed the subsequent activities up to storing the meat and maktak in the ice cellar.

Plus, the fact is that as result of my little mishap Friday I have not been able to get a good night's sleep since. It hurts too much to lie in any position except flat on my back and even that hurts, just not as bad. Wrong movements, whether made asleep or awake, bring a sudden sharp pain, so I think I will go ahead and go home, go to that birthday party and try and take it easy for a week or so.

But it has been wonderful. Cross Island is no place for sunbathers and beach bunnies, but I love the island, the waters that surround it and the Iñupiat whalers who took me there and shared it with me. Thank you, EMN and all the whaling crews of the great village of Nuiqsut - right smack in the middle of oil country, but with a Native Iñupiat heart that beats loud and strong

One more flag is brought to Nuiqsut from Cross Island

Late on the same day EMN crew landed their second whale and I had my mishap and got a little bit hurt, the crew of Herbert Ipalook Sr. struck a whale but the floats came off and it sank. Stormy forecasts, coupled with the fact Nuiqsut's strike quota was now filled and Ipalook's whale appeared to be lost, convinced all the other crews to leave the island. Ipalooks stayed.
After three days, the whale resurfaced and Ipalooks found it. While the meat was rancid and had become polar bear food,
the maktak - the skin and blubber that covers the whale - was still good. Here is Herbert and crew member Daniel Sovalik, who will run the flag into Nuiqsut. The food and baleen from all four landed whales is now in the process of being transported to Nuiqsut by barge and plane.

Something white flew by in the wind

And now, one shot from today: Woke up this morning, snow was flying in the wind. Ain't no doubt about it - summer's over in Northern Alaska...

The feast

Before the first community feast from the second EMN whale began, Dora Leavitt (left, in black) milled through the crowd doing short video interviews on her phone - including one with me. Then to everybody's surprise and delight, she applied special effects that turned us all into cartoon characters and made us sound like chipmunks.

Laid out on that table are servings from all parts of the whale - meat, intestines, kidneys, heart, maktak... and because it was a small, round, inutuk, all the servings were especially tender and delicious. There are other tables and large pots laden with the same food beyond the boundaries of this picture. People will be coming in over the next few hours - past midnight to get servings for now and to take home for later. There will also be large community feasts at Thanksgiving, Christmas and next June's Nalukataq.

I believe the blessing of the food was the best shot I took at the feast, but that can be found only on my "real camera" take.