It will be a chilly departure - storm coming

Alapah! Cold this morning. Storm coming. We are packed and just about ready to go, but there are some whale things to be dealt with that would require too many words to explain. Sonny Boy makes a call from the roof. Edward tells everybody to bundle up good as we are likely to encounter freezing spray.

Catching up on his homework

I took this yesterday evening, when Edward was helping George Sam catch up on his homework. Students on the North Slope get a certain amount of excused time for "subsistence" but are still required to keep up on their homework.

Isaiah deflates the float

"It's been hissing for about 20 minutes now," Isaiah says as he kneels on one of the floats to deflate it in preparation for the trip back to Nuiqsut.

Tommy binds the boxes

Tommy, banding the boxes with the EMN shares. We could leave as early as tomorrow, weather permitting.

The baleen is from the Ipalook whale.

A boy, an island, seagulls and snowflakes

The hunt is over, weather permitting we will return to Nuiqsut soon. It is kind of hard to see in this iPhone photo - especially at iPhone screen size - but a close look at Kenny's back will reveal snowflakes on his hoodie. The mottled look of the sky, sea and beach gravel? That's diffusion caused by the flakes that had just started falling. It is falling heavier now. The calendar still says summer, but here fall nears its end, winter its beginning.