Learning to endure pain

Bryan, who took his boat into the storm to rescue his fellow whalers in trouble, engages one of those he rescued, 11 year-old Kenny, in a traditional Iñupiat game of strength and pain endurance. Whoever cries out in pain first loses. Kenny soon had Bryan shrieking in pain. I jokes. I am told that from when he was a boy Bryan always won this game with his peers. He held back on Kenny - applied just enough force to demonstrate to him what he has to do to win.

On the need to carry a powerful gun when walking in polar bear territory

After spotting some of the younger guys walking around with only a small calibre weapon, which he likened to a "BB gun," Abe Stine gives them a little talk on how important it is to always carry a gun powerful enough to knock down a polar bear in the event of an attack. "I love these young guys," Abe told me a bit later. "I want them to learn and live."

Dinner from the Kuukpik on Cross Island

Doreen prepares tonight's dinner - Arctic char, caught in the Kuukpik River (Coleville River).

Boat with cracked hull off for repairs; Conflict Avoidance

Temporarily patched, Edward's boat is carried back to the water for the 14 mile trip to West Dock, where it will be taken to the Nanuq shop and welded. In the early 1980's, when the oil industry moved offshore and began the exploration that led to the Northstar development on a five acre artificial island built 12 miles west of here, the Cross Island hunt was badly disrupted. Helicopters flew all over the place and industry vessels and barges plied the waters as whales migrated and hunters hunted. In one season of noise and commotion, the Nuiqsut whalers landed no bowheads at all. They protested mightily. With the support of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the involvement of the federal government, they persuaded the oil companies operating in the area to enter into a Conflict Avoidance Agreement with them requiring industry to cease all marine and helicopter traffic in the area during the hunting season. Twice since I have been here, industry interests have relayed radio requests to the whalers seeking permission to send a barge or vessel here or there, promising minimal disruption. Both times, the whalers refused. Industry complied. The only vessels on the water have been the whaler's boats and the barge that brought this loader and other support items and supplies to the island. In recognition of the fact that whoever holds title and leases out here, this is the traditional home of the Iñupiat and everything industry does here impacts them, the CAA includes mitigation funds requiring industry to fund certain physical support - such as this loader, which has many uses.

Cross Island elder keeps his mind young

Willie Seilak, at 63 the eldest whaler on the island. He came to Cross with the late Thomas Napageak in 1973 after the Iñupiat of this area who had been dispersed decades earlier came back to rebuild their community in the new village of Nuiqsut. "I think of myself as a young man. I am young at heart."