Jimmy had one shell, stood in a 30 knot wind and shot two geese

Jimmy Arey of Oyagak crew believes these two snow geese are the first nigliqs ever caught during the Cross Island fall bowhead hunt. Usually, they have all left to fly south by now. He saw them coming through the cabin window, but had only one shotgun shell. He grabbed it and his gun, hurried outside, took one shot and dropped both. We are going to taste something yummy tonight.

Leon answers skeptics and shows me my phone has developed a major power problem

After observing Leon, I am convinced the battery on my iPhone has gone bad. Today has been cold, a hard wind blowing, but he has been out working his iPhone in it all day, shooting stills, videos, making calls, logging in and posting on Facebook. Last night, I went to the Oyagak cabin and got 91 percent charge on my phone before they experienced generator problems and lost their power. With that charge, I stood on the roof and made a very short call to Margie, I shot a total of about 10 iPhone images, posted the two last night and the one of the bear this morning. This took my charge down to 23 percent. This afternoon as maktak was boiled into uunaalik for lunch, I pulled my phone out into the cold wind to get a shot of the boiling pot. I framed the image but then the phone shut itself off before I could snap. Leon, meanwhile, just kept videoing, clicking and showing with his iPhone out in that same cold wind. After I left the phone in the cabin and let it warm up, I was able to turn it back on and find 23 percent charge. So I took this picture of Leon trying to explain to perplexed Facebook friends in the Lower 48 who saw samples of his iPhone work why the Inupiat hunt whales. My charge is now down to 12 percent. I have prepared this post in the warmth of the cabin. Let's see if I succeed in posting this. #crossisland #emncrew #inupiatwhaling #arcticocean #beaufortsea #arctic #alaska #iphone #facebook

Even as studious student studies us, student is studied by someone far away

Studious visitors keep coming round, checking out the goods. It's kind of hard to tell in this iPhone Instagram of the LCD on my "real camera," but this bear is wearing a radio collar. Somewhere, a scientist studies this nanuq even as it studies us.

EMN Crew flag flies

The EMN Crew flag flies in the traditional Inupiat way to announce their whale.

Three carry a battery

Fantastic day today. I spent the day on the ocean with Edward Nukapigak and his EMN Crew and was with them when the bowhead they will soon bring home to Nuiqsut came to them. Needless to say, I kept my cameras busy today, but didn't take a single iPhone shot to Instagram until about 9:00 PM when I snapped this snap of Jacob, Isaiah and Tommy hauling the battery to start the winch off for a recharge. Right after I shot this I snapped the crew flag flying from the winch shed. I will climb back onto the cabin roof and if I succeed in posting this, I will post the flag image, too.